I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Welcome to another Monday, the final one for September 2026, at KKP. It was good to see another edition of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）and find out about another few ol' kayo kyoku that I hadn't heard before.
"Tokyo Nightclub"（東京ナイトクラブ）by Frank Nagai（フランク永井）and Kazuko Matsuo（松尾和子）remains as not only one of the most venerated and venerable Mood Kayo songs but I think it's also one of the most remembered tunes of the kayo kyoku era. I've been hearing this one for ages. The crazy thing though is that "Tokyo Nightclub" was actually the B-side of this July 1959 45" single.
The A-side was called "Good Night" and I got to hear it for the first time on "Nihon no Uta" last night, and for the late Matsuo, the two songs were her debut in the music industry. As with "Tokyo Nightclub", Matsuo was doing a duet but not with Nagai. She was recording this one with the Mood Kayo group Hiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars（和田弘とマヒナスターズ）, and true to form, this is another mournful minor-key tune of lost romantic opportunities in the city. Matsuo has more of the vocal responsibility here and she takes good advantage of it at the tender age of 24.
Both songs on either side of the record were handled by lyricist Takao Saeki（佐伯孝雄）and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）. Ironically, I am posting this song just a few days after the 34th anniversary of her untimely passing at the age of 57 due to complications from falling down the stairs.
I came across this quintessential song by Mood Kayo group Hiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars（和田弘とマヒナスターズ）recently so of course, I was going to post something about it. But for whatever reason, I couldn't find any sign of it on the band's long discography originating from 1958 on J-Wiki. However, when I dug elsewhere, I found Mahina Stars' website via Japan Victor and found out that their discography goes back even further to 1953! Indeed, this particular song "Tokyo no Hito" (Man of Tokyo) was released in 1957.
"Tokyo no Hito", which was written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝雄）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, has that mournful arrangement that Mahina Stars were especially famous for, thanks to the delivery of the voices and the Hawaiian steel pedal guitar that seems to cry out its melody. Not sure if this is what the songwriters had had in mind, but in the immediate postwar era, a lot of young able-bodied people (perhaps as young as middle school graduates) were heavily encouraged to come from the countryside to the cities to man the engines to drive Japan back to economic prosperity. A certain genre of kayo kyoku played upon the homesickness that many of these urban workers in the factories and office buildings probably felt and perhaps one of those songs is "Tokyo no Hito". A good song to drown out one's sorrows, n'est-ce-pas?
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.
It seems so long ago and yet it's only been a few months since enka singer and actor Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）left this mortal coil at the age of 82. I guess that the music that he provided fans were so imbued with the feeling of a long-ago era that it might be easy to assume that Hashi was someone from a very long time ago.
I was just scrolling through the Top 10 Songs of 1961 and it was evident that Hashi had a lot of hits during that time, including one that came in at No. 9,"Okesa Utaeba" (Why Not Sing A Traditional Folk Song?). Hashi's 3rd single was released in October 1960 and it's definitely an enka tune when compared to some of his later and more muscular rock kayo tunes such as "Zekken No. 1 Start da"（ゼッケンNO.1スタートだ）. Written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, it's got that jingly and jangly festival spirit in there although according to the J-Wiki article on "Okesa Utaeba", there was no choreography particularly planned for it in performances of the song unlike some of Hashi's other fare. I certainly thought that there was something min'yo about it.
With the mention of Niigata Prefecture in Saeki's lyrics and perhaps other places within the province, I assume that "Okesa Utaeba" can also be considered to be a go-touchi song or a regional tune as Hashi sings about the one that got away. Maybe the song is supposed to be a salve for that broken heart. Listeners could sympathize because "Okesa Utaeba" managed to sell about 200,000 records and break the Top 10 list in the pre-Oricon era as mentioned above.
It's been a month since veteran singer and actor Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）passed away at the age of 82, and I think the kayo kyoku world has still been mourning his loss. One thing I've noticed as I've posted his music up onto the blog over the past several years, especially his hits from the 1960s is that at one point from the mid-1960s at least, the powers-that-be above and surrounding him seemed to have wanted to give him that tough athletic image in both music and movies. His 1964 hit "Koi wo Suru nara"（恋をするなら）had viewers imagining him hanging ten off of a surfboard and I think they saw him do just that, too, in the movie "Kodoku"（孤独...Loneliness） which had the song as the theme tune. The following year, there was also "Ano Ko to Boku ~ Swim Swim Swim"（あの娘と僕-スイム・スイム・スイム-）with an accompanying movie which had young Hashi hitting the pool.
