was a Japanese ''

ryūkōka is a Japanese musical genre. The term originally denoted any kind of "popular music" in Japanese, and is the sinic reading of ''hayariuta'', used for commercial music of Edo Period. Therefore, ''imayō'', which was promoted by Emperor Go-Shirak ...

'' and ''

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, songwriter, and electric guitarist. His debut song was released in 1939. Along with enka-shi

Haruo Oka , real name , was a Japanese '' ryūkōka'' singer. He studied music as an enka-shi or a street musician. At that time, he was encouraged by Taro Shoji in Ginza. He signed with King Records in 1938. He debuted with song "Kokkyō no Haru" (国� ...

's 1939 debut, his debut had a big impact on Japanese popular music because Japanese popular ''

'' music of that time was mainly sung by classical music singers such as Ichiro Fujiyama and

Noriko Awaya was a Japanese female soprano chanteuse and popular music (''ryūkōka'') singer. She was dubbed the "Queen of Blues" in Japan. Life and career Awaya was born as in Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. She was the oldest daughter of a wealthy ...

. He was born in

Matsusaka is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 157,235 in 66,018 households and a population density of 250 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city is famous for Matsusaka beef. Geography ...

Mie prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

, Japan.

Discography

* : 1939 * : 1941 * : 1962 * : 1975 * : 1994 * : 1998 (Tribute song to Taro Shoji born in 1898) * : 2001

References

1919 births 2013 deaths Enka singers Japanese male singer-songwriters Japanese singer-songwriters Japanese guitarists Musicians from Mie Prefecture 20th-century Japanese musicians 20th-century guitarists 20th-century Japanese male singers 20th-century Japanese singers {{Japan-singer-stub