Sen Masao – 北国の春 ..千昌夫 .. Kita Guni no Haru (North Country Spring .. a Japanese song)

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Masao Sen 千昌夫
Born	8 April 1947
Origin	Rikuzentakata, Iwate, Iwate Prefecture, Japan
Genres	Enka
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1965-

Masao Sen (千昌夫, Sen Masao, born 8 April 1947) is a Japanese Enka singer and businessman, of Iwate Prefecture, known for the song ‘Kitaguni no Haru’ (‘North Country Spring’). He is affiliated with the talent agency NoReason Inc.

Career

In 1977, he released his greatest hit, ‘Kitaguni no Haru’ (‘North Country Spring’). It won the “Long Seller Award” at the 21st Japan Record Awards, sold 3 million copies, and was covered by notable artists such as Aki Yashiro,

北国の春　宴　八代亜紀

Teresa Teng,

鄧麗君テレサ・テン Teresa Teng 北国の春 Spring of the North

and Misora Hibari.

美空ひばり🎵北国の春

Personal life

Masao is the second son in a rural agricultural household and deliberately stressed his poor country origins as part of his image.

He reportedly had a taste for blondes, and in 1972 married American jazz singer Joan Shepard.

During the Bubble era, he became extremely wealthy, owning a Rolls-Royce and living in a luxurious, 13-room home.

Explanation

On the Oricon single chart , it achieved a million seller in the 92nd week since it first appeared in the top 100 (not 92 weeks in a row). This number was the number one in the history of the number of weeks in the top 100 chart until reaching a million seller until later years. After that, in 2003, Miyuki Nakajima set her new record (139 weeks) with “Hoshi on the Earth/Headlight/Taillight”, and since then has been the second highest in history . On the same chart, it reached the highest number 6 on February 5, 1979 and April 2, 1979. The number of chart-ins in the top 100 of the same chart is 134 weeks in total, 111 consecutive weeks (January 16, 1978 to February 18, 1980)

中島みゆき「ヘッドライト・テールライト」プロジェクトＸのエンデイング曲、女声3部合唱をボーカロイドが歌う

The title song “Kitaguni no Haru” is about a man living in the city who receives a parcel from his parents ‘ home and thinks about his hometown, family, and former love in early spring .

At that time, when he appeared on a TV song program, he overcame the opposition of his master, Minoru Endo , and put on an old overcoat , a hat, round – rimmed glasses , a well-worn trunk, rubber boots, a tenugui around his neck, and a wrapping cloth on his back. She sang in migrant style, carrying a package and unbuttoning her coat. This is to give the fans a sense of intimacy, which Masao Sen purchased at an antique shop for 54,000 yen.

His master, Minoru Endo, objected, saying, “No matter what, it’s disrespectful, so don’t wear that stupid look!” Enka singers rarely appear on TV.

One of the reasons why it became a million hit was because of Sen’s migrant style.

No specific place name appears in the lyrics as to where the “northern country” in the title refers to, but the lyricist Ide Haku later describes the scene of Shinshu , where his hometown ( Minamimaki Village , Nagano Prefecture ) is located. On the other hand, the composer, Minoru Endo, is said to have composed the song with the image of his hometown (where he was evacuated to during his boyhood), Niigata Prefecture , based on the lyrics of Ideaku. “Kitaguni no Haru” was originally planned as a B-side song, but was suddenly released as an A-side song. The B-side song (originally planned to be the A-side song) “Somewhere in Tokyo” was written by Minoru Endo first, and the lyrics were added later.

Cumulative sales of “Kitaguni no Haru” totaled 3 million copies.

With the hit of the same song, Masao Sen participated in the ” 28th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen ” broadcast on New Year’s Eve in 1977 for the first time in six years since the 22nd ( 1971 ). Since then, the super long-selling song has been performed for three consecutive years, the 29th ( 1978 ) and the 30th ( 1979 ). Also, in the ” Kohaku Uta Gassen “, “Kitaguni no Haru” was the first time in history that the same song was sung for three consecutive years.

After that , it was sung in the 33rd ( 1982 ) and the first half of “Showa no Kohaku” in the 40th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen in 1989, when the Showa era came to an end. rice field. It has become one of the most sung songs by a single singer in the 20th century Kouhaku (the other song is Watanabe Hamako ‘s “Kuwanko no Chinatown (San Francisco no Chinatown)”, including special appearances. 5 times). In the 21st century , it was sung at the 62nd in 2011 .

TBS TV ‘s ” The Best Ten ” did not rank in the top 10 (top 12th), but made the only appearance in “This Week’s Spotlight” on January 18, 1979. there is

There are many cover versions with Chinese and Thai lyrics . On the other hand, he compared it with his dream of becoming an adventurer and mountaineer when he was young, and said, “I feel like the song is acting as a substitute for my dream.” According to research by Akira Suzuki , it is sung by 1.5 billion people in Asia, including China . On the other hand, it was not popular in the Philippines or South Korea .

