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.
Showing posts with label Tetsuro Hoshino. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tetsuro Hoshino. Show all posts
As with my previous article, the song of this posting was something that I had also seen last night on NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. Unlike Akira Mita（三田明）, who was able to appear on the show to sing one of his hits, enka singer Hideo Murata（村田英雄）left this mortal coil back in 2002 but thankfully his legacy has been able to live on through his music via sources such as TV and YouTube.
One of Murata's trademark songs that was covered by Noelle Tham was the 1961 "Osho"（王将）where he sang about the wonder and dignity of the game of shogi. He also gave his tribute to the martial art of judo a couple of years later in February 1963 via "Judo Ichidai"(Judo for Life) and just as he had for "Osho", his oaken and proud delivery for this particular song belied an elegance which may have also reflected aspects of judo itself through the precise techniques and applied strength used.
Composer Shinichi Yamaji（山路進一）and lyricist Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）were behind the creation of "Judo Ichidai" which also became the theme song for the movie of the same name that was released in April 1963. The movie starred Sonny Chiba（千葉真一）and there was a small part for Murata himself, although the poster below seems somewhat misleading.
Over a decade ago, I posted an article on Saburo Kitajima's（北島三郎）debut single from 1962, "Bungacha Bushi"（ブンガチャ節）. Kitajima has recently retired as the Grand Old Man of Enka but back in those early 1960s, he was merely a 26-year-old man getting his start in the music industry, so on hearing that his first song was getting banned due to some innuendo within the lyrics, he must have wondered whether he was heading back to the salt mines, figuratively speaking. He didn't have to worry too long, though.
In any case, I have his B-side here and it was created by the same duo behind "Bungacha Bushi", lyricist Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composer Toru Funamura（船村徹）. "Nakimushi Yokocho"(Crybaby Alley), just from the English translation of the title, might sound like something rock n' roll but as was the case with the A-side, it's a fairly galumphing kayo kyoku that still makes me wonder whether it can also be categorized as an upbeat enka tune despite all of the Western instrumentation. Lyrically speaking, it seems to be about the life in the inner city and all that reside there including the local gangster element.
Once again, NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた）came to the rescue with another new enka discovery although the actual song is a few decades old.
Enka singer Ichiro Toba（鳥羽一郎）has been famous for his debut single and hit"Kyodai Bune"（兄弟船）from 1982, and I'm gathering that he may leave this mortal coil (not soon, I certainly hope) being known as the oceangoing enka master.
What he sang on that episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta" was another enka devoted to the sea, "Umi no Inori"(A Prayer for the Sea), which was his 8th single from May 1985. Created by the same duo behind "Kyodai Bune", lyricist Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composer Toru Funamura（船村徹）, you couldn't have another more manly-man enka than "Umi no Inori" with its blasting trumpet, tempestuous strings and gentle guitar representing the fickleness of the great blue. Just like "Kyodai Bune", there's very much of a man in his grand element...his home and mate for life is the great blue ocean.
On the most recent episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた...Songs of Japanese Spirit）, veteran singer Kenichi Mikawa（美川憲一）appeared to sing a song titled "O-kane wo Choudai" (Please Give Me the Money) and from the arrangement, I figured that it must have been created decades ago.
And as it turns out, it was indeed made decades ago. It was released in November 1971 as Mikawa's 21st single and written by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composed by Hiroyuki Nakagawa（中川博之）. Based on conversations that lyricist Hoshino had overheard among hostesses (and perhaps clients) at a cabaret, the song deals with one hostess' final reluctant goodbye talk with a soon-to-be former paramour. The lady asks for money to deal with the expenses racked up because of her relationship with him, and the way Mikawa sings it, it sounds like her imploring him rather than threatening him, although in the end, she hints that's the only way he'll finally be rid of her.
My mother had never heard of the song either before that episode so she reacted with a bit of surprise and disgust at the title, and apparently "O-kane wo Choudai" did cause some controversy at the time that it was released. For one thing, because of the lyrics, it hadn't been allowed to be performed on NHK although over the decades, the network finally relented. Women had also complained to Mikawa or his representatives about showcasing such a supposedly grubby hostess but somehow the singer was able to convince the detractors that it wasn't the woman who was the villain here. "O-kane wo Choudai" reached No. 40 on Oricon.
