Oshi-Katsu Chronicle: The 1930s — A 20,000-Strong Fan Club, the Tokyo Ondo Craze, Futabayama's 69 Wins
In the 1930s, “talkies,” films that play an actor’s voice and music in sync with the picture, spread across Japan. Spectators could now hear their favorite actor’s voice inside the work, something silent films couldn’t offer.
Stars of the revue built huge fan clubs, and radio carried sumo and baseball games nationwide. In the second half of the decade, though, the effects of war grew stronger, and strict limits reached songs and films as well.
Films Get a Voice, and Magazines Carry Star News
In August 1931, Shochiku Kinema’s Madamu to Nyobo (The Neighbor’s Wife and Mine), directed by Heinosuke Gosho, opened. Regarded as Japan’s first full-fledged all-talkie film, it was named the year’s No. 1 film in the Kinema Junpo top ten. Recording and playing back sound on film made actors’ lines, singing voices and jazz performances part of the movie’s appeal. (Shochiku’s film production history, in Japanese)
In September 1938, part one of Shochiku’s melodrama Aizen Katsura, starring Kinuyo Tanaka and Ken Uehara, opened to a massive box-office response, and its theme song “Tabi no Yokaze,” sung by Noboru Kirishima and Miss Columbia, was sung across the country. (Shochiku: Aizen Katsura database, in Japanese)
- First full talkieMadamu to Nyobo opens in August
- Mizunoe-kai formedAbout 20,000 members
- Pink Dispute and Tokyo OndoA strike, and 1.2 million records
- Tokyo Takarazuka TheaterRecord publication needs a filing
- Pro baseball leagueRecord production peaks at 29.68 million
- Film LawFutabayama's 69-win streak ends
Growth and restriction arrived in the same decade.
Outside the cinema, people eagerly read film magazines carrying star photo spreads and studio news. Eiga Sekai was renamed Eiga no Tomo (Friends of the Movies) in 1931 and grew its circulation, while Shin Eiga, Eiga Fan and others also launched, making the 1930s a peak period for prewar film magazines. (National Film Archive of Japan: Film Magazines, in Japanese; Shochiku Film History, in Japanese)
Male-Role Star Takiko Mizunoe, and a Fan Organization of About 20,000
Takiko Mizunoe of the Tokyo Shochiku Gakugeki-bu became the first girls’ revue performer to cut her hair short in 1930’s Sensei-sama wa Ohitoyoshi, and in 1931 she won a huge following playing male roles in a top hat and tuxedo. The “cropped hair” (danpatsu) of the day is what we would call short hair now. She was enthusiastically supported by schoolgirls under the nickname “Turkey” (Taakii). (NHK Archives: Takiko Mizunoe, in Japanese)
That fall, her official fan club “Mizunoe-kai” (the Mizunoe Society) was launched. Its members lived across Japan as well as in Korea and Taiwan, then under Japanese rule, and are said to have numbered about 20,000. At Takarazuka too, Fukuko Sayo and Kuniko Ashihara starred in male roles, fueling admiration for otokoyaku performers in both eastern and western Japan.
Takiko MizunoeNicknamed "Turkey" (Taakii)
- Cropped hairShe cut her hair short in 1930-1931
- Male rolesPopular at the Tokyo Shochiku Gakugeki-bu
- About 20,000 membersIn Japan, Korea and Taiwan
- Fan eventsThe 3rd Taakii Festival, October 1935
- Labor leaderHead of the 1933 organizing committee
A fan club, its festivals and its star's labor role all radiate from one person.
Big Theaters Open, While Performers Demand Better Treatment
From June to July 1933, members of Shochiku’s revue troupe went on strike demanding higher pay and better hygiene, in a labor dispute known as the “Momoiro Sogi” (the Pink Dispute). Then 18-year-old Takiko Mizunoe served as chair of the strike committee, negotiating with management from an inn in Yugawara as a top star confronting working conditions firsthand. (Shochiku Corporate History, in Japanese)
Girls’ opera performances continued to expand after that, and large dedicated theaters seating thousands opened in Tokyo.
