A roundup of classic Showa-era kayō songs: a comprehensive introduction to timeless tracks loved across generations.
Songs released in the Showa era—what we call Showa kayokyoku—are truly full of timeless masterpieces!
If you’re an adult born in the Showa period, you probably know just how wildly popular Showa kayokyoku was with the entire nation back then.
Meanwhile, even for younger people born in the Heisei era and later, there are still plenty of Showa kayokyoku songs you hear all the time today, and I’m sure many of you can sing quite a few of them without looking at the lyrics.
In this article, we’ll introduce a whole lineup of Showa kayokyoku classics that have continued to be loved across generations.
Take this opportunity to listen again with fresh ears and immerse yourself fully in the world of kayokyoku.
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Collection of Showa-era kayō classic hits: a comprehensive introduction to timeless songs loved across generations (111–120)
paper craneHiroko Chiba
Among the hidden gems released in August 1972, this is the first song that came to my mind.
It may have been a modest hit, but it never really became well-known.
It sounds a bit like enka, yet not quite; at times it feels like pop, but that’s not exactly right either—it has a mysterious melody.
It’s structured in three parts, with the mood of the melody changing as it goes, and it’s fairly complex, so it was hard to hum along to.
Don’t say anything.Sono Mari
Mari Sono, who was active at the forefront of Showa-era kayōkyoku with songs like “When the Acacia Rain Stops” and “Aitakute Aitakute,” also recorded this piece, which has been overshadowed by her more famous hits.
Released in 1964 (Showa 39), it became a hit and followed the so-called Japanese pop style, a trajectory that later led to Yukari Itō’s “Koyubi no Omoide” becoming a massive success.
The two were young.Ozaki Kiyohiko
Released in March 1972, this song is a wonderful piece that lightly conveys the mood of a sorrowful love within a light, cheerful melody.
Kiyohiko Ozaki, who turned “Mata Au Hi Made” into a massive hit with his overwhelming vocal power, has countless hidden masterpieces, in my opinion.
The wind is autumn-colored.Matsuda Seiko
This is a song that was featured in a cosmetics company’s TV commercial in 1981 and became a million seller.
Back then, it’s no exaggeration to say that practically every girl had the “Seiko-chan cut,” at least in hairstyle if nothing else.
I feel there was a trend at the time that idols didn’t even need to be able to sing, but Seiko Matsuda had real vocal ability, a naturally perfect idol voice, and needless to say, stunning looks—her very presence was in a class of its own.
Tokyo girlsakura tamako
Released in December 1976.
Basically, even as times change, Japanese people like this kind of ‘bushi’ (song style).
Along with Sakura Tamako’s vocals, it felt fresh to have a young girl singing a Dodonpa-bushi more than ten years after Mari Watanabe’s “Tokyo Dodonpa-bushi,” released in 1961, became a big hit.