Japanese Music / Showa kayo & idol pop · 1978
Manjushaka
Momoe Yamaguchi
曼珠沙華 · 山口百恵
Why listen
A familiar opening and a melody that returns in full at the end give these varied performances an album-shaped frame.
Listen and read
Tracks · previews
English editorial edition
Album story
Momoe Yamaguchi opens Manjushaka with the familiar Ii Hi Tabidachi, but the album does not repeat that song’s emotional posture twelve times. A phrase held low and a line pressed forward can suggest different speakers even within one recognisable voice. The placement of the title track and the two appearances of Yokosuka Sunset Sunrise help organise those differences.
Released on 21 December 1978, the album carries an extended title referring to a monument to turning twenty. The title song occupies position six. A roughly fifty-nine-second Yokosuka excerpt follows, while the full-length version closes the twelve-track sequence after four intervening songs. The short entry is an intentional part of the programme, not a duplicate to be removed.
Several writers, one performer
The writing team includes Yoko Aki and Ryudo Uzaki alongside other contributors, including Shinji Tanimura, who wrote both words and music for the opening song. A continuous vocal identity does not make every narrator interchangeable. Notice how Yamaguchi closes one phrase quickly but lets another remain suspended. Those decisions provide continuity without flattening the different songs into a single character.
A remembered scene becomes an ending
The short Yokosuka follows the extended title track, opening a new stretch of the record. Pretty Harlot, Hitofusa no Budo, Jugo no Koro and Hitoiro Tarinai Niji no Yoni then occupy the space before the melody returns in full. Even without following every Japanese word, a listener can hear the difference between a briefly introduced scene and one finally allowed to unfold.
Listen before consulting the legend
Yamaguchi’s later retirement can dominate how her records are remembered. These performances need not be treated as predictions of a private life. Begin instead with the placement of words in a phrase, especially at the lower end of her voice. The flowing opening and closing songs do not offer identical kinds of reassurance. Their different distances help make the album’s coming-of-age frame an open perspective rather than a fixed portrait.
The album through its tracks
Remember the short track-seven Yokosuka, then follow the intervening songs before hearing its full-length return.
いい日 旅立ち
Shinji Tanimura wrote the words and music for this song, first issued as a single in November 1978. Here it also has the job of opening an album. Rather than letting recognition immediately replace attention, follow the pace at which Yamaguchi moves from a low phrase into the next thought. The performance creates breadth without requiring every line to arrive at maximum force. Its approximately four minutes and seventeen seconds establish a point of comparison for the different character of Shrewd Fellow afterwards. Listeners may associate it with their own departures, but the song need not be read as a literal confession. Familiarity becomes an invitation to hear what follows.
Reference · Polystar — Ii Hi Tabidachi original release and songwriter横須賀サンセット・サンライズ
This is the approximately four-minute-and-twenty-six-second finale, not the brief track-seven edit. Yoko Aki’s words, Ryudo Uzaki’s music and Makoto Kawaguchi’s arrangement allow the previously glimpsed scene to acquire a fuller span. Try remembering the short appearance before playing this version: the return then feels like a structural choice rather than simple duplication. Within the flowing performance, listen for how firmly Yamaguchi closes the ends of phrases and where she leaves a little room before the next begins. A supple, bright movement need not imply uncomplicated happiness. Coming after the intervening songs, the finale can carry their different distances while bringing the album back to a recognisable place.
Reference · Sony otonano — Yokosuka Sunset Sunrise credits
Listen next
Compare Kenji Sawada’s Omoikiri Kiza na Jinsei for another singer’s way of giving multiple writers’ songs a coherent presence.
Omoikiri Kiza na Jinsei ↗References & editorial note
Written for English readers. Album facts are referenced below; listening suggestions are editorial interpretations. AI-assisted editorial review; not independently human-reviewed.