Back in my junior high school days, one of the few teachers that I actually got along with well was our gym teacher. This is rather ironic since I was frankly the laughingstock of gym class and if the opportunity presented itself, I would feign illness and sleep it off in the nurse's office. In any case, me and a couple of friends were in the jogging club, and our gym teacher was an avid jogger. He was a Bear Grylls type in that he could take on any physical challenge with gusto...probably knew every vintage of his urine.
Well, one day, he exhorts us after school to go out for a brief run. Usually he likes the long run but that day was special on account of there being a MAJOR BLIZZARD raging outside. We began uttering our reluctance but the teacher wouldn't hear anything negative so he threw all of us outside in our tracksuits and sweaters (the one example of winter clothing that he would allow on our person) and we went out battling the hostile elements of snow coming in like missiles and darts, slicing winds and accumulating white stuff that threatened to engulf us like quicksand. How we survived that (and how he survived not getting a lawsuit thrown against him) I have no idea but we somehow managed to slog through an hour of jogging (?) on the side streets.
I always think of that notorious afternoon in the late 1970s when I listen to Saburo Kitajima's（北島三郎）epic "Fubuki Nagare Tabi" (Trek Through Wind and Snow). To be honest, I got to hear the performance again by the legendary enka singer from northern Japan when I watched an NHK retrospective on the Kohaku Utagassen last night which was actually better in its 75-minute format rather than those more arduous multi-day pre-Kohaku warmups with loads of comedians and singers.
Created by veteran lyricist Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and veteran composer Toru Funamura（船村徹） for Sabu-chan as his 37th single from September 1980, "Fubuki Nagare Tabi" has everything for a Kitajima song: strings which glide and stab, a veritable army of shamisen players, a grand arrangement by Masahito Maruyama（丸山雅仁）that reflects the tough journey up in the wintry north, and of course, the singer's clarion call delivery that exhorts and encourages at the same time. He not only sings about the various areas of the region such as Otaru and Hachinohe but he even mentions the instruments making the music and the sounds of nature as they come into some confluence. Enka fans from prefectures including Hokkaido and Akita probably shed a tear or two of pride.
The Kitajima signature song did OK by scoring a high of No. 28 on Oricon and it won the first Masao Koga Memorial Music Award（古賀政男記念音楽大賞）in 1980. However, what gave it immortality was his singing of "Fubuki Nagare Tabi" as the final performance on the 32nd edition of the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1981 (he had actually first sung it on the 31st edition). A battalion of shamisen singers was behind the yukata-garbed Kitajima as he sang his heart out but the piece de resistance was the largest and most intense indoor hurricane of paper snow flakes which threatened to engulf not only Sabu-chan but the stage and the audience (not sure whether the singer strangled the special effects guy or hugged him in gratitude). Even non-enka fans will probably remember Kitajima for that one scene even if they don't remember it as part of the Kohaku. He would sing "Fubuki Nagare Tabi" five more times in later editions.
Unfortunately, the above video isn't from that Kohaku but I found something that is a less intense version.
It's hard to believe that we're approaching the 11th anniversary of the untimely passing of singer-songwriter Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）. He really had that timeless voice which struck me as very much of an old-fashioned lonesome cowboy croon. There are so many examples but I can state one here which is "Shiawase na Ketsumatsu"（幸せな結末）, his November 1997 hit and theme song for the Fuji-TV drama "Love Generation".
But Ohtaki also had his sense of humour that up until recently never got noticed. In March 2023, a double-CD album was released, "Ohtaki Eiichi ~ NOVELTY SONG BOOK/NIAGARA ONDO BOOK". Disc 1 was the novelty songbook which features unreleased tracks with Ohtaki behind the mike and tongue firmly planted in cheek for at least some of the tunes. One such number is "Hormone Kouta ~ Genki de Cha-Cha-Cha"(The Hormone Song ~ Happy Cha-Cha-Cha) which had originally been created for singer-actor Akira Kobayashi（小林旭）back in 1976 for an album project but when those plans fell through, the song was shelved for the last few decades, except for one time when Ohtaki played it on Internet radio. In fact, it was so rarely heard that folks wondered if "Hormone Kouta" was nothing more than an urban legend.
