, occasionally credited as You Aku (February 7, 1937 – August 1, 2007), was a Japanese
lyricist
A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment.
Royalties
A lyricist's income derives ...
,
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
, and
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...
.
Early life
Yū Aku was born as Hiroyuki Fukada (深田公之, Fukada Hiroyuki) in Awaji Island, Hyogo, Japan. His parents both originated from the town of Kawaminami in
Miyazaki Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,028,215 as of 1 January 2025 and has a geographic area of 7,735 Square kilometre, km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefectur ...
, Kyūshū, Japan. His father worked as a police constable in Hyogo prefecture. His father's career necessitated moving every few years, resulting in Aku attending three separate junior high schools. Yū Aku graduated from
Meiji University
is a Private university, private research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Originally founded as Meiji Law School () by three lawyers in 1881, it became a university in April 1920.
As of May 2023, Meiji has 32,261 undergradu ...
.
Career
Originally, Yū Aku desired to screenwrite for movies, specifically the then up-and-coming Moonlight Mask series. Aku started his career in advertisement production, which provided the foundation for his work as a lyricist. Aku worked on commercial production from 1959 to 1966. In 1964, he also took up broadcast writing. After his 1966 retirement from advertising, he continued to work as a broadcast writer and also as a lyricist. His first published work as a lyricist was the 1965 song 'Monkey Dance.'
Yū Aku was famous for contributing lyrics to many recording artists since 1967. He was a prolific lyricist, writing more than 5,000 songs. Mainly during the 1970s, more than 20 of them reached #1 on the Japanese
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...
chart, and seven singles sold more than a million copies. Over 500 of his compositions which were released as singles have entered the Japanese record chart, and they sold in excess of 68 million copies from 1968 to 2007, making him the most commercially successful Japanese lyricist up to that point. As of 2015, total sales of the singles he has written exceed 68.3 million copies, making him the second best-selling lyricist in Japan behind only
Yasushi Akimoto
is a Japanese record producer, lyricist, and television writer, best known for creating and producing some of Japan's top idol groups, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise. Total sales of the singles he has written exceed 100 million copies, ma ...
. In 1977, he wrote the lyrics to The
TV Asahi
JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...
Song for the occasion of the television channel's most recent name change.
Throughout his 40-year career as a lyricist, Aku won the Japan Record Award five times. He was also acclaimed as a novelist, and produced several award-winning works. In 1999, Aku received the Purple Ribboned Medal of Honor from the
Government of Japan
The Government of Japan is the central government of Japan. It consists of legislative, executive (government), executive and judiciary branches and functions under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan. Japan is a unitary st ...
, in honor of his long-term contributions to the Japanese entertainment industry.
On September 12, 2001, Aku underwent surgery to remove his
kidney cancer
Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, a lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include ...
. He continued to work while undergoing chemotherapy until he died of
ureteral cancer
Ureteral cancer is cancer of the ureters, muscular tubes that propel urine from the kidneys to the urinary bladder. It is also known as ureter cancer,