, born on 26 December 1989, is a Japanese pop and

Shima-uta is a genre of songs originating from the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture of southwestern Japan. It became known nationwide in the 2000s with the success of young pop singers from Amami Ōshima such as Hajime Chitose and Atari Kōsuke. N ...

folk singer. She was born in

Amami Ōshima , also known as Amami, is the largest island in the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa. It is one of the Satsunan Islands. The island, 712.35 km2 in area, has a population of approximately 73,000 people. Administratively it is ...

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

, Japan. In 2006, Kizuki was recruited by

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

while performing on Kagoshima City's streets. Her debut single, "Ai Tsumugi" was released on 7 January 2009. She also writes lyrics and compositions. Her latest lyrics (in Japanese) is "

Reflection Reflection or reflexion may refer to: Science and technology * Reflection (physics), a common wave phenomenon ** Specular reflection, reflection from a smooth surface *** Mirror image, a reflection in a mirror or in water ** Signal reflection, in ...

" . It is the theme song of Disney's live-action movie "Mulan" (Japan version) which was released in 2020. She uses guin, a type of '' kobushi'' peculiar to traditional folk songs of

. Guin used at key points in the song captivates the ears of listeners. Recognized as a skilled J-Pop singer, some people are eager to listen to her singing songs of various genres. Some say that her singing voice is like a natural god. She hopes to play a role of conveying the beauty of Japanese language to the world through music. Also, she would like to spread the charm of Amami to the world through songs. She is appointed as a tourism ambassador for some districts in Amami. She is expected to promote Amami by several local governments in Amami. She has participated in the "Uta-shima" project of Amami since May 2018. The project was organized in 2018 to support Amami to be registered as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. With her 10th anniversary, she has made it a challenge to try various new attempts to further explore and establish her own music. She organized a live tour of English popular music only in July 2019.

Early life

Minami Kizuki was born in

, Japan. She once lived in the neighbouring island of

Tokunoshima , also known in English as is an island in the Amami archipelago of the southern Satsunan Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, has a population of approximately 27,000. The island is divided into three administrative ...

, part of the

Amami Islands The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is an archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is southwest o ...

at junior high school age, at the age of 14 she moved to the city of

on the mainland. Having learned the piano from the age of 2, it was not until after she moved to Kagoshima that her brother influenced her to study

, the traditional folk music of her home islands. In 2006, Kizuki was recruited by

while performing on a park of Kagoshima City. She graduated from Syoyo high school in

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

, at which she majored in piano and minored in song. She graduated from a university, while continuing a singer. She wrote a graduation thesis on the similarities between music of Ireland and

Career

Debut and beginnings

She made a debut with a song of "Aitsumugi",on 7 January 2009. English and Chinese lyrics version of "Aitsumugi" were produced as well as Japanese lyrics version. They are available at

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

store. On 19 August 2009,her first album "Kana-Itoshikihitoyo(to sweet persons)" was released.The music video of its lead song "Taiyo to Kakurenbo (Hide-and-seek with the sun)" was taken on the

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

day ( 22 July 2009) in

. For the next several years, she released several singles and performed numerous times on radio and television throughout Japan. She performed in New York City twice. In June 2010,she performed at "Japan Day @

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

", a Japanese cultural expo. She performed in China three times.

Activities

She has released 4 original albums,12 single CDs,3 cover albums and the 10th anniversary best album so far. Her song was often used as a closing theme song of a TV drama. One of the examples is "Sayonara Yori Mo Tsutaekattakkoto’” The title of the most recent single CD is "Segodon Kiko:vol.Amami Oshima &Okinoerabujima” This CD is a collection of songs used in

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

’s Taiga Drama (in 2018)"

Segodon is a 2018 Japanese historical drama television series and the 57th NHK taiga drama. It stars Ryohei Suzuki as Saigō Takamori, who has been dubbed ''the last true samurai''. Plot The drama follows the life of historical figure Saigō Takamori. ...

". She covers various songs besides original songs. She has released 3 cover albums so far. She has also participated in several albums made by other artists. She sometimes writes lyrics and compositions. One of them, "Inoriuta-Toutoganashi" was used as the closing theme for NHK's overseas music program from December 2014 to March 2015. People in 30 countries shared their ideas and feelings about peace. Their messages inspired Minami Kizuki to write this song in her native Amami dialect (

Amami Ōshima language The Amami language or languages (, , ), also known as Amami Ōshima or simply Ōshima ('Big Island'), is a Ryukyuan language spoken in the Amami Islands south of Kyūshū. The southern variety of Setouchi township may be a distinct language mo ...