Written by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composed by Ohtaki, "Hormone Kouta" is a song about replenishing one's mojo that sounds like a mix between kayo kyoku and a march from Disneyland. Certainly, it's a different voice from Ohtaki who sounds as if he needs some of those aphrodisiacs listed in the lyrics such as liver, raw eggs and honey (hopefully not together). The tongue-in-cheek aim is to have the song aimed at the middle-aged and elderly to get some of the sexual energy back. It's definitely ironic in that this had originally been meant for Kobayashi since his reputation has been that of a virile and masculine personage.
Happy Monday! And it's a regular Monday here but I had been wondering why the Jme TV schedule was all different today. For instance, we only had a half hour of NHK's "News at 9" broadcast instead of the usual one hour and as it turned out, that was due to the fact that it was the third Monday of July, the national holiday known as Marine Day in Japan. So, I figure that everyone was out at the beach or on the water today. Then again, I figure that everyone has been out at the beach or on the water every weekend during this blistering summer.
Well, I thought about putting up something ocean-based as a kayo kyoku today and it didn't take me long to find this one called "Showa Kitamaebune"(The Northbound Ships of Showa) which was enka singer Ichiro Toba's（鳥羽一郎）14th single from May 1987. Crustily sung by Toba, the kitamaebune even has an English Wikipedia entry which talks about Edo Era and Meiji Era merchant ships which went along a route from Osaka all the way up to Hokkaido while stopping off at ports along the Sea of Japan. However, with the advent of railroads on land, the kitamaebune had soon been tossed onto the transportation heap of history before the end of the Meiji Era.
Written by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composed by Toru Funamura（船村徹）, I'm assuming that the kitamaebune depicted in this muscular enka number was talking more of a manly man's farewell to his younger sister as she joins her new husband up further north sometime in the Showa Era (1926-1989). The song might have that feeling of a tough Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）song but the lyrics reveal more of the tender side of a bittersweet goodbye and good luck to a beloved family member.
The above video comes from NP-office and it silently shows a typical kitamaebune.
The above is a photograph of an intersection in Asakusa and I believe that building on the left is the main tourist centre. I never visited the place since I was actually working and not touring in my old stomping grounds.
Back in 2017, I posted a song called "Koi wa Kamiyo no Mukashi kara"（恋は神代の昔から）, originally recorded by enka singer Midori Hatakeyama（畠山みどり）that I'd first discovered on a charity kayo kyoku concert on NHK. Well, just by chance, the other day I managed to discover another Hatakeyama song performed on "Uta Con"（うたコン）that was released a little over six months following the singer's debut of "Koi wa Kamiyo no Mukashi kara".
"Shusse Kaidou"(The Road to Success) was the Hokkaido singer's 3rd single from December 1962 and I think it's been seen as her signature song. Created by the same duo behind her debut, lyricist Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composer/arranger Shosuke Ichikawa（市川昭介）, Hatakeyama sings this as a bokyo kayo（望郷歌謡）or a song of longing which means it shares a similarity with Hachiro Kasuga's（春日八郎）iconic "Wakare no Ippon Sugi" (別れの一本杉) as it relates the tale of someone who has to go to the big city away from their rural village to be able to make it in the world though it also means sad farewells and long separations. Considering that there had been a government-encouraged mass migration of people as young as junior high school graduates from the towns to the cities from the late 1940s to get the economy up and running fast again, such songs hit the heart hard.
NHK noticed that, too. In fact, Hatakeyama was invited onto the 1963 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen for her first appearance on the New Year's Eve special, her first of three appearances with the last two coming in 1964 and 1966. What has struck me about her singing was that she was all of 23 years old when she recorded "Shusse Kaidou" and yet her vocals sound like those of a much more veteran performer. I'm not an enka expert by any means but that voice is not green but darn oaken to me.
Hatakeyama is now 85 years old and her most recent 78th single came out in 2016. One other piece of trivia that I read on her J-Wiki profile is that she'd been once known as one of the more ravenous stock investors within the enka community during the financially crazed Bubble era in late 1980s Japan. At one point, she'd made 4.7 billion yen but then lost it all when the bubble finally imploded at the turn of the decade. She owed a lot of money but was somehow able to pay it all back over the years, vowing to never play that wild with her funds ever again. Perhaps this could be considered her road to wisdom?