In between those two examples of his discography, there was his 56th single"Zekken No. 1 Start da"(It's the Start of Racer No. 1) which has him in the milieu of a Grand Prix race although no movie was adapted from it. Released in September 1964, the song does literally bring in the sounds and imagined sights of race time. As with the above two songs, "Zekken No. 1 Start da" was written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）as an example of Rhythm Kayo（リズム歌謡）, perhaps a proto-version of Group Sounds and something that was used to perhaps shake up the career of Hashi a bit more after earlier sweeter hits such as "Itsudemo Yume wo"（いつでも夢を）.
This was still in the pre-Oricon age so no ranking information, although I think that considering "Zekken No. 1 Start da" sold 240,000 records by May 1965, Hashi probably would have scored a Top 10 ranking at least. His Rhythm Kayo material just adds another dimension to his discography when compared to the solemn "Muhyou"（霧氷）and the jaunty "Koi no Mexican Rock"（恋のメキシカン・ロック）. To add one more thing, "Zekken No. 1 Start da" also happens to be one of my long-lost songs from my early memories. I hadn't heard this one since I was literally a baby and what got me to remember it once again was the roaring tires and that accordion which signified the urgency of the race.
One of the earlier posts on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was for the classic kayo "Itsudemo Yume wo"（いつでも夢を）by entertainers Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）and Sayuri Yoshinaga（吉永小百合）, a huge hit that also reached my ears early in life.
Well, that was all back in September 1962. But I'm sure that everyone involved was thinking about whether lightning could strike twice with Hashi and Yoshinaga. Sure enough, going into 1963, the songwriters for "Itsudemo Yume wo", lyricist Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, went to work and created "Wakai Tokyo no Yane no Shita"(Under the Roof of Young Tokyo) for recording and release in April of that year.
Not surprisingly, "Wakai Tokyo no Yane no Shita" was another big hit, officially known as Hashi's 34th single, as it sold a million records. It continues the same sort of happy-go-lucky beat from "Itsudemo Yume wo" as youth enjoy life in an emerging and vibrant Tokyo. A few months later, a movie was concocted based on the song. Yoshinaga starred in it and Hashi was supposed to have been in the film as well, but an incident involving him and others had landed the singer in hospital and so he wasn't able to fulfill the role which was then taken over by actor Mitsuo Hamada（浜田光夫）.
Last night's broadcast of NHK's morning show "Asaichi"（あさイチ）was once again truncated because of the government deliberations program, so what's a family to do? Instead of trying to search for stuff on Jme, I opted this time to look for something on YouTube because I've found that a lot of long-playing kayo kyoku programs have turned up on the platform. And sure enough, I hit the jackpot since there was a program titled "Jinsei, Uta ga Aru"（人生、歌がある...There's Music in Life）.
A show that's been on TV Asahi's satellite channel since 2020, it's been hosted by a mixture of TV Asahi announcers and enka singers, and at the time of the above video, it was the debonair veteran Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）and the lovely Natsuko Godai（伍代夏子）on hosting duties. That video was the one that we caught and it happened to be a 2023 episode commemorating the supposed retirement of kayo kyoku singer and actor Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）who was 80 at the time. I'm surprised that I never mentioned it in any of past articles in 2021 or 2022 but Hashi actually announced back in 2021 that he would be retiring from the spotlight on his 80th birthday on May 3rd 2023 after decades of entertaining the masses.
What looked like the Avengers of the current group of kayo kyoku-singing professionals all assembled to pay tribute to Hashi through covers of his old hits ranging from the haunting "Muhyou"（霧氷）to the jaunty "Koi no Mexican Rock"（恋のメキシカン・ロック）. And it was indeed quite the show for me because I realized that a majority of the songs by him were ones that I had first heard as a diaper-wearing toddler. I repeatedly internally remarked "I know that song!".
However, there were a few songs that had escaped my ears with one being "Wakai Yatsu"(Young Guy) which was Hashi's 23rd single from June 1962. A proud and brassy kayo march, the song was created by the famous songwriting team of lyricist Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）. It was also used as the theme song for the TBS drama of the same title "Wakai Yatsu ~ Hashi Yukio Show"（若いやつ〜橋幸夫ショー〜）. As shown, Hashi was the main star of the series which featured him as the young son in a wealthy family heading to a Tokyo university to learn about life and academics in the big city.
