This one’s for the history books.
Ishikawa Goemon is a semi-legendary Robin Hood-esque Japanese folk hero from the 16th century whose story continues to captivate and inspire people to this day. In fact, just Wednesday (Sept. 19) the history loving musician Rekishi released a music video for a new track named after this famous Japanese outlaw.
Simply titled “Goemon,” the new track is a love song that follows in Rekishi’s tradition of creating fun pop music based on real parts of Japanese history. The video takes a bit of inspiration from Goemon’s fame as a thief and shows Rekishi stealing a pretty young bride and running away with her… that is, until the end of the video when the story takes sharp turn and Rekishi winds up back in reality.
Never one to miss out on an opportunity to show off his sense of humor, the middle of the video also shows Rekishi stopping by a location of the Japanese pasta chain Goemon for a bite to eat.
And lastly, if you’re a fan of the singer-songwriter-dancer Daichi Miura, keep an eye out for him because he makes an appearance too.
Check out the video below.
“Goemon” will be released on September 26 as part of Rekishi’s sixth album: Mukishi.
Given that Rekishi, whose name not surprisingly means “history” in Japanese, has been producing history based pop songs since 2007, he has amassed plenty of great tracks worth checking out. So just in case this is your first time learning about Rekishi, here’s a small selection of some of his more popular songs.
First up, we have a catchy rock love song called “Shikibu.” This one is based on Murasaki Shikibu who is the author of Japan’s most famous novel, The Tale of Genji.
And here we have a full on earworm of a love song called “Kira Kira Bushi” (Sparkling Warrior/Samurai).
And here’s another uptempo rock tune by the interesting title of “Himegimi Shake.” Himegimi literally translates to “the daughter of a noble” and “shake” is just the English word “shake.”
And finally, here’s a particularly amusing tune called “Nengu.” This title is the term for the annual rice tax that historically commoners had to pay to their domain every year. Leave it to Rekishi to create a pop song inspired by rice taxes.
If you want to check out even more of Rekishi’s music, then a great place to start is with a simple YouTube search.
Source: Rockin’on
Image: レキシ -「GOEMON feat. ビッグ門左衛門 (三浦大知)」 Music Video (YouTube ver.) (Victor Entertainment YouTube)
