'Kishibe no Uta' Draws About 5,300 to Its First Outdoor Show — Three Debuts, All Delivered
The Kishibe no Uta music festival held its first-ever outdoor show on the night of the 23rd at Kishihama Park. The evening delivered on all three previously announced debuts at once: Yuki Shirase's live performance of her official Shore Lullaby cover, Kishibe Seven's completed tail choreography for their new song 'Ahead of the Light,' and rakugo performer Kishihachi Ryutei's premiere of his new piece 'Window Art.' Organizer Shiosai Records put attendance at roughly 5,300 — more than triple last year's estimated turnout. Rain had been forecast at 20 percent, but none fell from opening to close, and 101-year-old Tane Kishitani, as previously announced, sat in the front row in her role as 'the one who listens.'
Kishibe no Uta, now in its seventh year under organizer Shiosai Records, had held its previous six editions indoors at the Bay Civic Hall. This year's show, on the night of the 23rd, was its first ever on an outdoor stage at Kishihama Park. As previously reported, Shiosai Records confirmed the show would go ahead at 6:30 a.m. on the 23rd despite a roughly 20 percent chance of rain, and the entry line was unbroken from the 5 p.m. gate opening. Members of the Tokei Sword Bearers' Association and the Patrol Guild stood watch around the venue under the same arrangement previously used for the wall racing season finale, with bag-check gates also set up.
Opening the night was Yuki Shirase, 31, performing her official cover of the Shore Lullaby for the second time — following her previously reported one-time-only broadcast on the night of the 20th — and again limiting herself to three of the song's 13 verses. Following the mouth-to-mouth instruction of transcriber Ushio Kishiura, 74, she sang with her eyes closed and never touched on the translation. For a few seconds after she finished, the crowd fell silent before the applause rose. "During the broadcast, not being recorded made it a different kind of one-time-only tension," Shirase said afterward. "Tonight, with people right in front of me, it was a one-time-only of a different kind."
Kishibe Seven followed with their new song "Ahead of the Light" (released on the 20th, as previously reported). As announced beforehand, center member Noa Kishiyanagi, 20, one of the group's two members with drifter traits, performed the song's tail-driven chorus choreography in public for the first time. The sweeping motion drew cheers from the crowd, and Kishiyanagi said afterward with a smile, "I worried we'd teased it too much in the streaming trailer, but I'm glad we could finally deliver it tonight." As previously announced, this marked the choreography's first video appearance.
Rakugo performer Kishihachi Ryutei, 68, premiered his new piece "Window Art," previously announced. Built around never settling on a single origin for Window Day, the routine lines up and knocks down one competing theory after another — the "summer leftover-lights rescue theory," the "turning light toward the shore in remembrance week theory," and more — to steady laughter throughout. "Not deciding on an origin is, I think, this town's own way of doing things," Ryutei told this paper afterward. "Settle it once, and there's no material left for next year's opening."
As previously announced, Tane Kishitani, 101, the oldest living first-generation drift settler, sat in the reserved front row. She repeated the same words she had used at the Sept. 7 Arrival Remembrance Day ceremony — "This year, I'm the one who listens" — and, according to a student volunteer seated beside her, closed her eyes throughout Shirase's lullaby. Afterward, Kishitani reportedly said only, "It reminded me again — I can't sing it, but I remember the kitchen going quiet when I heard it."
Organizer Shiosai Records put attendance at roughly 5,300. As previously reported, advance tickets (4,200 yen general, 2,600 yen student) sold out within three days of their Sept. 13 release, prompting a reduced day-of allotment and expanded standing and lawn areas. The previously announced tightened identity checks at entry were carried out in full for the first time, without major disruption. "Compared with six indoor editions, weather was an uncertain factor," an organizer said, "but in the end the outdoor setting gave us a reach we hadn't had before." As previously reported, an additional-date option had also been under consideration, but organizers held off on a decision, saying, "Let's see how tonight went first."
The crowd spanned families to longtime older fans. A 34-year-old office worker from Fukagawa said she was glad to finally hear Shirase's lullaby live, having missed the broadcast, while a 16-year-old student from Kameido said seeing Kishibe Seven's tail choreography in person "was completely different from watching it streamed." Some in the crowd noted that while sound carried well outdoors, expressions were harder to make out from farther back — feedback Shiosai Records says it will weigh in designing future venues.
Three debuts crowded into one night could have felt like too much. What kept it from tipping over, this reporter thinks, was that each brought back a different kind of brightness — Shirase's lullaby in stillness, Kishibe Seven's tail in cheers, Ryutei's rakugo in laughter. Of everything on stage, it was Kishitani's closed-eyed profile in the front row that seemed to say the most.
Kishibe no Uta is expected to return next year around the same time. Venue and format will be reconsidered in light of tonight's results.