Singer Yukino Ichikawa（市川由紀乃）provided her version of "Wakai Yatsu" for him on "Jinsei, Uta ga Aru". The tribute ended with both Itsuki and Hashi tearing up a bit at the significance of the event. However, the brine was rather wasted when several months later in 2024, Hashi showed up in Tokyo to announce that he just didn't have the heart to retire after all. And so, he's continued to sing and he has vowed that he'll do so until his final breath. I remember Harumi Miyako（都はるみ）doing much the same thing in the 1980s, so it's not unprecedented.
Just before Christmas, I put up a Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）song titled "Doyoubi no Yoru wa Haneda ni Kuru no"（土曜の夜は羽田に来るの）, one of many songs in the kayo kyoku oeuvre that talk of romance won and lost (usually the latter) at the airport. Well, this one here has the same theme but it's from a different time and style.
Of course, Hiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars（和田弘とマヒナスターズ）are one of the premier Mood Kayo groups and with just their second single, they presented the melancholy "Yogiri no Air Terminal" (Night Fog Airport). Just gotta have that night fog rolling in for extra ambience. Not surprisingly, there is another final meeting of a couple before departing from each other forever although the airport in question is not specifically identified.
Written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, the Mahina Stars are also joined by a couple of female singers, Ukiko Kagurazaka（神楽坂浮子）and Kaoru Kagurazaka（神楽坂かおる）. Despite the identical family names, I'm not 100% sure whether the ladies are indeed sisters although Ukiko is listed on J-Wiki as being a geisha-turned-singer, much like Mamechiyo（豆千代）as mentioned in Noelle's recent article. With all the voices together and the steel pedal guitar, there is very much a mournful tone in store for listeners. "Yogiri no Air Terminal" was actually the first song that the Mahina Stars sang on the Kohaku Utagassen in their 10-appearance history on NHK's New Year's Eve special ranging from 1959 to 1989.
Singer Kazuko Matsuo（松尾和子）has been known among kayo kyoku fans for taking part in duets and group songs such as "Tokyo Nightclub"（東京ナイトクラブ）, her collaboration with Frank Nagai（フランク永井）. Of course, though, she has been releasing her own solo singles for years. And what I was struck by when I was poring through her discography on J-Wiki was that in 1960, she released a grand total of 11 singles...almost one a month. That's a lot of productivity and I'm wondering if she didn't end up dangerously exhausted by the end of the year.
Among that huge number of records was her 10th single from August of that year, "Saikai"(Reunion). I first heard it on a recent episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた...Songs of Japanese Spirit）, the network's show focusing on enka and the old kayo kyoku. Just from the arrangement alone, it's quite the melancholy waltz-like kayo (the lonely clarinet helps) about a woman who has met an old flame for the first time in a while and realizes how much she loved (and probably still loves) him. The punch in the gut is probably that they can never regain that old relationship again due to other factors such as the guy finding a new lover. And the resignation in Matsuo's vocals pinpoints that.
"Saikai" was written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, the same famous songwriting duo who came up with "Tokyo Nightclub" in 1959 for Matsuo and Nagai.
Lately, I've developed a greater appreciation for female singers from the early Showa era, which is quite something considering I quite exclusively only listened to male singers for the past... more than 20 years of my life. To give credit to where it's due, I wouldn't have done so without the help of prof. Yoshinori Osakabe (刑部芳則) and rakugo artist Takehei Hayashiya (林家たけ平) and their Showa-shoki no kayo maniac program, "Osakabe-Takehei Showa no Utagoe" (部たけ平昭和の歌声). Now if I were to watch natsumelo programs, I'd be just as happy to see Ohama-san(Hamako Watanabe... 渡辺はま子) or Shizuko-san(Shizuko Kasagi... 笠置シヅ子) as I'd be to see Mr. Fujiyama (Ichiro Fujiyama... 藤山一郎) or Minoru Obata (小畑実). It makes for a much more exciting viewing and listening experience since I can now look forward to many more artists. But we can consider Ohama-san and Shizuko-san towards the Western side of ryukoka, especially the latter with her jazz bops and groovy boogie-woogies. What about the Japanese side? That's where geisha singers, or uguisu geishacome in.
