ABSTRACT
I got off the train at Nagoya with the enka songs I carried with me. I checked into a cheap inn called the Wata-ya to one side of the famous statue of the Bodhisattva of Mercy.1 Most of the people staying there worked the shrine stalls and festivals and most were strapped for cash. There was one woman there called ‘Chakasuke-bushi no obasan.’ ‘Chakasuke-bushi’ meant ‘strolling song’ and they were popular in Nagoya.
