The Flower that Bloomed at the End of the Journey - Jyoji Yamamoto's Enka Road (1970s-2000s)

The Flower that Bloomed at the End of the Journey - Jyoji Yamamoto's Enka Road (1970s-2000s)

Joji Yamamoto is a representative singer who supported the Japanese enka world from the 1970s to the 2000s. Although his debut was not a budding success, with the support of his mentor Saburo Kitajima, he achieved his big break with "Michinoku Hitori Tabi" (Michinoku Hitori Tabi). Especially in the 1980s, she continued to attract fans nationwide with her passionate singing voice and personable character. Her many songs such as "Michinoku" and "Hana mo Arashi mo" depicted the sorrows of travel and life, and she was well known as a singer who was close to the sentiments of the common people in the Showa period. In his private life, he was known as a passionate humanist, and his righteousness was impressive in his TV programs. His singing ability did not diminish as time passed into the Heisei era, and he continued to preserve the soul of enka. Along with singers of his generation such as Saburo Kitajima and Takashi Hosokawa, Yamamoto's songs, which colored the "golden age of en
ka in the Showa era," are etched with the truth of his travels and life. His representative songs continue to overlap with the travel scenes that remain in the hearts of Japanese people even today, in 2025.