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was a Japanese
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
singer and actress. At the peak of her fame in the immediate
post-war era A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, w ...
, she earned the nickname the . Kasagi frequently sang songs composed by
Ryōichi Hattori was a Japanese pop and jazz composer. Katsuhisa Hattori is his son. He had a great influence on Japanese pop and was awarded the People's Honor Award. Japanese jazz was downtrodden during World War II World War II or the Second Worl ...
, including 1947's "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie", which remains her best-known work. Yoshinori Gyobe, a professor at
Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. The university's name is derived from the Ja ...
, said that with Hattori's bright boogie rhythms and Kasagi's lively singing of melodies that did not exist in Japan, the duo changed the image of
Japanese music In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern.ref> The word for "music" in Japanese language, Japanese is 音楽 (''ongaku''), combining the kanji 音 ''on'' (sound) with the kanji 楽 ''gaku'' (music, comf ...
.


Early life and career

Shizuko Kasagi was born on 25 August 1914 in
Ōkawa District, Kagawa was a former district in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the ...
. Her parents were unmarried, and her father died the following year. At six months old, Kasagi was adopted by a friend of her mother's in
Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
. She started learning '' Nihon-buyō'' at the age of four. At 13, she joined the Shochiku Gakugeki Club (predecessor of the OSK Nippon Opera Company). She originally took as her stage name, but eventually changed the spelling to . Kasagi got her big break in April 1938, when she moved to Tokyo to join the Shouchiku Kageki Dan. There she met
Ryōichi Hattori was a Japanese pop and jazz composer. Katsuhisa Hattori is his son. He had a great influence on Japanese pop and was awarded the People's Honor Award. Japanese jazz was downtrodden during World War II World War II or the Second Worl ...
, a composer signed to
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 ...
, who quickly recognized Kasagi's talent and went on to compose many songs for her, including "Sentimental Daina". According to Michael Furmanovsky of ''
The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...
'', their 1939 song "Rappa to Musume" was the first recording in
Japanese music In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern.ref> The word for "music" in Japanese language, Japanese is 音楽 (''ongaku''), combining the kanji 音 ''on'' (sound) with the kanji 楽 ''gaku'' (music, comf ...
history to feature
scat singing Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is vocal Musical improvisation, improvisation with Non-lexical vocables in music, wordless vocables, Pseudoword#Nonsense syllables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, t ...
. However, during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Japanese government was cracking-down on Western music, and the vigorously dancing Kasagi received directives from authorities to stand still, no farther than 1 meter from the microphone. Additionally, Kasagi suffered the deaths of her adoptive mother and her younger brother during this time. In 1943, she began a relationship with Eisuke Yoshimoto, a
Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...
student nine years her junior. He was the son of Sei Yoshimoto, founder of the entertainment conglomerate Yoshimoto Kogyo, who strongly opposed the relationship. After the war, she learned she was pregnant in October 1946. However, Eisuke died from tuberculosis on 19 May 1947, weeks before Kasagi gave birth to their daughter Eiko on 1 June. The couple had talked of marriage and Kasagi retiring, but she decided to raise their child as a single mother and continue her career. She recorded "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie" just three months later. When released in January 1948, the upbeat and cheerful track became a hit amongst the Japanese people who were recovering after being defeated in the war. Kasagi appeared in
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...
's 1948 film ''
Drunken Angel is a 1948 Japanese noir film directed by Akira Kurosawa, and co-written by Kurosawa and Keinosuke Uekusa. Starring Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune, it tells the story of alcoholic doctor Sanada, and his recidivist patient Matsunaga. Sanada ...
'', performing the song "Jungle Boogie", the lyrics to which were written by the director. With further hits such as "Hey Hey Boogie", "Home Run Boogie" and "Kaimono Boogie", Kasagi was dubbed the "Queen of Boogie". By the early 1950s, her popularity was being eclipsed by that of
Hibari Misora was a Japanese singer, actress and cultural icon. She received a Medal of Honor for her contributions to music and for improving the welfare of the public, and was the first woman to receive the People's Honour Award, which was conferred posth ...
, who was at one point dubbed . In 1955, Kasagi began concentrating on her acting career. She announced her retirement from singing in 1957.


Death

Kasagi died from
ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different ...
on 30 March 1985, aged 70.
NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...
's
Asadora , colloquially known as , is a serialized, 15 minutes per episode, Japanese television drama program series broadcast in the mornings by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The first such series aired in 1961 with the black-and-white , starring Ta ...
drama series ''
Boogie Woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually ex ...
'', starting in October 2023, is based on Kasagi.


Discography

* * * * * * *


Films

* ''
Drunken Angel is a 1948 Japanese noir film directed by Akira Kurosawa, and co-written by Kurosawa and Keinosuke Uekusa. Starring Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune, it tells the story of alcoholic doctor Sanada, and his recidivist patient Matsunaga. Sanada ...
'' (1948) * ''Hateshinaki Jonetsu'' (1949) * ''
Ginza Kankan Musume (translation: ''Ginza Kankan Girl'') is a 1949 black and white Japanese film directed by Koji Shima. Cast * Shizuko Kasagi * Hideko Takamine was a Japanese actress who began as a child actress and maintained her fame in a career that spa ...
'' (1949) * '' Endless Desire'' (1958) * ''Sukurappu Shūdan'' (1968) * ''Gendai Yakuza: Shinjuku no Yotamono'' (1970) * ''Zubekō Banchō: Zange no Neuchi mo Nai'' (1971) * ''Kigeki: Onna Ikitemasu'' (1971)


References


External links


Shizuko Kasagi's page at Nippon Columbia
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasagi, Shizuko 1914 births 1985 deaths Japanese women jazz singers Japanese jazz singers Japanese film actresses Actors from Kagawa Prefecture Deaths from ovarian cancer in Japan Nippon Columbia artists People from Higashikagawa, Kagawa 20th-century Japanese actresses Singers from Kagawa Prefecture 20th-century Japanese women singers 20th-century Japanese singers