Akemi Misawa -- Ashita wa O-Tachi ka?（明日はお立ちか）

 

I see that "Uta Con"（うたコン）is back in the saddle again on NHK after several weeks' Holiday hiatus. I'll have to take a look at that later tonight, but it'll be nice to see and hear some of the ol' kayo kyoku again.

Reading that enka veteran Akemi Misawa（三沢あけみ）is 80 years old, I can't imagine that I would see much of her on television again. However, she can be active on YouTube via her long discography of music. One such song is her November 1964 single "Ashita wa O-Tachi ka?" which literally translates as "Are You Standing Tomorrow?" (OK, let's not giggle too much here, eh?) but I think it's likelier that it means "Are You Leaving Tomorrow?". I did hear some references in Takao Saeki's（佐伯孝雄）lyrics that the young fellow will be departing by sea.

I gather that this would be another parting-is-such-sweet-sorrow type of enka with the melody by Shunichi Sasaki（佐々木俊一）and arrangement by Masanobu Tokuchi（渡久地政信）. However, there is something rather interesting in there with the inclusion of what sounds like a steel pedal guitar for that Hawaiian feeling. Usually, I'd hear that most Polynesian of instruments in Mood Kayo but it's actually included in an enka tune. Maybe the fellow is headed off to the Aloha State for an undetermined period of time.

Katsuhiko Haida -- Kirameku Seiza (燦めく星座)

Somehow, I wasn't expecting my hand to be as big as Katsuhiko Haida's (灰田勝彦). Wait, let me rephrase: I wasn't expecting Katsuhiko Haida's hand to be as small as mine.

Before Hai-Katsu became one whose handprint I hunted for at the Asakusa Star Road, I think the only song from him I kinda liked was "Kirameku Seiza" (Glittering Constellation). For a long time, it was the one song where I was able to tolerate what I initially thought was a strange nasally crooning. 

"Kirameku Seiza" was one of the many tunes I'd gotten to know through my good ol' karaoke grandpa at my usual karaoke bar some time in 2021 or so. While an unfamiliar title and an artist I wasn't too fond of was glaring, the breezy jazzy melody sung by my Brojiisan was pleasant enough for me to look it up afterwards. That was when I came across this video below where the dandy Haida performed with actress Hideko Takamine (高峰秀子). Perhaps it was the more cozy arrangement with the piano tinkling away, but I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. Even Hai-Katsu's funny 'o' pronunciation was fine! That said, it wasn't a song I'd go out of my way to listen to at the time. 

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

The watershed moment came when "Kirameku Seiza" became my ouenka (encouragement song). I talked about it in my list of graduation songs earlier in the year when I hit rock bottom after being rejected by one of the schools I had been gunning for. I was taking a walk to clear my head when "Kirameku Seiza" came on. There have been many a tune where I felt that the lyrics resonated with me, but never had it hit as hard as this one's second stanza at that very moment.

Naze ni nagare kuru atsui namida yara    Why are the hot tears flowing?

Kore ga wakasa to iu mono sa tanoshi janaika    This is what youth is. Fun, isn't it?

Tsuyoi hitai ni hoshi no iro utsushite utaou yo    Let's sing, forehead reflecting the colour of the stars

Hearing this felt as though Haida was telling me, "Chin up, kiddo. It'll be fine." Then when I sang it for myself, it was as if I was telling myself that failure is part and parcel of life and that we all just need to take it in our stride and push forward. I'm thankful that everything worked out in the end (after much PAIN), but even now, this stanza of "Kirameku Seiza" gets me misty-eyed and I still use it to get through the ever-present rough patches and PAIN. Because of all these events over the span of about a year, Haida quickly went from, “Oh, geez, it’s the baseball-yodeling guy,” to, “HAI-KATSU!” 

The re-recorded version (from the late 60s or early 70s, I think).

Anyway, "Kirameku Seiza" was written by Takao Saeki (佐伯孝夫) and composed by Shunichi Sasaki (佐々木俊一), the pair behind many Hai-Katsu hits. It was originally a part of the soundtrack for the 1940 film "Hideko no Ouen Dancho" (秀子の応援団長) starring Takamine and Haida, who I found were frequent film co-stars in the pre and postwar periods, and released as the B-side to the show's main theme song "Seishun Ground" (青春グラウンド), also by Haida, in March of the same year. However, despite just surfacing in one scene, "Kirameku Seiza" outshone its A-side and allowed single sales to hit at least 400,000, propelling the Hawaiian-born performer to stardom.

The original recording.

As mentioned earlier, Saeki’s words are imbued with encouragement, fitting into the film's theme. From what I gathered, “Ouen Dancho” was your typical feel-good (I think) sports drama that revolved around the spunky, baseball-loving Hideko, trying to rally her uncle’s company baseball team that’s in a horrendous rut. The star player, played by Hai-Katsu (the baseball man himself), gets fired up by Deko chan’s cheerleading and manages to send the team on a winning streak. I don’t know when exactly “Kirameku Seiza” comes in, but if we’re going by movie tropes, it’s likely that Hai-Katsu’s character burst into song when downcast from the losing streak, but refuses to give up and wants to fight on with dignity. The original, snappier arrangement of Sasaki's melody aptly depicts the simple yet strong hopes of dreams of said athlete. You’d think that this inspiring tune with words geared towards the young Showa man would get by the picky wartime censors during the Pacific War. But it did not. 

According to Minobu Shiozawa’s (塩澤実信) omnibus on Showa era singers, “Kirameku Seiza” was one of the many songs condemned by the censors because of the first phrase of the song:

Otoko junjou no ai no hoshi no iro   The star-coloured love of a man's innocence (?)

The censors took offence because it allegedly was an insult to the star (hoshi) emblem of the Imperial Infantry. Likely adding to that was the song’s sentimentality and Hai-Katsu’s soft crooning. And if there’s anything I learnt about Japanese wartime media censors in the early 40s, it's that the “S” words are no-nos: Sentimentality, Sadness, Soft. Can’t have any of that. No sir. Not in this household. It got to the point where Saeki had to change that sentence to something more censor-friendly and war appropriate, if I'm not mistaken.

Once the war ended, “Kirameku Seiza” was re-released with its original lyrics and its popularity did not wane, enabling Hai-Katsu to enjoy an extended time in the limelight. And the most recent re-recording from the late 60s or early 70s (the second video) has a much fuller arrangement that conveys almost a celebratory mood. It's as if our baseball protagonist, now much older and with many successful seasons under his belt, is happily reminiscing his youth and its ups and downs. Here's to hoping we all can have such a moment.

Today (20th August) is actually Haida's birthday, which was why I wanted to feature one of the tunes by him that marked a significant milestone in my life, and give context to that 180 I did. Honestly, I do still find it amusing that such an important song came from a singer I did not like, but that in turn made me like him. He must be grinning, where ever he is. Cheers, Hai-Katsu! Happy 112th!