Michi Aoyama（青山ミチ）was born as Fusako Yagi（八木フサ子）in Yokohama in 1949 to a Japanese mother and an American soldier. She was barely into her teens when she won a prize in a jazz singing contest in 1961 which got noticed by the then Polydor Records, and by the following year, she made her debut as a singer. Over the next four years, she would release around 25 singles for the recording company which would have included a song called "Kaze Fuku Oka de"（風吹く丘で...On a Windy Hill） in late 1966 (and also her own cover of "Namida no Taiyo"（涙の太陽）in May 1965). However, Aoyama was then arrested for drug possession which got her kicked out of Polydor, and "Kaze Fuku Oka de" was shelved until a few years later, when it was given a new title and presumably new lyrics and arrangement. It was then called "Amairo no Kami no Otome"（亜麻色の髪の少女）which became a classic for The Village Singers (ヴィレッジ・シンガーズ) in early 1968.
Despite the seriousness of the incident, Aoyama was able to transfer to a new company, Nippon Crown, surprisingly quickly and was even able to release her first single with them in December 1966. In February 1968, at approximately the same time that her former song was released by The Village Singers, a new Aoyama single came out, "Shikaranaide" (Don't Be Mad). A relatively upbeat Mood Kayo written by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composed by Jinzo Kosugi（小杉仁三）, it relates the story of a mother who beseeches the heavens above for mercy for her wayward daughter. Taking into consideration the genre, I can imagine that the daughter may be working in Shinjuku. There is also some irony of Aoyama singing this song considering her past troubles.
Unfortunately, the troubles continued for the singer going forwards. Aoyama was arrested for the same crime in 1978 and 1999. Earlier in 1974, she had even been arrested for shoplifting. There was a second release of "Shikaranaide" in 1975 but her final official single had come out in May 1972. In January 2017, Aoyama was found dead in her home in Yokosuka due to acute pneumonia. She was 67.
It might seem a tad odd to put up an old Mood Kayo on a warm Saturday morning to start today's gaggle of articles on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but the fact is that I hadn't written anything on the earlier days of the genre in some time. Plus, I haven't really seen any of the Mood Kayo groups up on "Uta Con"（うたコン）recently, although I am aware of the age of these performers.
Therefore, I'm going to with one of the big ones. Akira Kurosawa & Los Primos（黒沢明とロス・プリモス）have been known for their geographically-based love ballads, and a lot of them have had the word blues attached at the end of the title. For instance, there are their "Niigata Blues"（新潟ブルース）, "Ginza Blues"（銀座ブルース）and "Asahikawa Blues"（旭川ブルース）.
All of those places are known to me since I lived close to one of the locations and frequently visited one other location. However, I have to admit that I was at an initial loss when I first heard Los Primos' August 1968 10th single"Jogasaki Blues" since that place name wasn't something that I'd known. Well, as it turns out, I wasn't actually too far away from it since I did stay one night at a ryokan in Ito City, Shizuoka Prefecture. The Jogasaki Coast is actually just southwest of the city and is part of the massive Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.
Well, for a rather rugged coastline, "Jogasaki Blues" still has that 60s urban club lifestyle imbued into it as I'm sure that a sweet and painful romance is being played out within Tetsuro Hoshino's（星野哲郎）lyrics, and of course, all of those Mood Kayo tropes show up in Ikuo Sekino's（関野幾生）melody: the tango-like arrangement, the bluesy saxophone and the somewhat mournful delivery by the group. I can estimate, though, that a final encounter was taking place one of those windswept cliffs on the titular coastline.
I was watching NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた...Songs of Japanese Spirit） earlier this afternoon, and I saw enka singer Takeshi Kitayama（北山たけし）performing his father-in-law's New Year's Day 1991 single as a tribute to the late composer Toru Funamura（船村徹）.
