is the 17th single by Japanese singer/songwriter

Chisato Moritaka (born 11 April 1969) is a Japanese pop singer who also is notable as a songwriter. She is affiliated with Up-Front Create, a subsidiary of the Up-Front Group.

. The lyrics were written by Moritaka and the music was composed by Hideo Saitō. The single was released alongside by

Warner Music Japan Warner Music Group (WMG) owns, has a joint share, or is associated with the record labels listed here. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records *Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Music Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * A ...

on January 25, 1993. The song was used as the theme song to the TX variety show ''Ii Tabi: Yume Kibun''.

Background

"Watarasebashi" is composed in the key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

and set to a tempo of 77

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

. Moritaka's vocals span from B₃ to C₅. Lyrically, the song tells the story of a woman reminiscing on a past love at the sight of a sunset. When writing the song, Moritaka scanned maps of Japan in search of bridges or rivers with a "beautiful" sounding name and found the

Watarase River The is a major river in the northern Kantō region of Japan. A tributary of the Tone River, it is in length and drains an area of . When she learned of the existence of the Watarase Bridge in

Ashikaga, Tochigi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Tochigi Prefecture of Honshu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 140,036, in 62,123 households and a population density of 788 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Ashika ...

, a city she had once visited while touring, she decided to base the lyrics on the area.

Music video

The music video for "Watarasebashi" pays homage to

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

's "

Let It Be Let It Be most commonly refers to: * ''Let It Be'' (album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970 * "Let It Be" (song), the title song from the album Let It Be may also refer to: Film and television * ''Let It Be'' (1970 film), ...

" and features Moritaka performing the song on piano, playing the drums as well as performing the recorder solo.

Chart performance

"Watarasebashi" debuted at No. 9 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

Singles Chart with 72,000 units sold in the first week. It fell out of the top twenty two weeks later, but came back the next week at number 20 before dropping off again. The single charted in the top 100 for fifteen weeks, selling a reported total of 310,000 copies during its run. "Watarasebashi" ranked at number 96 on the year-end chart.

Other versions

On November 25, 2009, Moritaka released a newly recorded version of the song as a double A-side single with "

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". The original version was remastered and reissued in Ultimate High Quality CD (UHQCD) format on November 15, 2017 as part of the , which includes the remastered CD single, a 7-inch vinyl and a

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

featuring the remastered music video and bonus footage from the making-of video to Moritaka's revisit to Ashikaga in 2012.

Other media

"Watarasebashi" was released as an interactive CD-ROM by Oracion on December 20, 1995. The CD-ROM features the music video, interviews with Moritaka, VR photos of Ashikaga and five extra music videos. It was re-released in the two-disc set ''Watarasebashi/

La La Sunshine is the 29th single by Japanese singer/songwriter Chisato Moritaka. The lyrics were written by Moritaka and the music was composed by Hiromasa Ijichi. The single was released by One Up Music on June 10, 1996. The song was used as the opening and ...

'' for the

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...

on September 11, 1997. The song was included in the 2020 various artists album .

Legacy

In 2007, a

stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

was erected in Ashikaga in honor of Moritaka's contributions to the city. The stele features a speaker that plays the song. Since being mentioned in the song, the and the phone booth outside Ozawa Barber Shop have become popular sightseeing spots. When the shrine burned down in a fire in December 2012, Moritaka raised funds to support its reconstruction, which was completed in late 2017. In July 2015,

Ashikaga Station is a railway station in the city of Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It is one of two main railway stations of Ashikaga; the other is Ashikagashi Station of the private railway operato ...

and Ashikagashi Station adopted the song as their

train melody A train melody is a melody played when a train is arriving at or about to depart from a train station. In Japan, departing train melodies are arranged to invoke a feeling of relief in a train passenger after sitting down and moving with the depar ...

Track listing

All lyrics are written by

Chisato Moritaka (born 11 April 1969) is a Japanese pop singer who also is notable as a songwriter. She is affiliated with Up-Front Create, a subsidiary of the Up-Front Group.

