HOSOKAWA TAKASHI: Talent and Achievement

by Paul LI Wan-hay

Eye-Ai had the pleasure of interviewing Hosokawa Takashi, one of the most prominent enka singers in Japan, in October 1986, and we are pleased to be able to update you on his recent activities. The timing is especially favorable as the 30th anniversary of his debut is coming up next year.

First we would like to give you a little bit of background about his hometown and his debut and then let you know of his current activities and his plans for the upcoming anniversary celebration. Hosokawa Takashi’s responses and comments appear in sequence throughout this article chronicling the course of his career.

Early Years

Hosokawa Takashi has the characteristics of people from very cold climates who work very hard toward their goal. This perseverance can be seen in his achievement of the highest rank license in the sport of skiing. To pass the extremely difficult test, he practiced at night, even when it was snowing. This hard work yielded remarkable results, and Hosokawa received top-level certification while he was still in elementary school. Today, he is the only member of the geinokai who holds the qualification of “ski adviser”.

While in junior high school, Hosokawa made an important career decision he determined to become a professional enka singer. As a start, he formed an amateur pop band with his peers.

After high school, he told his parents that he wanted to become an automobile mechanic and left for Sapporo, Hokkaido. His parents vehemently opposed the idea, but Hosokawa was firm, and he spent his time divided between his mechanic work during the day and singing in clubs at night. The day after he received his first salary of 17,000 yen, he went to the department store and bought a navy blue suit. Even today he wears a blue suit to remember the feeling he had in the early days, and the blue suit is considered to represent his unpretentious nature.

In 1974 Hosokawa was scouted when singing at a club in Sapporo by Nippon Columbia Record Company (currently Nippon Columbia Music Entertainment). When he was confronted with the choice of trying to make it in the big city of Tokyo or remaining in Sapporo where he was fairly comfortable, his natural desire to take on new challenges may have been what propelled him to choose to go to Tokyo.

Debut

The following year, when he debuted with the song Kokoro Nokori (which means “Regrets”) it became a million seller and a mega-hit throughout Japan. Although still new to the geinokai, Hosokawa, as laureate of Best New Singer of the Japan Record Championship, was selected to join the NHK Red and White Song Contest (Kohaku Uta Gassen, the exclusive New Year’s Eve gala). In fact, through 2002, Hosokawa has appeared 27 years in a row and is expected to be among the eminent performers in the years to come.

With the hit debut of Kokoro Nokori, 1975 can be considered the year that Hosokawa’s pivotal role in the enka arena was established.

Hosokawa had been an enka devotee since his school days. Another of Hosokawa’s specialties is singing minyo folk songs that are often accompanied by the Japanese flute. He was a prot of the late Mihashi Michiya, originally a minyo vocalist who became an enka singer, popular in the 1950s and 1960s.

Hosokawa talked about what he learned from him. Mihashi Sensei was a mentor in my early days. As I studied with him, I was granted the privilege of using the 'Mihashi school of minyo' title and given the name 'Mihashi Michitaka' to use in performing."

Another person who influenced Hosokawa was Koga Masao, a prolific enka composer. Hosokawa commented, Yes, a special album of music composed by Koga Sensei was released in 1978. Misora Hibari san sang Kanashii Sake for the album. And the song that I performed, Bokyo Jonkara, was awarded the Koga Music Award.

Reaching New Heights

Hosokawa’s enka career reached new heights in 1982. In the course of his appearance in a TV comedy show, the song Kita Sakaba (literally, “North Wine Bar”) was released. This light melody struck a chord among Japanese people across the spectrum and the song earned Hosokawa his first Japan Record Champion award.

While this song was still popular, another hit single, Yagiri no Watashi enthralled the country. For the second year in a row, Hosokawa was presented the Japan Record Champion award.

Hosokawaﾕs success continued in 1984. He was awarded the Best Singing Skills award for one of his singles called Naniwa Bushi Dayo Jinsei Wa. While this song was sung by over 10 different singers that year, it was only Hosokawa’s own performance that attained recognition and popularity. And it was with this song that Hosokawa Takashi made history in the Japanese music scene by achieving the “Triple Crown” of music Best New Singer in 1975, Japan Record Champions in 1982 and 1983, and Best Singing Skills Award in 1984. Hosokawa remains the only male vocalist with these three laureates.