Of course, when that father-in-law is the legendary Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）, there's a lot to live up to, but Kitayama did him proud today. "Kita no Daichi" (The Great Land in the North) has got that quintessential Sabu-chan sound: the grand and muscular enka stomp, the epic chorus and Kitajima's proud proclamation about his home prefecture of Hokkaido as this vast area of nature and goodness, thanks to the lyrics provided by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）. It doesn't surprise me that the single was released right on New Year's Day since I could imagine if it had been a sunny day up there in Hokkaido on January 1st, the blue sky, the snow-capped mountains and the sea of white would have been spectacular.
Peaking at No. 33 on Oricon, "Kita no Daichi" won a Grand Prize at the Japan Record Awards that year and Kitajima made his appearance on the 1991 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen to perform the song. The paper snowflakes must have been in especially great supply during that performance.
It's been some years since enka singer, actress and TV personality Sachiko Kobayashi（小林幸子）has appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen. She used to be a perennial participant on the New Year's Eve special with the last several years having her perform the tradition of appearing in increasingly larger dresses/mammoth sets on stage. Frankly, I think the producers let that ritual go on somewhat too long so when she first stopped getting onto the special, I actually breathed some relief.
That doesn't mean that I appreciate her enka abilities any less. She's a fine singer and I have to admit that my heart skipped a beat when her beaming face began the above video. Basically, when it comes to her discography, a lot of folks flock to her hits such as "Omoide Zake"（おもいで酒）, "Tomarigi"（とまり木）and her duet with Katsuhiko Miki（美樹克彦）, "Moshikashite Part 2"（もしかして・パート２）. However, that discography is still plenty long, going right up to her most recent and 99th single in 2020.
So I wanted to see what else she's had in her singing arsenal, and I found this one called "Nakase yagatte Kono Yaro" (Damn You For Making Me Cry). Posted as her 34th single from New Year's Day 1982, this was created by a couple of legends, lyricist Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composer Asei Kobayashi（小林亜星）. Those strings and sighing female chorus brought some instant enka nostalgia but I have to admit that reading Hoshino's lyrics left me a bit confused. However, if I'm not mistaken, the story seems to revolve perhaps a couple of brothers or bosom buddies and maybe one of the previously tight tandem is leaving the other for a woman. Of course, that other has been left bereft. It's an interesting combination of fairly rough male language against the sweet arrangement of the music.
Whether it be a Mood Kayo, enkaor even City Pop song, it's always sad when one of those numbers depicts someone trying to move heaven and earth to express their feelings to the one they love, only for them to be just that one second too late...sometimes as they see the target of their affections drive or walk off with their rival. It's enough for protagonist and listener to head for the nearest bar to get a drink...or ten.
For those who have wondered about a typical kayo of that sort, I have the perfect romantically down-and-out ballad for you. This is Katsuhiko Miki's（美樹克彦）"Hana wa Osokatta" (The Flowers Were Late) which was a hit single for him when it was released in March 1967. Written by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composed by Masao Yoneyama（米山正夫）, the setting is probably a bar of some sort where a guy is drowning his sorrows because he simply couldn't get those crocuses for Kaoru-chan in time and now she's gone. The seething frustration is clear to hear in Miki's vocals and the arrangement is dramatically sad.
I don't know how many records "Hana wa Osokatta" sold although I'm sure that it was a hit especially with the lovelorn because Miki did get his sole invitation to NHK's Kohaku Utagassen in 1967 to perform this very song. However, according to Miki's J-Wikiarticle, there was some quaint controversy accompanying him coming onto the New Year's Eve special since there was that final word of anguish: BAKAYARO（バカヤロー）! As Captain America has said: Language!
Back then, I guess that it was rather taboo to yell that sort of word on the national broadcaster, although perhaps Miki broke the mold. Afterwards, male aidoru have used bakayaro in their lyrics such as Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）in"Shiroi Kyokai"（白い教会...White Church） and Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）in "Blue Jeans Memory"（ブルー・ジーンズ・メモリー）. Mind you, when I wrote up the article for "Blue Jeans Memory" years ago, considering how strongly Matchy yelled that offending word, I did take it to mean the F word instead of what Jisho.org defines as "Damn it!" or "You moron!". Maybe listeners to "Hana wa Osokatta" also felt that it was that strong an epithet, but in the end, NHK still welcomed him to the Kohaku with his bakayaro intact.