So, what is an uguisu geisha? They were originally geisha but moved to the record industry as popular singers. According to prof. Osakabe in the first video, this became a thing around the late 1920s and early 1930s when music producers, on jaunts to the geisha quarters, felt that the geishas' training in hogaku (traditional Japanese music) like kiyomoto, kouta and nagauta would make them perfect for hogaku-inspired record songs, like shin-minyo (new minyo/folk songs). They were recognised for their fine, silk-like voice, which combined with their overall high-tone, made them sound like the uguisu (Japanese bush warbler), especially when they go, "Ha-----" in some of their signature tunes, aptly referred to as "Ha-Kouta" (Ha Songs). Yusuke Wajima (輪島裕介) in "Tsukurareta Nihon no Kokoro Shinwa" (2010) added that they keep their mouths open as little as possible so as to not show their teeth, harkening back to their former profession's demand for feminine refinement (as defined at the time). This combination apparently made them particularly attractive and even erotic to the audience. My impression of geisha singers more or less fell on these lines, but it was far from my taste - *ahemmysixfellas*. However, because of their prominence in enka-kayo history, I naturally became more curious about them. "Showa no Utagoe" with their selection gave me the opportunity to really listen to what these demure performers had to offer, something I was more reluctant to do when just reading about them in books.
From my understanding of "Showa no Utagoe" and the other books I've read, the uguisu geisha singer boom came with the appearance Katsutaro Kouta (小唄勝太郎) and Ichimaru (市丸). Together, they dominated the early 30s ryukoka scene with their "Ha-Kouta" and this period was even known as the "Katsu-Ichi Jidai" or "Ichi-Katsu Jidai" (Katsu-Ichi/Ichi-Katsu Era) depending on the situation. They were huge rivals and were particular over semantics like that on programs they were on. Today, I shall put the spotlight on the younger of the two, Ichimaru nee-san (姐さん) - apparently, nee-san is how one can address a geisha.
Yup, I can certainly see why she's kirei kei.
Ichimaru, hailing from Nagano prefecture was a geisha in Asakusa, and so she used to be called Asakusa Ichimaru. When she signed on to Victor Records in 1931, she simply went by Ichimaru. She had multiple hits under her obi like "Chakkiri Bushi" (ちゃっきり節) and "Tenryu Kudareba" (天龍下れば) during the prewar period, but what about after the war? Many prewar singers did face much uncertainties in such an unstable time. Well, that's where Ryoichi Hattori (服部良一), the man known for Japanese jazz and blues, came in. With jazz and Western music becoming allowed again under the Allied Occupation, Hattori was free again to do what he did best. Together with Shizuko-san, Boogie-Woogie fever hit, what with "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie" and all. But the bombastic Shizuko-san had been known for jazz, so it was only natural for her to shine in her element. But what if Ichimaru nee-san did her own boogie-woogie? Hattori did combine rokyoku and Edo kappore with jazz via Mr. (Tadaharu) Nakano (中野忠晴) and his Rhythm Boys and Sisters, so making something for an uguisu geisha should be a walk in the park. And thus, "Shamisen Boogie-Woogie" was born.
Ain't no way she's in her 60s here.
As the kids nowadays would say, this song goes hard. Together with a fresh boogie-woogie rhythm, Hattori was sure to add in a healthy dose of rattling shamisen to keep with the title. Giving "Shamisen Boogie-Woogie" a slight Bon dance flair and an even more celebratory atmosphere was the addition of some raucous percussions. Hearing this, you can't tell if you stepped into a Bon odori circle or a jazz dance hall, but the vibe is so chaotically fun you wouldn't mind it either way. It's a song that makes one forget that it came out not long after the war in 1949 when the country was still trying to piece itself together. But it's a song like this that I'm sure made it easier for the many struggling to get by during that period.
Anyway, Ichimaru nee-san was known for her demure charm. While Katsutaro was known as the "cute one" (kawaii kei), Ichimaru was the "pretty one" (kirei kei) and she was said to have exuded an aura of refined elegance and intelligence. Despite the rowdy score, she maintained this cool, elegant charm through her delicate vocals as she always had while handling her hogaku-inspired hits. Certainly no Ichimaru fan at the time would have imagined this same voice going, "Hello, baby!" IN ENGLISH. It would've shocked the tabi off the most traditional Japanese listener, for sure! I would like to personally thank Takao Saeki (佐伯孝夫) sensei for putting that in the lyrics... Actually, for all we know it could've been Hattori's idea, considering the smiley composer's penchant for silly phrases in his songs. Man, this song is great. Her other fusion tunes, some by Hattori too, are just as fun to listen to, and it's made me warm up to Ichimaru nee-san considerably.
As you would've seen in the news, Japan hasn't had the best start to the year. The enka world has also experienced some great losses. In a time like this, sometimes it's good to have a cheerful song like "Shamisen Boogie-Woogie" to bring some colour back into life.
