Kaientai (海援隊)

Overview

Kaientai (KAIENTAI) is a Japanese three-man folk band formed in 1971. The members are Tetsuya Takeda (vocals), Toshio Nakamuta (rhythm guitar) and Kazuomi Chiba (lead guitar). Takeda, a devoted fan of Sakamoto Ryoma, named the group after Ryoma's Kaientai. The band is managed by Next One and signed to Universal Music Japan (label: USM JAPAN). They are best known for "Haha ni Sasageru Ballad" and for "Okuru Kotoba" (1979), the theme song of the TBS drama Kinpachi-sensei (3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei). "Okuru Kotoba" became a million-seller and a staple of Japanese graduation ceremonies from the 1980s onward.

Career

Formation and amateur years

The group began when Nakamuta invited his high school classmate Takeda, who could not yet play guitar, to join; another classmate, Noda, completed the trio. Their first name was "Young Ladies," until Takeda abruptly renamed the group "Kaientai." After Noda left, the band became an electric five-piece with Masatoshi Ueda (drums), Motoyoshi Murota and Hiroshi Kaida, playing blues rock and hard rock at the Fukuoka live cafe Showa (where Takeda also worked). Takeda was strongly influenced by Yoshio Hayakawa of Jacks and was shaken by seeing Nobuyasu Okabayashi on stage. The lyrics of "Hitoribotchi no Guntai" date from this period, and the band contributed one track to the Fukuoka section of the URC Japanese Folk Map with Yoshiki Yamamoto's Village Voice.

After three years the five-piece broke up in autumn 1971 amid musical differences and job-hunting; Ueda moved to another band and was later recruited by Tulip. Chiba then visited Takeda, Nakamuta also turned up, and the three decided to start again as a trio. Takeda's website treats this moment as the band's founding. They played material such as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Teach Your Children."

Debut and breakthrough

In spring 1972 the band met Shigeru Izumiya, who inspired them to move to Tokyo and urged them to debut on Elec Records. They debuted in 1972 with the album Kaientai ga Yuku; on "Kaze wa Harukaze" Izumiya crashes in as a guest, and Yosui Inoue wrote "Hototogisu" for them. Their second album, Bokyo-hen (October 25, 1973), included "Haha ni Sasageru Ballad," which drew such a good response that it was re-recorded and released as a single at the end of 1973, becoming a hit. After the third album Fuun-hen (1974) they moved to Teichiku Records, and on New Year's Eve 1974 they appeared on NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen with the song.

The lean years

The band then entered a long slump: concerts were nearly empty, their own office could not pay staff, and they sometimes sang for drunken customers in cabarets. In this period Teichiku's Black Label issued the albums Hyōhaku Roman and Kokoro o Komete Kaiten-hen and the live album Mawari Butai-hen, now regarded as fine examples of 1970s Japanese folk.

Revival

In 1977, at the introduction of Shinji Tanimura, they moved to the Young Japan Group, and the single "Anta ga Taisho" became a hit, restoring attention; the trio even appeared in a commercial for the insecticide Cockroach S in cockroach costumes. They moved to Polydor in 1978 and released Daraku-hen, which includes "Darakuron," "Furusato Imada Wasure Gataku" and "Omoeba Tooku e Kita Monda." In 1979 "Okuru Kotoba" became a million-seller.

The 1980 album Dare mo Inai kara Soko o Aruku includes "Hito toshite" and a cover of Keitaro Ikuta, a senior from the Elec days. In 1982 they released Yoyaku Wakarikakete Kita and Dakara Hitori ni Naru, and issued film theme singles "Koi Fushigi" (1981) and "Extra" (1982). Live albums include Issho Shunmu (1980), Shimatsuki (1982), Last Live (1983) and, after the breakup, Kaisoroku (1986).

Breakup and reunion

The band had planned to continue only until Takeda and Nakamuta reached 33, the age at which Sakamoto Ryoma died. True to that word, they held a farewell concert at Nippon Budokan on December 19, 1982 and disbanded. After several one-night television reunions, they reunited on stage at "Dream Live in Fukuoka Dome" on April 10, 1993, and officially re-formed in 1994. They have since released singles and albums centered on theme songs for dramas starring Takeda, including Kinpachi-sensei, and in the 1990s contributed songs to Doraemon films and performed on TV and live. Takeda's solo-credited "Seien" is the only Kinpachi theme under his own name alone, yet it was composed by Nakamuta and is still played at Kaientai concerts.

Recent releases

Releases include BEST ~Elec Years (1998), the single "Massugu no Uta" and album Shuka o Sugite Hakushu e (2001), "Hatsukoi no Ita Basho" (2004), Koin Ya no Gotoshi -3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei Shudaikashu- (2005), "Soshunfu" and "Itsuka Mita Aoi Sora" (2007), 3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei Theme Song Collection (2008), Issho Shunmu [Nippon Budokan Live (1980)] (2011), and Kyoka Shujitsu (2014, with a deluxe edition). The band has repeatedly visited areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake; Takeda has said they had never held a concert north of Nihonmatsu before the disaster.

Musical style

Kaientai began as a blues rock and hard rock band before building on a folk foundation with lyrical, enka-tinged songs and kayokyoku-oriented pop; their genres are listed as kayokyoku, enka and J-pop. Takeda has recalled that before "Okuru Kotoba" the group was essentially a comic band, and his stage banter was praised from the earliest days.