One other surprise is that, as I already stated, Miki only had that one appearance on the Kohaku since many years later in the 1980s, he had that hit duet with enka singer Sachiko Kobayashi（小林幸子）, "Moshikashite Part 2"（もしかして・パート２）, which was frequently performed on television and sung in the karaoke bars and boxes. I would have expected that with such a hit that Miki and Kobayashi appeared together on the Kohaku. But as it turned out, only Kobayashi got to appear to sing the Miki-penned "Moshikashite" as a solo participant.
I always keep forgetting the name of that building in Ginza with the warped appearance, but to make it official, it is known as the DeBeers Building. And yep, it looks like a structure after I've had too many DeBeers at the bar (har de har har).
Well, if it's Ginza that I'm talking about here, then the Mood Kayo group Akira Kurosawa & Los Primos（黒沢明とロス・プリモス）have to come into the picture. I swear that considering how many songs in their repertoire that they've sung about one of the Earth's most expensive patches of real estate, Kurosawa and the guys should have already received keys to the neighbourhood by the governor of Tokyo. "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has already had four Ginza-based kayoattributed to them: "Ame no Ginza"（雨の銀座）, "Tasogare no Ginza"(たそがれの銀座), "Ginza Blues"（銀座ブルース）, and "Itsumade mo Ginza"（いつまでも銀座）. They could at least get gift certificates to some of the stores on the main street such as Yamano Music, Ito-Ya or Mitsukoshi.
Enough ersatz griping from me, however. I'm now adding a fifth Ginza-based Mood Kayo by Los Primos,"Koi no Ginza" (Ginza In Love) which was released in January 1968, only two months after "Ame no Ginza" and a few months before "Tasogare no Ginza". Tetsuro Hoshino and Hiroyuki Nakagawa（星野哲郎・中川博之）were behind words and music respectively.
It's some classic Mood Kayo with the nightclub jazz atmosphere including the bluesy sax, the classy marimba and the somewhat mournful back chorus of Los Primos. The lyrics don't fail the genre format, either, as they relate the story of a couple who have to fight the battle of their irresistible trysting among the evening background of the bars, large and small. Love can be so tastefully and poignantly painful.
I know that it would have been hoping beyond hope that I could actually find the specific episode for NHK's variety show on names "Nihonjin no O-Namae"（日本人のおなまえ...Japanese Names）, but I put up an episode up here just for reference's sake. Anyways, a few nights ago, I watched that one particular episode in which the folks were talking about why the names of Fukuoka（福岡）and Hakata（博多）were used for the same region. Supposedly around a century ago, there was a fierce battle between sides supporting the two names over which one should win geographically, and it was won by one slim vote for the Fukuoka side for the official maps. However, I guess in a "let bygones be bygones" move, the main railroad station got to be called Hakata Station, and of course, we have that tasty Hakata ramen.
Well, I figure the above would make for a nice enough preamble ramble to introduce another of Saburo Kitajima's（北島三郎）"Hito" series. This time the song of note here is "Hakata no Hito" (Woman of Hakata) and I gather that even pop culture was siding more for Hakata. With the "Hito" series, "Hakodate no Hito"（函館の女...Woman of Hakodate） is arguably the one Sabu-chan song to which all of the other "Hito" songs are compared.
And compared with the jaunty "Hakodate no Hito" from 1965, the July 1967 single "Hakata no Hito" is a much more wistful affair beginning with a lovelorn Harry James-like trumpet and a harp, as Kitajima sings about returning to Fukuoka, not knowing whether a woman he used to know has gotten married or not and probably not wishing to find out or even to see her again. It's slightly bittersweet as the protagonist walks by the famous landmarks of the area. After all, a go-tochi song has to provide plenty of shoutouts to those notable places.
The same folks behind "Hakodate no Hito" were also behind "Hakata no Hito": lyricist Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composer Nobuo Shimazu（島津伸男）. Let's hope that Kitajima didn't just cry into his beer but into his bowl of rich Hakata ramen, although the broth wouldn't need the extra saline.