Odorya yokunaru masu masu yokunaru (It'll get better if you dance, way, way better)
Nasu mo kabocha mo keiki mo yokunaru (The eggplant, the pumpkin, even the atmosphere will get better)
P.S. One of the more amusing little articles I've read in old, digitalized entertainment magazines regarding Ichimaru nee-san was a piece by Katsuhiko Haida (灰田勝彦). There he talked about some of his good friends in show business and sports, one of them being Ichimaru. In his anecdote, he wrote that he once asked her out to watch a baseball game (of course) and she agreed despite having zero knowledge of the sport (I can probably guess why). This became apparent when she actually asked Hai-Katsu, "Are we supposed to clap now?" when a team scored. Oh, Ichimaru nee-san. Don't worry, I would've done the same thing.
Oh, Nishi-Ginza Station (West Ginza Station)? Heck, I know that subway station...not too far away from the main intersection, eh?
Ahhh, no. Sorry, that wouldn't be correct since there is no station known as Nishi-Ginza Station on the Tokyo Metro. There is a Higashi-Ginza Station（東銀座駅...East Ginza Station） on the Toei Asakusa Line and the Hibiya Line that I've gotten off at, but putting in Nishi-Ginza Station into the search engines will only get you the title of an early film by the late Shohei Imamura（今村昌平）titled "Nishi-Ginza Eki Mae"(In Front of Nishi-Ginza Station) which was released in 1958.
Just from my observation, it seems as if the less-than-one-hour comedy has been given short shrift by about everybody including Imamura himself, according to this review at "Blueprint: Review". There's not even a J-Wiki article about the movie. Only the second movie that he directed, Imamura was apparently trying to go for some variant on "The Seven-Year Itch" (1955) by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe.
The interesting thing is that Mood Kayo crooner Frank Nagai（フランク永井）seems to have a mystical role to play in the movie as not only the narrator but also a subway staffer and a lounge singer. Not surprisingly, he sings the titular theme song which is how I found out about the movie in the first place. Written by veterans Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, it's a brassy jazz piece with a bit of rockabilly guitar mostly about one fellow's frequent visitations to the club in the Ginza neighbourhood in search of drink and dames. I was a bit struck by that line of "ABC...XYZ" which I thought would have been ideal in a "Sesame Street" tune or something by an aidoru much later in the century.
When I posted the "Top 10 Singles for 1961" in the fading minutes of September 30th 2023, I couldn't help but notice the fact that singer Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）had no fewer than four songs on the list. That was quite the achievement and the last time that I saw a single artist or band with as many as four songs on the Top 10 for a particular list was probably AKB48.
As such, I had to look into and write about at least one of those Hashi hits and so I went with No. 2 on the Top 10, "Nankai no Bishonen" (The Handsome Boy of the South Seas). Released in May 1961 as as his 8th single, when I first saw and translated that title, I envisioned some toned and tanned Polynesian kid having a ton of fun under the sun while wearing a grass skirt. But then, I heard the melody by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）and the lyrics by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）, and realized that this was anything but a tale of tropical Nirvana.
Actually, the young man in the title refers to Shiro Amakusa（天草四郎）, a 17-year-old Japanese Catholic leader of the Shimabara Rebellion (1637-1638), the biggest uprising against the Shogunate in Japanese history. Also calling himself Geronimo and Francisco, the rebellion in what is now Nagasaki Prefecture involved fighting back against the policies enforced by the daimyo of Shimabara which included prohibition of Christianity. In the end, the rebellion was defeated and Amakusa and his thousands of followers were beheaded. So, I can imagine the militaristic and mournful melody of this song which has also been given the subtitle of "Shiro Amakusa's Song".
The above has fresh-faced enka singer Shin Aoyama（青山新）performing "Nankai no Bishonen" in front of the original singer himself.
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 yaraWhy are the hot tears flowing?
Kore ga wakasa to iu mono sa tanoshi janaikaThis is what youth is. Fun, isn't it?
Tsuyoi hitai ni hoshi no iro utsushite utaou yoLet'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 iroThe 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!
April 26 2023: I was given the correction for the title earlier today from commenter Yurihan on the proper reading of the title. It is indeed "Fuyuko to Iu Onna" according to the romaji reading of the single cover as located on the Amazon site given to me in the comments below. However, I am leaving the text that I had originally typed in as is so that you can see why Yurihan made the comment without any confusion although the title on the byline has now been corrected.
Hmmm...usually it's been with the names of the singers or songwriters that I've sometimes run into reading problems. This time, though, it's the title although I think I may have a handle on it due to coming across similarly titled kayo over the years.