). Her first writing of lyrics(in Japanese) was an Irish folk song called "

Londonderry Air The "Londonderry Air" is an Irish air that originated in County Londonderry. It is popular among the North American Irish diaspora and is well known throughout the world. The tune is played as the victory sporting anthem of Northern Ireland at ...

(

Danny Boy "Danny Boy" is a ballad, written by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly in 1913, and set to the traditional Irish melody of "Londonderry Air". History In 1910, in Bath, Somerset, the English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly initial ...

)", which was included in her first album "Kana-Itoshikihitoyo(to sweet persons)” Her latest lyrics (in Japanese) is "

" . It is the theme song of Disney's live-action movie "Mulan" (Japan version) which was released in 2020. She conducts a live tour called "Uta-Ashibi(Uta means songs. Asibi means plays.) as her main activity about twice a year. She also sings at closed events of companies and organizations and at citizen associations of Amami. She has conducted a tour of Amami with her fan club members once a year since 2016. She sometimes sings outside Japan. In February 2018,She was dispatched to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

by the

Japan Foundation The was established in 1972 by an Act of the National Diet as a special legal entity to undertake international dissemination of Japanese culture, and became an Independent Administrative Institution under the jurisdiction of the Ministry o ...

’s Japanese partnership project. In May 2019,the best original & cover album was released to commemorate her 10th anniversary.

Musical

Kizuki played ''Shiro mokuren'' or white

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

, which protect the

raccoon dog The common raccoon dog (''Nyctereutes procyonoides''), also called the Chinese or Asian raccoon dog, is a small, heavy-set, fox-like canid native to East Asia. Named for its raccoon-like face markings, it is most closely related to foxes. Common ...

forest on musical ''Tanuki Goten''（狸御殿, ''lit. "Raccoon Dog Palace"''） in Shimbashi Embujo, Tokyo, during August 2016. It is directed by

Amon Miyamoto Amon Miyamoto (, born January 4, 1958, in Tokyo) has directed numerous productions in Japan and worldwide, from musicals, straight plays, opera, and kabuki as well as other art genres. In 2004, he became the first Japanese director to direct a m ...

and starring Onoe Matsuya and

Miori Takimoto is a Japanese actress and a former singer. Takimoto debuted in 2003 as a singer of the girl group Sweets (band), Sweets, where she performed under the name Miori. After Sweets disbanded, Takimoto appeared on television as an actress. Biograph ...

. The musical was aired on 2 January 2017 on

educational channel.

Television fame

She also appears on television and on radio and sings. On 29 July 2014, Kizuki first appeared on THEカラオケ★バトル (''The Karaoke★Battle''), a televised

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music is ...

competition shown on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

. The initial contest was made during various type of professional persons who are concerning to singing, and she got the highest score and won the competition. The second contest was a team event, with various teams of professional singers. Kizuki and her team

with Kosuke Atari and Mina Ganaha, ultimately won the competition. She has become renowned for her pitch and singing technique, called ''Guin'', a kind of '' kobushi'', in which a single syllable of text is sung while moving between several different notes in succession (this technique being common to her native islands' ''Shima-uta'' singing). Since her premiere on The Karaoke★Battle in 2014, Kizuki has gone on to win ten competitions (most recently in June 2016), and has garnered the nickname 'The absolute Karaoke Queen'. Outside of karaoke, in 2014 she coveredthe ending themes to the Korean drama ''

The King's Doctor ''The King's Doctor'' (; lit. ''Horse Doctor'') is a 2012 South Korean television series depicting Baek Gwang-hyeon (1625–1697), Joseon Dynasty veterinarian, starring Cho Seung-woo and Lee Yo-won. It aired on MBC from October 1, 2012 to Mar ...

'' in Japanese language, and in December 2014 provided ''Inoriuta – Toutoganasi'', a ending song for the

NHK World NHK World-Japan (formerly and also known simply as NHK World) is the international arm of the Japanese state-controlled public broadcaster NHK. Its services are aimed at the overseas market, similar to those offered by other national public-ser ...

programme

J-Melo ''J-Melo'' is a weekly Japanese music television program broadcast by NHK. It is recorded entirely in the English language. It began broadcasting on October 7, 2005. The program is available on NHK's World Service television station, Radio Japan, ...

, an English-language programme aimed at exploring Japanese music. On 21 January 2015, her first cover album ''Sakuranagashi'' (サクラナガシ, ''lit. "Rainy Season of Cherry Brossoms"'') was released, featuring many songs covered on The Karaoke★Battle. On 17 June 2015, her second cover album, ''Minamikaze'' (ミナミカゼ, ''lit. "Southern Wind"'') was released. She also won a championship on a Fuji Television program " The 5th Championship of Impersonators" on 11 December 2015, by imitating

Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity in Japan and throughout Asia. Due to her success and relevanc ...