Singer-songwriter Katsuhiko Miki（美樹克彦）, up to now, had only appeared within the pages of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for one article, the duet that he helped create for enka legend Sachiko Kobayashi（小林幸子）titled "Moshikashite Part 2"（もしかして・パート２）from 1984. Mind you, the song became a huge hit for both her and Miki and as far I know, the article itself has garnered the largest amount of views on our blog (although admittedly, a lot of that is probably through the dastardly work of spam bots). However, that's all that had been written about Miki and that was all the way back in late 2012.
Therefore, it's right to point out that Miki shouldn't be only known as Kobayashi's partner in "Moshikashite Part 2". He hadn't been in the background simply creating music for other singers but he'd also had his time as a performer. In fact, this entertainer from Kyoto who had been born as Makoto Mekata（目方誠）in 1948 began his career right from elementary school in 1954 as a child actor featured in close to 70 movies according to his J-Wiki profile. Then, the singing element in his career got off the ground during either his junior high school or early high school days with the single "Transistor Sister"（トランジスター・シスター）.
Midway through high school, Mekata took on the stage name of Katsuhiko Miki in 1965 and debuted once more with "Ore no Namida wa Ore ga Fuku"（俺の涙は俺がふく...I'll Dry My Own Tears） which began a string of singles hits that also included his sixth single from New Year's Day 1966, "Kaiten Kinshi no Seishunsa" (Don't Look Back on Youthfulness). Written by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composed by Jun Kitahara（北原じゅん）, the song has quite a bit of snazzy twist-happy arrangement which even includes Ventures-like guitar riffs just so that it can get on that Group Sounds or ereki boom of the times. Miki even yells out "GO GO GO, LET'S GO GO!" to get everyone doing those hip-swiveling dances back then.
The lyrics by Hoshino do exhort listeners to never release their youth and plow forward with the fun, but there also seems to be a thinly veiled message of a young fellow acting like a teen James Bond taking on various guises while loving and leaving the girls in an ever-lengthening trail. It's just a gas, man!
Almost a week ago, I wrote about last week's episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）being the 200th in the history of NHK's current incarnation of kayo kyoku broadcast and that singer Hideaki Tokunaga（徳永英明）was also celebrating his 35th anniversary in the singing industry. Well, on that same episode, it was additionally revealed that enka prince Keisuke Yamauchi（山内惠介）was also celebrating his 20th anniversary as a singer.
It was just last month that I wrote about Yamauchi's most recent single, "Furukizu"（古傷）and last week on "Uta Con", in commemoration of his 20th anniversary, he sang his debut single from April 2001,"Mujou". I actually had to dig a little deeper to find out how the kanji was pronounced since the dictionaries weren't as forthcoming this time around; in fact, I had to refer to a YouTube video for an early TV performance to hear how the announcer pronounced the title. As for the meaning of the title, that last syllable of jou「情」 has a number of meanings according to Jisho.org but ultimately I've decided to translate it as "Feelings in a Fog" after looking through the lyrics.
Written by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）, "Mujou" is a pretty darn shibui enka for a 17-year-old kid from Fukuoka Prefecture to tackle as his official debut into singing as the stoic Mizumori melody wraps around the story of someone dealing with heartache perhaps at the de rigueur enka setting of a lonely port. Released in April 2001, there is plenty of wistful and melancholy atmosphere all over, and because of that title, I am reminded of a similar-sounding song from all the way back in 1965, "Muhyou"（霧氷）by Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）. Same sort of vibes although the Ichiro Tone（利根一郎）melody is even more downcast.
The remarkable thing is how Yamauchi's voice hasn't changed in 20 years. His rendition of "Mujou" sounds as if he had recorded it just yesterday. One thing that I'm happy that he has changed, though, is getting those bangs off of his forehead since his early days. I couldn't find any Oricon ranking for the song but of course, he had even better days ahead of him.
Well, considering how many songs that enka legend Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）has had in his geographical "Hito" series alone (I've covered Hakodate, Satsuma and Onomichi thus far), and how popular the port city of Yokohama has been as a source for enka and Mood Kayo, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that he would come up with "Yokohama no Hito" (Woman of Yokohama).