In 2010, Teresa’s song popularity poll conducted by the Teresa Teng Cultural and Educational Foundation, “Northern Spring” won 49% of the total votes (approximately 9.82 million votes). (2nd place “I’m just in the world (Leave yourself to the flow of time)” about 950,000 votes, 3rd place ” Representative of Moon Light ” about 910,000 votes)

Takeshi Goda ( Kazuya Tatekabe ), who sang this song in “Honwaka Cap” broadcasted on TV Asahi ” Doraemon ” ( Nobuyo Oyama version), received Suneo Honekawa ( Kenta Kimotsuki ) saying “Stop! Stop! Damn you. What’s so bad about saying you’re bad at it? Che! What is spring in the northern country! There was a line that said. The original is included in Shogakukan ‘s “Tentomushi Comics” volume 30, but this line was for the TV animation.

Recorded songs

All songs, lyrics: Ideaku , composition: Minoru Endo , arrangement: Kensuke Kyo

Northern Spring (4:00)
Somewhere in Tokyo (3:40)

Related works

Major Japanese covers

Eisaku Okawa- Album “Okawa Eisaku Masterpiece Selection/Inazuma” included
Kanjiro – Recorded in the album “Meikyoku Cover Masterpiece Selection”
Keisuke Kuwata -Blu-ray/DVD ” THE ROOTS ~Grateful Kayokyoku ni Appreciation~ ” and ” Heisei 30! 3rd Solo Red and White Singing Battle ” included
Yuki Tokunaga- (2014) Recorded in the album “Yuki no Uta ~Hometown~”
Kenji Niinuma – Recorded in the album “Meikyoku Cover Masterpiece Selection”
Kiyoshi Hikawa- (2010) Recorded in the album “Kiyoshi Hikawa Enka Masterpiece Collection 13 ~Rainbow Bayon~ “
Keiko Fuji – Recorded in the album ” GOLDEN☆BEST Keiko Fuji Hit & Cover Collection Enka to Enka “
Hiroshi Fujiwara- (2009) Recorded in the album “Shinjo ~Tribute to Minoru Endo~”
Takashi Hosokawa – Recorded in the album “Masterpiece Cover Masterpieces”
Kaori Mizumori- (2015) Recorded in the album “Kayo Kiko 14 ~ Yamatoji no Koi ~”
Michinoku Musume! -(2020) Recorded in the album “Michinoku Monogatari”
Hiroshi Miyama- (2010) Recorded in the album “Singing! Showa’s Popular Songs”
Tsukasa Mogamigawa- (2015) Recorded in the album “Oku no Uta Michi”
Aki Yashiro – Recorded in the album “Aki Yashiro Daizenshu”
Keisuke Yamauchi- (2013) Recorded in the album “The same age beyond the times”

Hikawa Kiyoshi – Kitaguni no Haru live 2011 (English sub)

ｴﾚｸﾄｰﾝ演奏／北国の春

北国の春 Kitaguni no Haru – Mongolian singer Bayasgalan

北国の春／みちのく娘

https://youtu.be/qQYiNclg3W4

森昌子　北国の春　1984年 Masako Mori Kitaguni no Haru

Major covers outside of Japan

Bunxia ( Taiwanese ) – “Spring in the Northern Country”
Ye Kei Tian (Taiwanese) – “Banri in the Clear Sky”
Tsai Qiu Feng (Taiwanese) – “Remember Spring” (Translation: Nostalgic Spring)
Hong Rong-Hong (Taiwanese) – “Those who think of their hometown”
Xie Li Ting & Lin Qingzong (Taiwanese) – “Deep Love” (Translation: Deep Love)
Huang Rui Qi (Taiwanese) – “Shaxi Mijia Shami” (translation: sashimi and wasabi)
Teresa Teng ( Taiwan Mandarin Chinese ) – “We live together” (Translation: Me and you)
Teresa Teng ( Japanese and Taiwanese Mandarin) – “Northern Spring”
Yu Tian (Taiwan Mandarin Chinese) – “Under the banyan tree”
Lin Yu Ying (Taiwan Mandarin Chinese) – “Mine Dumplings”
Jiang Dawei ( People’s Republic of China , Mandarin Chinese) – “Spring in the Northern Country”
Jiang Zhimin (People’s Republic of China, Mandarin) – “hometown rain”
Valley Line Cloud ( Singaporean Mandarin Chinese) – “spring nostalgia” (translation: nostalgia for spring)
So Dezun ( Malaysian Hainanese ) – “Thoughts at the Beginning”
Hu Ni ( Hong Kong Cantonese ) – “hometown rain”
Cheng Zigu (Hong Kong Cantonese) – “Hometown Rain”
Zhang Weiwen (Hong Kong Cantonese) – “Hometown Rain”
Chung Wen Kang (Hong Kong Cantonese) – “Hometown Rain”
Manli (Cantonese, People’s Republic of China) – “hometown rain”
Liu Liang Heron (People’s Republic of China, Cantonese) – “Hometown Rain”
zh: Ban Sooqiong (Singaporean Cantonese) – “hometown rain”
Liu Chi-ni (Malaysian Cantonese) – “Hometown Rain”
LIU 珺兒 (Malaysian Cantonese) – “Love Deeper Sea Deeper”
Andy Lau (Hong Kong, Mandarin and Cantonese) – “Spring in the Northern Country, Under the Pine Trees, Hometown Rain”