[Yamagata Songs] Beloved local tunes and classic tracks celebrating majestic nature and hometown pride

Safflower LongingMizuki Hayama

Mizuki Hayama “Benibana Bojō” Music Video

Safflower is a plant in the Asteraceae family and is also the prefectural flower of Yamagata.

Since the Edo period, the Mogami River basin—with its fertile soil and good drainage—has been a major production area for safflower, and boats loaded with the flowers were reportedly carried to Kyoto and Osaka.

There’s a certain charm to drifting downstream with boats full of blossoms.

Unfortunately, the song is about unrequited love.

Kamiyama LongingHikaru Aoyama

Hikaru Aoyama / Kaminoyama Longing [Official PV]

This is a tragic love song set in the Kaminoyama Onsen area of Yamagata Prefecture.

The chirping of nightingales overlaps with the castle in the music video, evoking memories of history.

Hikaru Aoyama is the last disciple of Hiroyuki Nakagawa—known as the emperor of mood kayō—who composed many songs such as Love You Tokyo and Silver Fox of the Night.

Shinjō-bushiShigenobu Oba

Shinjō-bushi.wmv

The Hanazawa-bushi, a jinku originally sung during grass-cutting in the Hanazawa area of Sakata River Village, Mogami District, Yamagata Prefecture, was brought to Shinjo around the beginning of the Meiji era and became the parlor song Shinjo-bushi.

With changing times, lyrics that once said things like “I was sold to the red-light district, zoe” were revised to express a man’s feelings instead, as in “I came to see you, zoe.”

Sakata PortItsuro Oizumi

Itsuro Oizumi / Sakata Port

I believe it was during the Edo period.

Ships laden with safflower traveled the Mogami River, and their route is described as the long western circuit from Sakata Port.

The Kitamaebune were not carriers transporting goods on consignment; rather, the shipowners themselves took the lead in buying and selling to turn a profit.

It was a kind of seafaring work that did not allow for an easy return, sailing from various ports along the Sea of Japan, through Shimonoseki, and on to Osaka in the Seto Inland Sea.

This has become a song about one chapter of Yamagata Prefecture’s history and the story of women who waited, praying for the safety of the men at sea.

Uetsu Main LineYuko Oka

Uetsu Main Line

The Uetsu Main Line starts at Niitsu Station in Niigata, passes through Yamagata, and ends at Akita Station.

The entire line runs along the Sea of Japan, and this song expresses a woman’s desire to have the strength of the Sea of Japan.

Yuko Oka has continued to sing songs set in all 47 prefectures, and with over 450 songs to date, she is known as the “Singing Map of Japan.”

Omoshiyama FallsKumi Iwamoto

Omoshiyama Falls

Omoshiro-yama is part of the Ou Mountains located on the prefectural border between Yamagata City in Yamagata Prefecture and Taihaku Ward in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture.

In the lyrics, there is a line that says, “the imoni train goes by,” and imoni—well-known as a cultural staple of Yamagata—gives a tranquil impression, which contrasts with the song’s theme of being betrayed by someone who promised to return but never did.