Remon Nakanishi’s new minyo album is a map of Japan in 11 songs

Remon Nakanishi’s latest album is almost a map of Japan in song form. Till the Ravens Rise at Dawn, released on 12 June 2026 by DOYASA! Records, contains 11 minyo songs linked in the label’s track notes to places ranging from Akita and Aomori in the north to Kagawa on Shikoku.

The route is striking. “Tanto Bushi” is associated with Akita and Aomori; “Niikawa Kodaijin” with Toyama; “Yattokose” and “Yamada Han’ya” with Niigata; “Kawasaki” with Gifu; “Yakyuken” with Ehime; “Ineage Uta” with Miyagi; “Kuroishi Yosare” with Aomori; “Sawauchi Jinku” with Iwate; “Teshima no Bon-Odori-Uta” with Kagawa; and “Hokkai Bon-Uta” with Hokkaido.

Minyo is not one national sound

Japan’s Cultural Digital Library defines minyo as songs handed down orally through everyday life. It groups them by use, including work songs, celebration songs, dance songs, lullabies and songs for recreation. Their lyrics often preserve local scenery, ways of life and the feelings of the people who sang them.

That makes the regional labels on Nakanishi’s track list more than trivia. A minyo record can carry several local histories at once. “Hokkai Bon-Uta” comes from Hokkaido; “Teshima no Bon-Odori-Uta” is tied to Kagawa; “Kuroishi Yosare” to Aomori. The album moves between places that are often collapsed into the single word “Japan” when the country is viewed from abroad.

The arrangements are contemporary

Nakanishi is on lead and backing vocals, but the credits extend well beyond a traditional voice-only setting. The sessions include several drummers and percussionists, contrabass, keyboards, trumpet, trombone, tenor, alto and baritone saxophones, violin, viola, cello, vibraphone and guitars.

Agatha arranged and produced the album, which was recorded between 2 September and 30 December 2025. The result is not presented by the label as an archival reconstruction. These are inherited songs being performed by contemporary musicians with a contemporary ensemble.

A useful way into regional Japan

For an international listener, that regional spread is the most compelling reason to start here. Japanese music is often exported through a narrow set of familiar categories, while local song traditions can remain almost invisible outside the places that produced them.

This album points in the opposite direction. Follow one track, then follow its prefecture, its dance or its working tradition. “Teshima no Bon-Odori-Uta”, for example, immediately opens a route into Bon dancing and the culture of Kagawa; “Hokkai Bon-Uta” does the same for Hokkaido.

Where to hear it

Till the Ravens Rise at Dawn is available digitally and on CD from DOYASA! Records. The CD includes a 20-page booklet.

Sources checked 30 September 2026: DOYASA! Records for release date, track origins, personnel and recording details; Japan Cultural Digital Library for the definition and categories of minyo.