; all music is composed and arranged by Hideo Saitō. ;1993 single ;2017 Blu-ray Complete Box

Personnel

* Chisato Moritaka – vocals, drums, piano,

alto recorder The alto recorder in F, also known as a treble (and, historically, as consort flute and common flute) is a member of the recorder family. Up until the 17th century the alto instrument was normally in G4 instead of F4. Its standard range is F ...

* Hideo Saitō – guitar, bass, tambourine, synthesizer

Charts

Certification

Aya Matsuura version

"Watarasebashi" was recorded by

Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but ...

soloist and one-time Moritaka labelmate

Aya Matsuura is a former Japanese pop singer and actress, from Himeji, Hyogo, Japan. Career 2000–2009: Hello! Project Aya auditioned in 2000 for the fourth Morning Musume & Heike Michiyo Protegee Audition and was selected along with Sheki-Dol to become ...

. It was released as a single by

Zetima is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agency Up-Front Promotion and Up-Front Works, a music production and sales company that manages such record labels as Zetima, Piccolo Town, ...

on October 20, 2004. The music video features Matsuura performing the song on a footbridge, with two schoolchildren playing recorders during the instrumental section.

Chart performance

Matsuura's version of "Watarasebashi" debuted at number 6 on the Oricon Singles Chart with 29,000 units sold, peaking higher than the original Moritaka version. Her version charted on the Oricon Singles Chart for six weeks, selling a reported total of 48,000 copies during its run.

Track listing

Charts

Sales

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RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include prom ...

) , , 48,000 , -

Other cover versions

Enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, pop ...

singer Sanae Jōnouchi included a cover of the song as B-side to her 1993 single "Yowasete yo Kon'ya Dake", which is also a cover of a Moritaka song. * Gen Takayama recorded a cover of the song for his 1993 album ''Kokoro Kōrasete'', his first album in eleven years. * Chaka covered the song for her 1999 album ''I Found Love''. *

Maomi Yuki is a Japanese entertainer represented by Ikushima Planning Office. Her business alliance is Harmony Promotion. Filmography TV series Current appearances Former appearances Advertisements Internet series Dramas Films References Ex ...

covered the song for her 2003 EP ''Real My Heart''. *

Maki Goto is a Japanese singer, lyricist, and former actress. Born and raised in Edogawa, Tokyo, Goto began her musical career in 1999 when she joined Morning Musume as the only third generation member. Her first single with the group, "Love Machine (Mo ...

recorded her version of the song for her 2005 album ''

3rd Station is the third album by solo singer and former Morning Musume and Petit Moni member Maki Goto. This album was released on February 23, 2005, and features several songs with different versions from the originals. "Watarasebashi" is a cover version ...

''. * Kyogo Kawaguchi recorded a cover of the song for his 2007 cover album ''Kimi wo Suki Datta Ano Koro''. *

ManaKana and (born February 23, 1986) are Japanese identical twin sister actresses. They are mostly collectively referred to as . They were born in Osaka, Osaka. Mana is the older one, born 7 minutes before Kana. History *They debuted at the age of 5, ap ...

recorded a cover of the song for their third cover album ''Futari Uta 3'' in 2010. * The Japanese music duo Kasarinchu covered the song, in collaboration with Shin Kōno, for the 2013 album ''Sū-chan Mai-chan Sawako-san''. * Minami Kizuki recorded a cover of the song for her first cover album ''Sakuranagashi'' in 2015.

References

External links

* (Chisato Moritaka) * (Warner Music Japan) * * {{Authority control 1993 songs 2004 singles 2009 singles 2017 video albums Songs in Japanese Chisato Moritaka songs Aya Matsuura songs Maki Goto songs Songs with lyrics by Chisato Moritaka Songs with music by Hideo Saitō (musician, born 1958) Warner Music Japan singles Zetima Records singles