Photo/Illutration Cyclamen flowers are blooming in Usuki, Oita Prefecture, in December 2020. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Whenever I see cyclamen at a florist’s shop around this season, a gentle melody starts playing in the back of my ears.

Titled "Shikuramen no Kahori" (Fragrance of cyclamen), it was a 1975 hit number sung by Akira Fuse.

The opening lyrics go to the effect, "There is nothing as pure as a cotton-white cyclamen."

There is also a line that goes, "The fragrance of cyclamen wafts in vain." But the lyricist and composer Kei Ogura, 77, noted, "Back then, all cyclamens sold at stores were fragrance free."

He knew that, he explained, but decided to insert the word "fragrance" to expand the song's image.

At the time, Ogura was an employee of the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (present-day Mizuho Bank). He saw a white cyclamen while visiting a client. When the song was completed, it unexpectedly became a mega-hit.

That galvanized the horticultural industry into competing to cultivate new species of cyclamen, resulting in the development and sale of scented varieties.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Ogura's debut as a singer-songwriter.

I was pretty sure he would pick the cyclamen song as his best work, but I was apparently wrong. He said he "lifted" some expressions from poems by Kitahara Hakushu (1885-1942), and he learned the poetic structure from Elvis Presley (1935-1977) numbers.

"The entire song had a 'borrowed' feel," Ogura said.

Cyclamen species are native to the Mediterranean basin. In Europe, they are valued solely for the beauty of the flowers and cultivators strove to develop scentless cultivars.

It feels strange to be told that the opposite was the case in Japan, where growers sought to develop heavily fragrant varieties.

The song's title contains the word "kahori" written in hiragana, which is unusual. Normally, it is written as "kaori," but Ogura intentionally ignored the norm.

"It is more important to create words that resonate in people's hearts, rather than to pursue grammatical correctness," he explained.

This is a masterpiece that is doubly and triply deep.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 15

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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