- January 1934Tokyo Takarazuka Theater
- Opened in Yurakucho with 2,778 seats, so fans could keep seeing Takarazuka performances in Tokyo too.
- July 1937Asakusa Kokusai Theater
- Capacity 3,600. It became the home of the Shochiku Girls' Opera and welcomed large audiences.
(History of the Takarazuka Revue, in Japanese; Shochiku Corporate History, in Japanese)
In May 1936 Takarazuka also launched Takarazuka Graph, a monthly pictorial magazine featuring stage photography and offstage portraits alongside the text-centered Kageki. (History of the Takarazuka Revue, in Japanese)
“Tokyo Ondo” Spreads Through Records and Dance Lessons
“Tokyo Ondo,” sung by Katsutaro Kouta and Issei Mishima and released by Victor in July 1933, sold 1.2 million copies at release. It adapted the lyrics and choreography of “Marunouchi Ondo,” performed at the previous year’s Bon dance in Tokyo’s Hibiya Park, into a song for all of Tokyo. (National Diet Library: Birth of Ryukoka, in Japanese)
- 01Marunouchi OndoPerformed at Hibiya Park's Bon dance, 1932
- 02Tokyo OndoReleased by Victor in July 1933
- 03Records sell1.2 million at the time of release
- 04Dance lessonsEmployees bring phonographs to teach steps
- 05Bon dance groundsPeople dance together
Records carried the tune. People carried the steps.
Among popular songs, Ichiro Fujiyama’s 1931 “Sake wa Namida ka Tameiki ka” (composed by Masao Koga), Dick Mine’s 1934 “Dinah,” and Noriko Awaya’s 1937 “Wakare no Blues” (composed by Ryoichi Hattori) also became hits. (Nippon Columbia History, in Japanese; Teichiku Entertainment History, in Japanese; National Diet Library: Birth of Ryukoka, in Japanese)
Domestic record production hit 29.68 million discs in 1936, the prewar peak, then fell in 1937 and 1938 under material restrictions. (Izumi Okubo, Japan Business History Review vol. 49, no. 4, in Japanese)
- 29.68 million
- Domestic records made in 1936, the prewar peak
- 1 million+
- Radio subscriptions in 1932
- 69
- Futabayama's straight wins, 1936 to 1939
Sources: Izumi Okubo, Japan Business History Review (records, in Japanese); Video Research (radio, in Japanese); Japan Sumo Association (winning streak, in Japanese)
Following Futabayama’s Streak and Pro Baseball, at the Ballpark and on the Radio
In grand sumo, the 35th yokozuna Futabayama won an unprecedented 69 straight bouts from Day 7 of the January 1936 tournament to Day 3 of the January 1939 tournament. Fans queued overnight around the Ryogoku Kokugikan for tickets, and a tournament grew from 11 days to 13 and then to 15. (Japan Sumo Association: List of Yokozuna, in Japanese; Japan Sumo Association: History of Sumo, in Japanese)
On January 15, 1939, Futabayama lost to maegashira Akinoumi by sotogake, ending the streak. NHK announcer Shinken Wada’s radio call, repeating “Futaba is beaten!”, stunned listeners across Japan. (Jiji Press, in Japanese)
In baseball, the Japan Professional Baseball League was founded in February 1936 with seven teams including the Tokyo Giants and Osaka Tigers, the forerunner of today’s pro baseball. Tokyo Giants fireballer Eiji Sawamura pitched Japan’s first no-hitter that autumn and was named most valuable player of the 1937 spring season. (Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum: history of baseball, in Japanese; Eiji Sawamura, in Japanese)
Radio subscriptions passed one million in February 1932, establishing the habit of listening to major sports events simultaneously nationwide. (Video Research, in Japanese)
As War Approaches, Limits Reach Songs and Films
Even as records spread into homes and streets, an amendment to the Publication Law in July 1934 required submitting records to the Home Ministry before release, and lists of records banned from sale or distribution survive. (National Diet Library, in Japanese)
