Hinatazaka46 is a Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. Established as Hiragana Keyakizaka46 on November 30, 2015 as a subgroup of Keyakizaka46, the group has since been renamed and expanded three times to twenty members. The group's name is adopted from Hyūgazaka Street in Minato-ku, Tokyo, following the custom of naming groups after hills in the Sakamichi Series. The captain of the group is Kumi Sasaki and fans of the group are known as ohisama.
History
2015–2018: Hiragana Keyakizaka46
The group was established as Hiragana Keyakizaka46 on November 30, 2015 as a subgroup of Keyakizaka46, with their name written in hiragana as opposed to kanji. Colloquially, Hiragana Keyakizaka46 was also known as Hiragana Keyaki, while the main Keyakizaka46 group was known as Kanji Keyaki. At its founding, the group was only composed ofNeru Nagahama, who withdrew from Keyakizaka46's auditions early due to her parents' objections despite judges' high regard of her. When Nagahama's parents changed their minds, Nagahama was permitted to join as the only member of the new subgroup Hiragana Keyakizaka46. Auditions were held soon after for Hiragana Keyakizaka46, and the first generation of eleven members joined the group in May 2016. Nagahama left the Hiragana Keyakizaka46 to join Keyakizaka46 in September 2017. A second generation of nine people was added in August 2017, and a third, composed of only Hinano Kamimura, was added in November 2018 in a Sakamichi Series joint audition. During its time as a subgroup, Hiragana Keyakizaka46 produced B-sides to the main group's singles, beginning with "Hiragana Keyaki" in "Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai". In concerts, the two groups often performed together, but Hiragana Keyakizaka46 also held independent concerts, including a nationwide Zepp tour in 2017 and a three-day Nippon Budokan performance in January 2018, after Keyakizaka46 pulled out from Yurina Hirate's injury. Hiragana Keyakizaka46 also released an independent album in 2018 titled Hashiridasu Shunkan. In terms of variety shows, Hiragana Keyakizaka46 first appeared in Keyakzaka46's show Keyakitte Kakenai? and KeyaBingo! but were later given their own show named Hiragana Oshi. The first generation were also featured in a television series titled in 2017.
2019: Reborn as Hinatazaka46
Hiragana Keyakizaka46 became an independent group on February 11, 2019, and was renamed Hinatazaka46. The group's variety show changed its name to Hinatazaka de Aimashō Their first single, "Kyun", was released on March 27, 2019, and reached 476,000 sold by the first week. The single became the best-selling first single by a female artist in Japan, a record previously held by Keyakizaka46's "Silent Majority". "Kyun" also won the Best Choreography award at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards. On September 24, a rhythm game titled Uni's On Air was released that featured Keyakizaka46 and Hinatazaka46. Hinatazaka46 attended the 70th NHK Kōhaku Utagassenfor the first time in the group's history, where they performed "Kyun". On January 16, 2020, the members of Hinatazaka46 were featured in a television series titled Dasada, with Nao Kosaka as the main protagonist. On February 16, 2020, the remaining members not assigned to a group in the previous Sakamichi Series joint audition were added. Three out of fourteen of these members became part of Hinatazaka46's third generation.
Members
Since its founding, Hinatazaka46 had a total of 25 members from three generations. 22 of those members are still in the group.
