Over 60 films in 22 years, but have you heard of Hibari Misora?

by Chris MaGee

I like to think that the J-Film Pow-Wow blog is a place where I get to learn in public. I must stress that I'm no expert or authority on Japanese cinema, just a fan that enjoys exploring these films just as much as our readers do, so when I get excited when I discover something new to me I assume that it'll get the readers excited as well. With that in mind I wanted to tell you about Hibari Misora.

Misora was born in 1937, the daughter of a fishmonger. From a young age she'd had a talent for singing, particularly enka songs. For those of you not familiar with enka, it is often called "the country music of Japan" because it deals with the same hard luck, broken hearted stories that popular country western music does. Misora wowed audiences with her precociously mature renditions of enka classics, and with the help of her father and guitarist Haruhisa Kawada she parlayed her natural talents not only into an astoundingly successful musical career, but also a prolific film career as well.

Starting in 1949 with her debut film "Nodojiman-kyô jidai" the Japanese public started their long love affair with the girl with the grown up voice, but it wasn't until her role in the 1950 film "Tokyo Kiddo" directed by Torajiro Saito in which Misaro played an orphan named Mariko did the 13-year-old become a national craze. A mind-boggling 50 plus films were to follow, as would the release of 1,200 songs and 56 million records sold, but it wasn't all glowing success. Misora was married briefly and unhappily to action and yakuza-eiga star Akira Kobayashi and she was notorious for her hard drinking, hard living ways; and it was this lifestyle that ended up claiming her in 1989 at the age of 52.

To find out more about Hibari Misora click here and here.

Below is a collection of clips from three of Hibari Misora's films: "Tokyo Kid" (1950) directed by Torajiro Saito, "Dancing Girls of Izu" (1954) directed by Yoshitaro Nomura and "Akita Oba Ko" (1963) directed by Kunio Watanabe.