(karaoke version)
Released in April 1979, some years after the release of the above songs in the "Hito" series, it's definitely got a similar jaunty vibe to the first and arguably the most famous in the series, "Hakodate no Hito"（函館の女）from 1965, although the opening caught me off guard with its rather unusual descending synthpop schtick. And just like "Hakodate no Hito" and the others that I've mentioned, Tetsuro Hoshino and Nobuo Shimazu（星野哲郎・島津伸男）created "Yokohama no Hito". Lyrically, the protagonist here has come to Japan's 2nd-most populous city to find the woman of his dreams since apparently his ailing mother may have surreptitiously intended for the two to come together in love. Yokohama is a nice metropolis to be sure, but it can also be pretty pricey as well.
If I'm not mistaken, I cottoned onto Kitajima's "Yokohama no Hito" after hearing it on an NHK documentary series about taxis around the world. It must have been a 2020 episode since the producers were forced to focus on the domestic industry due to COVID-19 instead of flying out to other nations. The only question that I have about the "Hito" series is why each of the songs has that precise wording in the title since the kanji is actually the one for "woman" or onna.
When it comes to the works of enka singer Aya Shimazu（島津亜矢）on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we've often brought her to articles where she has covered songs of the original singers.
Therefore, it's nice when we can cover a song that is one of her own, and that is the case of her 13th single"Uminari no Uta" (The Song of the Sounds of the Sea) released in June 1995. Enka is the one genre where having plenty of emotion on one's sleeve is pretty much a requirement, and I think Shimazu has one of those voices which can literally roar across the vocal spectrum.
Created by legends, lyricist Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composer Toru Funamura（船村徹）, Shimazu can plumb the smoky depths of her voice and then bring it all the way up to the ear-ringing heights. Hoshino's lyrics contain a few kanji that I'm not too cognizant of, but from what I could interpret of them, it reads like a most epic account of a seaside-residing fishing family through the generations. Those proud horns and electric guitar complete the effect.
Come to think of it, Hoshino and Funamura did create the classic "Kyodai Bune"（兄弟船）for Ichiro Toba（鳥羽一郎）many years earlier, and it's the account of fishing brothers fighting the elements to get their catch for the family.
For a long time, I've known that TV networks can be a little antsy when it comes to television shows from other networks being mentioned on their own network. I often heard NBC late-night talk show legend Johnny Carson whenever he was introducing a guest whose hit program was airing on ABC or CBS that the guest was appearing on "...a show from another network.". But that was then and it looks like the restrictions, so to speak, have been loosened considerably since those days.
I read somewhere that on the Japanese national broadcaster NHK some years ago, there was once a brief situation on the weekday morning show "Asaichi"（あさイチ）when a tarento blurted out the name of a particular company not once but twice which had the NHK announcer openly but mildly chastise the guest to not state specific company names. Not sure what the tarento's reaction was but I did not-so-seriously wonder after the broadcast whether he/she was taken into an empty meeting room and then soundly chewed out by the announcer or even his/her manager.
At least one kayo did come under the scrutiny of The Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association (JCBA), and that was Akira Kobayashi's（小林旭）"Jidousha Show Uta"(The Automobile Song) that had been released in October 1964 as the singer/actor's 53rd single. A big hit for Kobayashi, lyricist Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composer Gendai Kano（叶弦大）, the song was one big string of puns on the variety of car brands in existence in Japan and other countries. The first verse alone threw shoutouts to Toyota, Nissan, Packard, Chevrolet, the Toyota Crown, Jaguar, Ford and Citroen (later changed to the Toyota Corona).
The fact that the Citroen was mentioned in the first version of "Jidousha Show Uta" had the JCBA up in arms so that music censorship laws were put into play resulting in the prohibition of the song performed on TV, including NHK. It got to the point where the Citroen was banished from the lyrics and replaced by the Corona in later releases of the single.
However, I gather that NHK and the other stations have mellowed out considerably since those stricter times since every other YouTube video that I've seen of Kobayashi performing on a TV show has had the man sing pretty much the entirety of "Jidousha Show Uta" with the subtitles showing the lyrics to boot. Besides, it's a catchy little kayo mixing in some festival and comical elements into the arrangements.
I've also noticed that "Jidousha Show Uta" has been covered by a number of other singers over the decades including enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）. I don't know when this version came out but her take seems to be going for some 60s rock n' roll and funk and ska.