When the Sino-Japanese War began in July 1937, the stage became deeply tied to the wartime system. Takarazuka gave morale-boosting performances at military hospitals and dispatched goodwill tours to Germany and Italy in 1938 and the United States in 1939. (Chiaki Watanabe, Ritsumeikan Bungaku no. 690, in Japanese; History of the Takarazuka Revue, in Japanese)
Under the Film Law promulgated in April 1939 (effective October), producing and distributing films required state permission, with pre-production script censorship and mandatory registration for directors, actors and cinematographers. Popularity and an eager audience were no longer enough to release a work unless it passed state standards. (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology: Film Law, in Japanese)
Key Events of the Decade
- May 1931Takiko Mizunoe cuts her hair short and becomes popular as an otokoyaku (male-role) starStage
- Aug. 1931"Madam to Nyobo" is released, Japan's first full-fledged talkieFilm
- Sept. 1931Ichiro Fujiyama's "Sake wa Namida ka Tameiki ka" sells over 1 million recordsMusic
- Autumn 1931The "Mizunoe-kai" fan club is formed, growing to about 20,000 membersStage
- 1932Radio subscriptions pass 1 millionMedia
- June 1933Shochiku's revue performers stage the "Momoiro Sogi" (Pink Dispute) labor action, and about 46 are arrestedStage
- July 1933"Tokyo Ondo" is released and sells 1.2 million records at the timeMusic
- Jan. 1934The Tokyo Takarazuka Theater opens, with 2,778 seatsStage
- July 1934Revised publication regulations make records subject to prior notificationBusiness
- 1934Dick Mine's "Dinah" becomes a big hitMusic
- Feb. 1936The Japanese Professional Baseball League is founded with seven teamsSports
- June 1937Noriko Awaya's "Wakare no Blues" sells over 1 million recordsMusic
- July 1937The Asakusa Kokusai Theater opens, with a capacity of 3,600Stage
- Jan. 1939Futabayama's 69-win streak is stopped by AkinoumiSports
Words of the Era
- Momoiro sogi (the "Pink Dispute")
- The popular name for the 1933 strike by Shochiku's revue troupe. Performers raised their voices as workers
- Turkey (nickname of Takiko Mizunoe)
- Nickname of Takiko Mizunoe. It spread as the name for a bobbed-hair, male-dressed otokoyaku star
- Danso no reijin ("beautiful woman in men's dress")
- A phrase for otokoyaku stars. It became basic vocabulary for talking about girls' revue
- Shin min'yo (new folk songs)
- Songs like "Tokyo Ondo" that record companies created in the folk-song mold and spread nationwide
Shin min’yo (“new folk songs”) are not old songs handed down from long ago, but newly composed songs that take the form of folk songs. “Tokyo Ondo” also spread as one of them.
The next installment, the 1940s, traces the road from wartime cancellations to postwar theater reopenings and the birth of new radio programs.
FAQ
What kind of decade were the 1930s in oshi-katsu history?
It was a decade when talkies and radio spread at the same time, and a star's appeal came to be told through the voice as well as the face. In the second half, controls under the Sino-Japanese War squeezed that voice.
What was the "Mizunoe-kai"?
It was the fan organization of the male-role star Takiko Mizunoe, launched in the fall of 1931. With members in Korea and Taiwan as well as Japan itself, it is said to have reached about 20,000, and a "3rd Taakii Festival" was held in October 1935.
How well did "Tokyo Ondo" sell?
It was released by Victor in July 1933 and is said to have sold 1.2 million copies at the time of release alone. Record-company employees carried electric phonographs around the country to teach people the dance.
What was the Pink Dispute (Momoiro Sogi)?
It is the popular name for a strike by members of Shochiku's revue troupe for better treatment, held from June to July 1933. The male-role star Takiko Mizunoe bore the brunt of it as head of the organizing committee.
How did Futabayama's 69-win streak end?
It ended with a loss to Akinoumi at the January 1939 tournament. The radio commentary repeated "Futaba is beaten!", and cushions and even hibachi braziers are said to have been thrown from the seats of the Kokugikan.
