Amagigoe Monument in front of Joren Fall

"Amagi-goe" (天城越え Walk Over Amagi Pass) is the 45th single by Japanese singer

Sayuri Ishikawa is a Japanese enka singer who made her professional debut in 1973. With a career nearing five decades, she is one of the most-recognized and successful enka singers in history. Ishikawa is a popular contestant on the annual NHK ''Kōhaku Uta Ga ...

. The song is written by Osamu Yoshioka as lyricist, Tetsuya Gen ( 弦哲也) as composer and Nobuyuki Sakuraba ( 桜庭伸幸) as arranger. The single was released on July 21, 1986, by

Nippon Columbia , often pronounced ''Korombia'', operating internationally as , is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK C ...

. The sleeve does not have the time of the song. Together with " Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu-geshiki", the song is Ishikawa's most popular from her career. By the song, Ishikawa was nominated for the 28th

Japan Record Award is a major music awards show, held annually in Japan that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association. Established in 1959, the Japan Record Awards are one of the oldest and most prestigious music awards in the count ...

in 1986 but she did not win the award. As of 2023, Ishikawa has sung Amagi-goe thirteen times at the annual NHK

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

. There is a monument commemorating the song in front of the

Jōren Falls is a waterfall in the Yugashima district of Izu city, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, in central Izu Peninsula, in the upper reaches of the Kano River. It is a Shizuoka Prefectural Natural Monument. It is one of "Japan’s Top 100 Waterfalls", in a ...

in Amagi, Shizuoka Prefecture. The song is not directly linked to the novella of the same title by

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nor to the movie of the same title based on the novella, which was released in 1983.

Other versions

Ishikawa has re-recorded Amagi-goe for her remix album ''Shunka'' (春夏) released in 1999 by

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966, which distributes music, films, home video, and video games. It is affiliated with the Japanese media group Fujisankei Communications Group. Pony Canyo ...

. This version is also included in the 40th anniversary box set released by Teichiku in 2012. Time of this version is 4:56.

Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until 1989, as well ...

produced a Rock (heavy metal) version of the song, and played it with Ishikawa on TV.

Major league baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player

Ichiro Suzuki , also known mononymously as , is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder who played for 28 seasons. He played the first nine years of his career with the Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and the next 12 years w ...

of the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

chose Friedman's rendition as his theme song.

Yumi Uchiyama is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with Office Osawa. Biography Uchiyama signed to Arts Vision and made her debut in 2005. However, she attended college and had family circumstances. After a five-year hiatus, she returned to Arts Vision a ...

and

Inori Minase is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with Axl One. In March 2016, she won the Best Lead Actress Award in the 10th Seiyu Awards for her leading roles as Jun Naruse in the box office hit '' The Anthem of the Heart'' and as Yuki Ta ...

(both in character) sung versions of the song, and are included in the original soundtrack compilations of '' Binbougami ga'' (under the title "Crossing Amagi") and '' Masamune-kun's Revenge'' (as an insert song in Episode 12) respectively.

B-side

The B-side song "Kakurenbo" (隠れんぼ Hide and Seek) is written by Osamu Yoshioka as lyricist, Tetsuya Gen as composer and Nobuyuki Sakuraba as arranger. The sleeve does not have the time of the song. Ishikawa's debut song bears the same title, but is a different song.

Album appearance

Amagi-goe is included in Ishikawa's studio album of the same title. The B-side song Kakurenbo is not included in any of her studio albums.

Credits and personnel

Tatsuo Watanabe ( 渡辺達生) is credited as photographer for the cover. The sleeve credits the disk as produced by Hori Music (ホリ・ミュージック).

Notes

{{authority control 1986 singles Songs in Japanese 1986 songs Sayuri Ishikawa songs