November 5, 2025
We had the opportunity to present at UNT’s Japanese department for their class, “Adventure in Japanese Songs!”
In my research for the presentation, I discovered a genre of songs I had never heard of before, hole hole bushi (ホレホレ節). These were songs, compared to the blues, that Japanese immigrants sang while working in the sugar plantations in Hawaii.
The lyrics are very poignant:
Yuko ka Meriken yō
Kaero ka Nihon
Koko ga shian no
Hawai koku
Hawai, Hawai , to yō
Yume mite kita ga
Nagasu namida wo
Kibi no naka
Shall I go on to America
Or return to Japan
This is my dilemma
Here in Hawai’i
Hawai’i, Hawai’i
I came chasing a dream
Now my tears flow
In the canefield
We played a song called Shima Uta (島唄) , by The Boom, to demonstrate the sound of the Okinawan scale.
After singing this song for a year, I’m starting to finally get a handle on singing this Enka song. I’m looking forward to learning more of these 🙂
I was first exposed to Enka while watching the Kohaku Uta Gassen on New Year’s Eve on the Japanese channel in Hawaii. I loved that show- the music, the elaborate staging and costumes. In high school, I played in the band for the Uta Matsuri at Pearl City High School’s auditorium, a 3-hour marathon of mostly Enka music with singing and dancing. I was entranced by the performers.
There’s something very Japanese and nostalgic (懐かしい) about the sound of Enka.
Satomi and the sound 