By the way, I am talking about a 1964 single by the late Frank Nagai（フランク永井）, "Fuyuko to Iu Hito"(A Woman Named Fuyuko). I tried searching for the proper reading of that original title as you can see above as usual but I couldn't find anything and the lyrics by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝雄）don't have the title in there. The title if read directly would come out as "Fuyuko to Iu Onna" but I know that enka legend Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）has had his "Hito" (which actually means "person" in English) series of songs based on a woman and a certain geographical area in Japan. For example, there is "Hakodate no Hito"（函館の女...Woman of Hakodate） and "Onomichi no Hito"（尾道の女...Woman of Onomichi）.
Although I hadn't been too sure about why the furigana would say "hito" over the kanji of "onna" when I wrote about Sabu-chan's "Hakodate no Hito", perhaps now I can give a theory. Maybe to refer to "onna" instead of "onna no hito" in the title is a little too rude and abrupt, but the full expression may just be a bit too long for titular purposes. And so, a compromise was made, but again, that's just my theory.
In any case, Nagai's "Fuyuko to Iu Hito" was created by kayo veterans, lyricist Saeki and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, in the form of a stringent tango. The cover has Nagai looking rather pensive over this drink and that's because he is worried and he cares greatly for Fuyuko, a woman that he's probably seen in the drinking joints doing her duties all the while she's hiding great pain inside. He would love to help her but circumstances may indeed be preventing him from doing so. Isn't that a typical kayo for you?
I'd read about entertainer Yukio Hashi's（橋幸夫）intention to retire this May at around his birthday at the age of 80, and according to the press conference above, he actually had already made his announcement last year. Well, earlier on the NHK News, he also declared that he was now looking for his successor. Thinking along the lines of traditional entertainers such as kabuki actors and rakugo storytellers who inherit names from their masters and pass them onto their beloved acolytes, he posited about why couldn't a singer do the same thing. It would be setting a precedent since as far as I know, this had never been done before involving a singer from the kayo kyoku era.
The surprising thing was that I had assumed that the singer was using a stage name of Yukio Hashi which would have made things easier in terms of passing on a name. But looking at his J-Wiki profile, I found out that Yukio Hashi is indeed his birth name, although the second kanji for his first name Yukio（橋幸男）at birth is different from the one that has been used in his career. Maybe that was good enough for Hashi to treat the name that his fans have known all this time as a stage name. Regardless, Hashi is searching for that younger, tougher and more talented singer to become Yukio Hashi II (and again that special second kanji will be changing) to sing his old hits so that fans and others won't ever forget them. I wish him well.
Noelle Tham was good enough to cover Hashi's debut single"Itakogasa" (潮来笠) from July 1960, so I'm going with his second entry, "Are ga Misaki no Hi da"(That's the Light of the Cape) which was released a mere month following his debut. I believe that it was normal for the singles of new singers to come out strong and fast so not surprisingly, his third single"Okesa Utaeba"（おけさ唄えば...Singing in the Traditional Style） came out a little more than a month later in October.
It's been the case sometimes that I have to wonder whether a certain Japanese song is actually an enka or a straight ahead kayo kyoku or Japanese pop song. "Are ga Misaki no Hi da" has that somewhat emotional and slightly mournful tone that the traditional genre of enka is famous for, but Hashi's second single is also arranged through Western instruments and according to the J-Wiki article for "Are ga Misaki no Hi da", it's been categorized as a kayo kyoku. Well, I'll do my usual straddling of the genres here.
Regardless, the song was created by veteran songsmiths, lyricist Takao Saeki（佐伯孝雄）and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）. Hashi sings about a man relating a story to someone while on board a ship rounding a promontory and points out perhaps what could be a lighthouse or a beacon there. It just so happens that the man's home port is there along with the love of his life. It's uncertain whether the relationship is ongoing or is now in the past tense but just judging from the tone of the song and the usual kayo tropes, it could very much be the latter. However, Hashi sings in his last line that the woman has changed the man no matter what the status of the relationship is.
Through a book that Hashi co-wrote titled "Hashi Yukio Kayo Tamashi"（橋幸夫歌謡魂...Yukio Hashi The Soul of Kayo） and referenced on J-Wiki, he stated that because of the lightning-quick release of his early singles in the 1960s, although he personally liked "Are ga Misaki no Hi da", the hits of his first and third singles rendered his second single into a less venerated song. Still, it managed to sell around 100,000 copies throughout 1961 so it was no big flop by any means.
