**"Kakuei Tanaka and Rokyoku, a Strange Connection with Genyosha"-The Intersection of Politics and the Performing Arts circa 1979**.

**"Kakuei Tanaka and Rokyoku, a Strange Connection with Genyosha"-The Intersection of Politics and the Performing Arts circa 1979**.

In the late 1970s, Kakuei Tanaka had already stepped down as prime minister, but he was still a powerful figure in the political world and was also known as the "Yakushogun. His popularity among the masses during this period was supported by his indigenous speech, which did not reflect his poor origins, and his political style, which was close to the people. This was also symbolized by his skill of "roaring a ronikyoku.

Kakuei Tanaka's taste for ronikyoku is not mere entertainment. Rokyoku is the most beloved form of storytelling in Japan since the Meiji era (1868-1912), and it has captured the hearts of audiences with its dramatic intonations and tales of righteousness and humanity. Momochuken Unemon, the originator of rokyoku, played an important role in the context of the liberal civil rights movement and nationalism of the Meiji era. And behind him was the Genyosha, or nationalist organization led by Mitsuru Touzan.

Mitsuru Kashiyama was known for his love of rites of passage (storytelling) and was himself a master ronikyoku performer. Rokusuke Hakoda, the first president of Genyosha, was a kind of symbol in the world of Meiji thought, even though his life was short. The name "Rokusuke" continued in the lineage to Rokusuke Fujii, who died in the early Showa period, and Ichijiro Oya, an actor of the Shinpa school. The author says that these "three Rokusuke" seem to be connected by a red silk thread.

What is interesting is the world of shinpa gekijo, a type of theater in which Rokusuke and his colleagues were involved. Shinpa geki is a theatrical form that emphasized realistic humanistic drama from the late Meiji period to the early Showa period, and figures such as Kawakami Otojiro contributed to its development. Kawakami also had a close relationship with the Genyosha. In other words, the seemingly unrelated elements of nankyoku, shinpa, nationalistic ideology, and Kakuei Tanaka are loosely intertwined throughout history.

The author says that he would like to compile a book on these "Rokusuke" when he has collected all the materials on them. He says that he intends to depict not only nostalgia and nostalgia, but also confrontation in terms of politics and ideology. The composition of the book will be a critical confrontation between the nationalist Rokusuke and contemporary intellectuals.

At the time when this conversation was born, that is, at the end of the 1970s, when Japan was undergoing a transformation from high economic growth to the oil shock, the distance between popular culture and politics was rapidly shrinking in Japanese society. Television, radio, and entertainment shaped the image of politicians, and entertainment and politics often came into contact with each other. The symbol of this trend was Kakuei Tanaka, who performed ronikyoku (traditional Japanese songs) and played the role of a politician who spoke the language of the people.

What is nankyoku? What is politics? What is the art for? This conversation brings to the surface a point of view that reexamines these questions. The image of Kakuei Tanaka standing between the ideological lineage that has continued since before the war and postwar democracy must have been very provocative to readers of the time.