, (born ; July 19, 1923 – April 14, 2001) was an

enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, p ...

singer in postwar Japan.

Early life

He was born Bunji Kitazume (北詰文司 ''Kitazume Bunji'') in

Nagaoka, Niigata is a Cities of Japan, city located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. It is the second largest city in the prefecture, after the capital city of Niigata, Niigata, Niigata. , the city had an estimated population of 264,611 in 109,283 households and a ...

, Japan.

Career

In 1939, at the age of 16, Bunji debuted as a performer of

rōkyoku ''Rōkyoku'' (; also called ''naniwa-bushi'', ) is a genre of traditional Japanese narrative singing. Generally accompanied by a ''shamisen'', ''rōkyoku'' became very popular in Japan during the first half of the 20th century. In modern Japanes ...

, a type of narrative singing, under the name . Bunji joined the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

in 1944 and was sent to

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

. He was captured by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

and spent four years at a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camp near

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( rus, Хабaровск, a=Хабаровск.ogg, r=Habárovsk, p=xɐˈbarəfsk) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China ...

. He returned to Japan in 1949 and resumed his career as a rōkyoku singer. He adopted his stage name Haruo Minami in 1957 and started performing

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

(only later would his music be classified as

, a term not in existence at the time of his debut). He attracted attention for performing while dressed in

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...

, which was unheard of for male pop singers at the time.

Hideo Murata was a Japanese rōkyoku and enka singer. He took part in the Kōhaku Uta Gassen 27 times. Murata was born as a son of rōkyoku singer and . However, he was immediately adopted by and became his stepfather. His real name was . He studied rō ...

was regarded as his rival as they both came from

backgrounds. Among his many hit songs was "Tokyo Gorin Ondo", the theme song of the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. It sold over one and a half million copies, and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. In 1992, Minami enjoyed a popularity resurgence when he performed the ending music for the

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

series ''Super Zugan''. Previously popular primarily among adults, enka music gained many younger fans due to this song.

Death

On April 14, 2001, Minami died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

at a hospital in Tokyo, at the age of 77.

Approach to audience

Haruo Minami is known for popularizing the saying "Okyakusama wa kamisama desu". It is directly translated, "The audience/guests are god", meaning "the customer is always right" or "the customer is a god" symbolising patronage. The kamisama is Japanese shintō's

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

. When he sang his songs, he was concentrating as if to

pray Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified an ...

before kami. He looked on his audience as kami to make his performance perfect. The Minami's words were spread by Let's-Go-Sanbiki, a trio of Japanese comedian that had come to watch Minami's show.「お客様は神様です」について (about "Okyakusama wa kamisama desu")
Haruo Minami official site. In October 2016 his voice was released for software synthesizer

CeVIO Creative Studio Cevio is the capital of the district of Vallemaggia in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. In 2006 Cevio grew by incorporating the villages of Bignasco and Cavergno, previously municipalities in their own right. History Cevio was first mentio ...

References

External links

Haruo Minami official site
1923 births 2001 deaths Japanese anti-communists Imperial Japanese Army personnel of World War II Japanese prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by the Soviet Union Enka singers People from Nagaoka, Niigata Deaths from prostate cancer Musicians from Niigata Prefecture Siberian internees Deaths from cancer in Japan 20th-century Japanese male singers 20th-century Japanese singers {{Japan-musician-stub