Getting back to the news of Hashi's retirement from the geinokai, I really felt that time has been going by since he will be leaving in a few months as a familiar face in entertainment and as one of the Ganso Gosanke（元祖御三家）. One other member of the trio, Teruhiko Saigo（西郷輝彦）, died almost a year ago, which would leave only Kazuo Funaki（舟木一夫）.
Unfortunately, the thumbnail photo here isn't quite accurate since this was taken during the fall of2017 but it looks festive enough by Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. What I wanted to get across is that the summer festival season is most likely back in Japan considering that the Gion Festival of Kyoto returned in all of its glory last month and I saw the news report on the annual fireworks festival in Niigata Prefecture.
Mind you, this video uploaded by dodondo was apparently taken at some Wakayama Prefecture festival in late September some years back, but the important thing is that even in the early days of autumn, people can still enjoy a good matsuri. Of course, a festival means a lively dance to an ondo around the yagura stage. And the first song featured here is "Tozai Nanboku Ondo" (Traditional Folk Song of the East, West, South and North).
Recorded as a duet featuring Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）and Akemi Misawa（三沢あけみ）and consequently released in June 1967, "Tozai Nanboku Ondo" was created by lyricist Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, two of Hashi's mentors in the music industry. With those taiko drums and shamisen in play, it would be more than enough for folks to stand up and get into that ring around the yagura.
According to J-Wiki, the song was recognized as Hashi's 90th single, and I also found out that the singer has had the second-highest number of duets with Misawa, next to his collaborations with actress/singer Sayuri Yoshinaga（吉永小百合）. In any case, for those KKP viewers in Japan, let me know if you have any local festivals coming up this month.
When I celebrated the first anniversary of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" at the end of January 2013, I chose the kayo "Muhyou"（霧氷）, the haunting 1966 hit by Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）because it is a song that I had heard since I was literally a toddler but didn't know the title nor the singer at the time. However, thanks to a viewing of the previous NHK incarnation of the regular kayo show "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）a few weeks earlier that had Hashi appear and perform "Muhyou", I finally found out the truth. The (re-)discovery of that song was an early example of me finding out some of those lost kayo in my head.
Guess what? Another kayo lost in the ancient windmills of my mind has been unearthed once more, and moreover it was yet another NHK kayo show and the same singer involved. Yesterday, I was finishing off a KKP article and then headed back to the living room where the TV was showing an episode of "Songs of Japanese Spirit", and it turns out that there was a tribute to the late composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）. I then heard this song that hadn't actually actively entered my ears in decades but had popped up every so often in my brain.
And the reason that this dusty kayo remained stuck in my head all these years without a singer's name or a title was that it possessed this very dynamic arrangement. Yukio Hashi's "Ano Ko to Boku ~ Swim Swim Swim" (That Girl and I) sounded like some sort of soundtrack from a 1940s Hollywood adventure into Africa, especially with a haunting but relentlessly chanting chorus which included a battery of "Yeah, yeah, yeah"! The rhythm came across as a melodic expression of a tribal custom as filtered through Tinseltown.
"Ano Ko to Boku" was a June 1965 single by Hashi (his 68th) that was composed/arranged by Yoshida with lyrics by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）, and despite that exotic sound, the song is actually all about the whirlwinds of love and hedonism on the beach. It's definitely not enka, the setting and the really active melody don't put it into Mood Kayo either, but that rollicking rhythm seems to throw "Ano Ko to Boku" into some gray zone between Group Sounds and kayo that is perhaps described as Rhythm Kayo which is the genre that the song has been put into according to the J-Wiki article.
This became a huge hit for Hashi, and though Oricon was still a few years away, it was placed at No. 1 in the monthly magazines of "Myojo"（明星）and "Heibon"（平凡）. In addition, having "Ano Ko to Boku" sell over 700,000 records within two months of its release was another nice sign of its success. It also won a Grand Prize at the Japan Record Awards and then even had Hashi appear for his 6th straight time on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen to perform the song with a number of his fellow White team members (including actor Kiyoshi "Tora-san" Atsumi) getting in on the act. To put the final cherry on top, a movie with the same title was released just several weeks after the single's appearance on the record store shelves with Hashi starring.
Glad to cross off another mystery kayo from my mind.
Of course, Bing Crosby's discography is bigger than "White Christmas" although whenever his name is mentioned, that particular song will be the first to come to mind to many. I've known that he was quite the crooner many years before he and Irving Berlin's legendary Xmassong for the ages were put together, and a few of his songs managed to get onto the old LP compilation of standards that our family had (or perhaps has...just misplaced).