, Superfly and

Chitose Hajime is a Japanese singer from Amami Ōshima. She sings in the shima-uta style particular to that region, with distinctive falsetto effects. History Early life Chitose Hajime began learning shamisen under her mother's encouragement from a young ag ...

during 28 professional

impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

and singers.

Radio personality

She is doing radio personality at two stations. She is in charge of radio personality with "Music Delivery of Kizuki Minami (formerly "Emotional Beat,Music Airport") " on Rainbow Town FM in Koto Ward, Tokyo since January 2014. It is a monthly program on the third Tuesday of every month (21:00 – 22:00 JST). She is also in charge of radio personality "AiRadio! of Kizuki Minami" on FM Kagoshima since April 2017. It is a weekly program on Saturday (19;30 – 19:55 JST). AiRadio! of Kizuki Minami

''FM Kagoshima''

Discography

Original albums

*2009: Kana Itoshikihitoyo (加那ーイトシキヒトヨー) (19 August 2009, PCCA-3734, (PCCA-3733 for CD/DVD set)) *2014: Ayahabura (綾蝶〜アヤハブラ〜) (26 February 2014, PCCA-3998) *2015: Toutoganashi (尊々加那志〜トウトガナシ〜) (4 November 2015, PCCA-04286) *2016: Gekka Bijin (月下美人) (16 November 2016, PCCA-04433) *2019: one (one) (18 December 2019, PCCA-04878 (PCCA-04877 for CD/DVD set))

Cover albums

*2015: Sakura Nagashi サクラナガシ (21 January 2015, PCCA-04146. Early releases included bonus CD "Aitsumugi 2015" (''アイツムギ2015'')) *2015: Minami Kaze ミナミカゼ (17 June 2015, PCCA-04231. Early releases included bonus CD "Warabigami – Watashi No Takaramono 2015" (''童神〜私の宝物〜2015'')) *2017: Yukimachizuki ユキマチヅキ (22 November 2017, PCCA-04593. Including a new original song "Sayonara yori mo tsutaeta katta koto (What I wanted to tell you rather than goodbye.)" (サヨナラよりも伝えたかったこと))

Singles

''Comprehensive list available on :ja:城南海#シングル, Japanese page'' *Aitsumugi c/w Piano (7 January 2009. PCCA-70232) *Dareka no tameni / Wasurenagusa / Hikari (15 April 2009. PCCA-02890) *Shiroi Tsuki / Hikari Sasu Michi / Shiokaze to Kogarashi (22 July 2009. PCCA-02937) *Luna Regaro – Tsuki Karano Okurimono / Lily / Kimino Tameni (17 March 2010. PCCA-03098) *Warabigami – Watashino Takaramono / Hoshi No Saku Michi (14 April 2010. PCCA-70279) *Kizashi/ Zutto Zutto / Izayoi (7 September 2011. PCCA-03462) *Aitsumugi / Siawase No Tane (20 June 2012. PCCA-70338) *Yumemachi Ressha (6 March 2013. PCCA-70363. PCCA-03800 CD/DVD set) *Choen ae ji eo / Amma / Sayonakidori (20 November 2013. PCCA-03938) *Tada Hitotsu / Kanashikutemo / Inochi no Hashi (19 November 2014. PCCA-04124) *Anata ni Aete Yokatta / Mikansei no Sekai / Aitai (19 July 2017. PCCA-04554) *Segodon Kikou

Okinoerabujima , also known as Okinoerabu, is one of the Satsunan Islands, classed with the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa. The island, 93.63 km² in area, has a population of approximately 14,000 persons. Administratively it is divided into th ...

version / Ai kana / Ai Kanadete (20 June 2018. PCCA-04693) [Songs of the

taiga drama "

")]

Co-works

''Comprehensive list available on :ja:城南海#参加作品, Japanese page''

Others

''Sold only at the live venue/official site.'' *Music Clip Collection (July 2018. BRBP-00077) (17 music videos are included.) **DVD:It contains all the music videos released so far and stored music videos. **CD:Hitotsu ni naretanara (lyrics and composition: Minami Kizuki) *Tôi Yakusoku (December 2018.) **CD:Tôi Yakusoku / Ichirin no hana / Kokoro no uta (All the lyrics and compositions are written by Minami Kizuki) **DVD:Tôi Yakusoku (Making documentary)/Mangetsu no Yūbe (studio live version)/Minami Kizuki's special Interview *10th anniversary best albums (8 May 2019. PCCA-04779(with DVD), PCCA-04780(without DVD)) **CD:An original best album and a cover best album **DVD:The 10th anniversary live concert