My Showa Kayou 7 　Shogi King　1961

Japanese Title "Oushou"

With a song imbued with the spirit
to overcome defeat,
I must win no matter what.

♪ Like a shogi piece that can be blown away ♪

Even as an elementary school student who disliked enka, I found myself humming 'Ōshō.'

When you search for 'Ōshō,' sadly, the screen fills up with images of the gyoza restaurant rather than the song.

While the gyoza is delicious, today it's about the Showa era enka song 'Ōshō.'

The composer is Tōru Funamura, known for 'Yagiri no Watashi.'

Funamura's enka preserves the nuances of the Japanese language, leaving room for the singer to express themselves, which is amazing.

Even just the beginning ♪ Blown away ♪ can be sung as 'fu-ke-ba' or 'fu-ke---ba' and still not sound strange. How the singer interprets his melody can be a measure of their talent.

Funamura must have surely enjoyed this.

Not only Hideo Murata, but also Takashi Hosokawa sings with resonant high notes, Hibari Misora with her multi-colored voice, and Keiko Fuji sings purely.

The lyricist is Yaso Saijo. He wrote the lyrics for famous songs such as 'Tokyo March,' 'Blue Mountain Range,' and 'Suzhou Serenade.' Of course, I can sing all of them.

The Yaso Saijo I know is mainly from children's songs. 'Kanariya' was sung to me as a lullaby by my mother.

But, you know, the lyrics are terrible, lol.

It sings about first throwing away the canary that forgot how to sing. Next, it sings about burying it.

Whoa! Next, it sings about smashing it. It's animal abuse.

However, in the end...

'If you float it on the moonlit sea with an ivory boat and a silver oar, it will remember the forgotten song.' This terrifying lullaby ends, and I could finally sleep peacefully, haha.

People nowadays probably don't know 'Kanariya.'

But, you might know 'My Hat.'

'Mother, what happened to that hat of mine?'

It's the poem used as the catchphrase for the movie 'Proof of the Man.' Of course, Seicho Matsumoto wrote a novel based on this poem.

Wow, Yaso Saijo had a wide range. Poets of this era did not confine themselves to one field but offered their talents to the public.

Oh, right, 'Ōshō.' Hideo Murata's songs were in a genre that I couldn't accept at all. If he just entered behind the band accompaniment, it would still be enka-like, but he intentionally misses beats everywhere, almost as if he's not paying attention to the accompaniment at all. It's brilliant. Wow, I'm impressed.

But listening to it now... (laughs) it's still off-tempo. I can now appreciate that this offbeat style is part of Hideo Murata's unique singing style.

The protagonist of these lyrics is modeled after Sanki Sakata, an Osaka shogi player. Shogi and Go were popular among men in the Showa era. My grandfather played Go, and my father played shogi.

I first learned the term 'Meijin' (master) from shogi. Master Sakata died suddenly after eating spoiled whale meat.

What the deceased man left behind was a gravestone. Some people would steal fragments of this gravestone, believing it to be a good luck charm for winning (kachimori).

We can't say that the life portrayed in the song is entirely true. However, the enka song 'Ōshō' has been sung longer than the play of the same name, continuing to convey the master's life story to us.

Personally, I prefer Kozo Masuda, but it's interesting how these legendary stories are passed down in Japan through kayōkyoku (popular songs).

♪ Tomorrow I'll go to Tokyo, so I must win no matter what ♪

Nine years after the U.S. occupation. There were still many Japanese who knew the humiliation of defeat. I was a child and couldn't understand the appeal of this song, but now I understand why it became such a big hit.

I cannot read or write in English.
This text has been translated by ChatGPT.
I haven't edited it, so there may be some strange parts.

【Reference Video】

【Japanese Version of the Article】