But his "The Day You Came Along" is a new one for me. Created by the songwriting duo of Sam Coslow and Arthur Johnson, Der Bingle introduced it in his 1933 movie "Too Much Harmony" as a song of woo for that special someone.
The reason that I'm even introducing "The Day You Came Along" here in a non-ROY capacity is that I first encountered it as a cover by singer Tokiko Kato（加藤登紀子）under the title of "Akogare no Sora" (The Sky I've Wanted). It's a track on Kato's 1983 album, "Yume no Ningyo"（夢の人魚...A Siren Dream） whose concept is all about the music that was heard between 1914 and 1939, through the Taisho and early Showa eras. The singer produced the album alongside Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, and he was also the arranger for this particular playful track, according to Tower Records.
I've known Kato as the tenderhearted folk singer behind "Shiretoko Ryojou"（知床旅情）but over the years and especially listening to some of her other songs through my old radio program "Sounds of Japan", I also know that she's more than game with other genres. Listening to her husky voice tackle Bing's old song, she sounds as if she is a natural for old-style nightclub torch singing in the European establishments. Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）was responsible for providing Kato with the Japanese lyrics for "The Day You Came Along". I really enjoy the classy but, as I said before, playful nature of this cover version.
Come to think of it, I'm going to have to do a Reminiscings of Youth for "White Christmas" although that song was more than 20 years before my appearance on Earth.
Our resident enka and Mood Kayo expert, Noelle Tham, was the first to introduce kayo singer Koichi Miura（三浦洸一）onto the pages of our blog back in 2018 with the gallant enka of "Ochiba Shigure" (落葉しぐれ) and then the jaunty marching beat of "Benten Kozo" (弁天小僧). Just to provide some background on the singer, Miura was born Toshiyasu Kuwata（桑田利康）on New Year's Day 1928 and his stage name was based on the fact that he was born in the city of Miura in Kanagawa Prefecture. He attended what is now known as the Tokyo College of Music and after his graduation, he entered Japan Victor Records in 1952 and became the protégé of composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）.
With "Ochiba Shigure" and "Benten Kozo" becoming his first hits in 1953 and 1955 respectively, my contribution to the Miura file will be "Tokyo no Hito" (Tokyo People) which was also the theme song for a movie of the same name released in 1956.
Not sure if I can categorize "Tokyo no Hito" as either an enka or a Mood Kayo (although the melody by his mentor Yoshida seems to lean towards the latter). I think in the end, I would put it as that typical orchestral kayo that was seemingly made as theme songs for cinematic dramas in the nation in those days. It seems to have that somewhat melancholy feeling with a plucky guitar and a sad muted trumpet in the background as if they were describing one of the characters in the movie who is down on his/her luck in the big unforgiving city.
Lyrics were provided by another kayo veteran of the time, Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）, and they describe the usual trials and tribulations of love with plenty of namedropping of the various quarters in Tokyo such as Ginza, Asakusa and Shibuya. Incidentally, Miura appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen eight times between 1955 and 1963 but none of his songs included "Tokyo no Hito".
I don't know what Miura is doing at the age of 93 but his J-Wiki profile states that he had never gotten a driver's license, preferring to leave the wheel to either his wife or manager. At least there is one thing that he and I have in common.
Ahhh...to be young, footloose and fancy-free in early 1960s Japan as the nation was coming out from the shadow of the early postwar years. Not quite certain who the really popular actresses in Hollywood were at around the same time: were they Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn? I think I may have a slightly stronger handle when it comes to the Japanese equivalent...Sayuri Yoshinaga（吉永小百合）.
Of course, Yoshinaga has been represented on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for a long while. One of the first songs that I put up on the blog in that first year of existence was "Itsudemo Yume wo"（いつでも夢を）, her 1962 duet with Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）that has become a kayo classic and a song that I heard early in my life.
Well, the B-side of that single was "Asu no Hanayome"(Tomorrow's Bride), this time only performed by Yoshinaga. Written and composed by the same duo behind "Itsudemo Yume wo", lyricist Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, this was the theme song for a 1962 Yoshinaga movie of the same name regarding a young woman born and raised on Shodo Island (just off of Kagawa Prefecture) but starting a new life as a student at a university in Kobe on the mainland. Of course, from what I've seen in the above video, she encounters all sorts of ups and downs including those of the romantic variety, everything to sate a Sayurist.
Not surprisingly, "Asu no Hanayome" has a similar sound to the much more famous "Itsudemo Yume wo" but it comes across as a sleepier and more contented ballad.
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