(born January 18, 1948) is a Japanese

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

singer and actress. Her father is Hisashi Moriyama, a pioneer of

Japanese jazz Japanese jazz ( Japanese: 日本のジャズ, ''Nihon no jazu''), also called Japazz, is jazz played by Japanese musicians or jazz connected to Japan or Japanese culture. According to some estimates, Japan has the largest proportion of jazz fans i ...

. Her son

Naotarō Moriyama (born April 23, 1976) is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter. His mother is Ryōko Moriyama, a well-known folk singer. Moriyama came out with the album "Kawaita Uta wa Sakana no Esa ni Chōdo Ii" in 2002, including the song "Sakura". Discogra ...

is a singer. Her first cousin

Hiroshi Kamayatsu was a Japanese singer and guitarist born in Tokyo. He composed the music for ''Download'', a direct-to-video anime release based on PC Engine games. Profile "Monsieur" was a founding member of bands The Spiders, Vodka Collins, and also a s ...

is also a musician. She is known as the ''Japanese

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...

'', or the ''Queen of college folk''. Her songs tend not to become best sellers but her most famous song is "Satokibi Batake". This song is about a tragedy during the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa Island, Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War, Impe ...

. The song's full version is 10 minutes. When this song was first released, it was thought to be too long to air on the radio, but now the song is popular in Japan. Every summer,

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

air a shorter version as a symbol of the 'No War Campaign'. In the song, an imitative word 'Zawawa' is repeated 66 times, because of this, it is often called 'Zawawa'. Moriyama often called "Satokibi Batake" 'Zawawa' as a joke. Her 1969 recording of "Kinjirareta koi" ("Unpermitted Love") sold over one 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 ...

. A more recent hit song is "

Nada Sōsō is a song written by Japanese band Begin (band), Begin and singer Ryoko Moriyama. It was first released by Moriyama in 1998, but achieved popularity through the cover version by Rimi Natsukawa in 2001. Ryoko Moriyama version The song first a ...

," a poem set to music by

Begin Begin or Bégin may refer to: People *Begin (surname) Music * Begin (band), a Japanese pop trio * ''Begin'' (David Archuleta album) * ''begin'' (Riyu Kosaka album) * ''Begin'' (Lion Babe album) * ''Begin'' (The Millennium album) * ''beGin'' ...

, and sung by

Rimi Natsukawa is a Japanese singer. She is best known for her 2001 single " Nada Sōsō." Childhood Natsukawa was born in Ishigaki, the largest city in the Yaeyama Islands chain. From a young age she enjoyed singing, and wanted to be a singer after heari ...

. Some of her songs, such as "Kono hiroi nohara ippai" and "Dona dona", now appear in school textbooks. She sang a theme song at

Nagano Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

opening ceremony in 1998. Inspired by "Satokibi Batake", a TV drama called ''Satokibi Batake no uta'' ''(Song of the

Sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

field)'' was made.

Akashiya Sanma is a Japanese comedian, TV presenter, radio personality and actor most commonly known as Sanma-san. His real name is . His talent agency is Yoshimoto Kogyo and his shishô (master) back when he studied ''rakugo'' is Shōfukutei Matsunosuke. Tog ...

takes the lead role as a soldier who refused to kill. ''Nada Sōsō also features in a TV program. ''Nada Sōsō'' means teardrops in Okinawan. The song describes the experience of being unable to meet the person you love most. The song may refer to the death of Moriyama's brother.

Filmography

Film

*''

Give It All "Give It All" is a song by American rock music, rock band Rise Against. It was originally recorded for the 2004 compilation album ''Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1'', while a slightly altered version appeared on the band's third studio album ''Siren ...

'' (1998), Satoko Shinomura *''Song of the Canefields'' (2003), as Herself. *'' When Marnie Was There'' (2014) Elderly Lady (voice). *'' Belle'' (2021), Yoshitani (voice)

Television

*''

Come Come Everybody is a Japanese television drama series and the 105th NHK Asadora series, following Okaeri Mone. It premiered on November 1, 2021, and concluded on April 8, 2022. The story is about 100 years-old family, three generations, Yasuko (grandmother), R ...

'' (2022), Annie Hirakawa

References

External links

* (Japanese
Official site
1948 births Living people Japanese women singers Universal Music Japan artists {{japan-musician-stub