is a Japanese

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, pop ...

singer, lyricist, actor and composer.

Background

He was born Minoru Ōno (大野穣), in Shiriuchi, Hokkaidō, to a fisherman. He was very poor due to the effects of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and was forced to work while he studied.

Music career

When he was about to graduate from high school, he decided to become a singer. His debut single was called "Bungacha-Bushi," which was released in 1962. He has many famous songs, including "Namida Bune" (1962), "Kyōdai Jingi" (1965), "Yosaku" (1978) and "Kita no Ryōba" (1986). His 1965 song "Kaerokana" was written by lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura. He is very popular in Japan partly due to his looks of a physical laborer, and he mostly sings in the spirit of Japan's working class and rural laborers. Kitajima regularly appeared on ''

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

'', an annual end-of-year TV program where many major Japanese singers gather to perform, before announcing his retirement from the show in 2013. He participated a record 50 times, was the "anchor" (final solo performer) 13 times and led the grand finale 11 times. His participation included the infamous DJ Ozma performance at the '' 57th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen''. He returned at the ''

69th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen The was the 2018 edition of NHK's television special Kōhaku Uta Gassen, held on December 31 live from NHK Hall (Tokyo, Japan). It was broadcast in Japan through NHK General Television and NHK Radio 1, and worldwide through NHK World Premium. Thi ...

'' in 2018 for a special performance. Kitajima released single on January 1, 2010 at the age of 73. It debuted at No. 10 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 ...

weekly single charts. It became the first single to reach Top 10 by a solo artist in his 70s in Oricon charts history. He does a lot of concerts overseas and is contributing a lot of work to the culture of

Japanese music In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern.ref> The word for "music" in Japanese language, Japanese is 音楽 (''ongaku''), combining the kanji 音 ''on'' (sound) with the kanji 楽 ''gaku'' (music, comf ...

Other activities

In addition to his singing career, Kitajima acted in the role of Tatsugorō on the television series '' Abarenbō Shōgun''. During the quarter-century life of the series, he also sang its theme songs. He is also a successful owner of Thoroughbred racehorses including Kitasan Black.

Honours

* Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2016)

References

External links

Official homepage
Enka singers Japanese male composers Japanese composers Japanese male singer-songwriters Japanese lyricists Japanese male television actors 1936 births Living people Actors from Hokkaido Singers from Hokkaido Japanese racehorse owners and breeders Nippon Crown artists {{japan-singer-stub