Besides performing internationally, including charity concerts, in Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Beijing, Hosokawa has spent much of his time in Japan in his role as zacho (the main figure in the troupe). During this time, he appeared in popular stage performances in the large theaters in major cities such as Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka. The shows performed in these theaters feature leading roles by popular enka singers and usually run for one-month units (25 shows). Such a show is referred to as a zacho shibai. If the show built around a particular zacho attracts an enthusiastic audience, then regular return performances are scheduled. Hosokawa Takashi has become a regular zacho on the performance circuit.

Other Accomplishments

To our question about a statue in his honor that was sculpted several years ago, Hosokawa replied, In the summer of my 20th anniversary, a sculptor from Kyoto kindly sculpted a statue of me. In the town there is also a life-size sculpture of me with a microphone in one hand, singing expressively. This statue is located at the foot of Mt. Yode, he explained.

In addition to his achievements as a vocalist, Hosokawa has also written a book. We asked him the reason for choosing to write a book. In 1994, my book, “Jinsei Wa Neaka Katsu” (which means, a positive attitude brings triumph) was published. “Neaka” represents the basic human state of good humor. People tell me that I am a good speaker and listener, and that I am strong. To them, these are the elements of the concept of “Neaka”. I try to achieve my objectives one after the other without getting distracted, and thanks to the support of many people, I have generally been able to reach my goals. I am fortunate in that I am able to provide encouragement and enjoyment to people through my songs, which is the work I was meant to do. I think that life requires us all to make the effort to be happy and successful.

In 1999, in celebration of his 25th anniversary, Hosokawa performed as zacho shibai for two months at the Shinjuku Koma Theater with a total of over 150,000 people attending. Thus far, only the late Misora Hibari, Mori Shinichi and Kitajima Saburo have held similar events at Koma Theater. Another great celebratory event was an outdoor traditional dance carnival at Yoyogi in August of the same year. Though hampered by heavy rain, the number of attendees swelled to more than 8,000.

Recent activities

We turned then to talk of his family. Hosokawa’s father is said to enjoy singing minyo himself, so we asked when he returns home, whether Hosokawa son and father sing a tune or two together. To this query we were told, “Well, my father’s voice is, shall we say, too good for most people to appreciate. (laugh) Really, he sings only for pleasure, and for me, the most important thing is that he is healthy and happy”.

We have heard of cases when children of famous performers decide to enter the geinokai and wondered if Hosokawa’s son had such ambitions. “Well, actually, he is now studying to become a writer”, Hosokawa explained.

Recently Hosokawa went to Vancouver, Canada to appear in the NHK weekly amateur singing contest program, “Nodo Jiman”. We asked him about his time there.

Vancouver is home to 40,000 people of Japanese ancestry. It was an honor for me to have the opportunity to sing enka and share the music that expresses the spirit of Japan to overseas audiences. I hope to be able to continue to give young people all over the world the chance to hear and appreciate enka.

“While I was there, I was able to get some golfing in. Sunsets at this time of year are quite late, so evening hours offer a leisurely pace. I guess in the winter, though, the sun sets at around 3:00 in the afternoon! It was a very enjoyable visit”, commented Hosokawa.

Another recent event in Hosokawa's entertainment offerings was the August 20th release of a new single, Yoake no Defune. This song is sure to delight Hosokawa's many fans.

30th Anniversary Celebration

We asked Hosokawa Takashi about his plans for performances to celebrate his upcoming 30th anniversary in 2004 and found out that he has lots of appearances planned.

“Right now, I have three month-long performances scheduled: this November I will be at the Umeda Koma Theater in Osaka, and then in January of 2004 at the Shinjuku Koma Theater in Tokyo. Then in July 2004, I am scheduled to perform at the Misonoza in Nagoya”, Hosokawa commented. “In my hometown of Makkari-mura, there are plans to establish a Memorial Hall and Memorial Park. In addition to those, a monument will also be constructed to commemorate the 30th anniversary of my debut”.

As the finale of his performance, Hosokawa likes to present an energetic rendition of Michi No Muko ni Utaga Aru (“A song at the end of road”) to delight his audience. It has become a custom that Hosokawa repeats the verses until he runs out of energy, thereby giving his utmost to the audience. The audience is invariably amazed by his gifted voice as well as the power and courage Hosokawa conveys on stage. We look forward to seeing Hosokawa Takashi's continued enthusiastic performance and achievement of new heights in the years to come.