Nada Sōsō


"Nada Sōsō" is a song written by Japanese band Begin and singer Ryoko Moriyama. It was first released by Moriyama in 1998, but achieved popularity through the cover version by Rimi Natsukawa in 2001.

Ryoko Moriyama version

The song first appears in Ryoko Moriyama's discography in 1998, as a track on her album Time Is Lonely, an album which did not even break the top 100 Oricon albums chart.
Moriyama re-released the song as the second A-side of the single "Satōkibi-batake/Nada Sōsō" in 2001, after Rimi Natsukawa's version had become popular. In 2003, a single featuring a special live version featuring Moriyama, Begin and Natsukawa was released.

Background, writing

Moriyama and Begin met after performing at live events together in the late 1990s. Moriyama asked Begin to write her an Okinawan-style song. The song's title on the demo tape she received was "Nada Sōsō," an Okinawan language phrase meaning "large tears are falling". When Moriyama found out the meaning of the phrase, it reminded her of the death of her older brother. She kept the title, and based the lyrics she wrote around these feelings.
The lyrics speak of looking through an old photo-book at pictures of somebody who has died. The protagonist of the song is thankful to them for always encouraging them, and for being happy no matter what. They believe they will meet them again one day, and cries as they send thoughts of sadness and love to that person.

Track listing

Satōkibi-batake/Nada Sōsō

All songs arranged by Koji Igarashi.

Special live version

Chart rankings

ReleaseChartPeak PositionFirst Week SalesSales TotalChart Run

Oricon Daily Singles Chart

Oricon Weekly Singles Chart18
32		2,380
3,459		127,585
32,848		57 weeks
23 weeks

Oricon Yearly Singles Chart

Begin version

Begin released a self-cover of the song as the band's 18th single on March 23, 2000. It appears on two 2000 albums by Begin: their Okinawan concept album Begin no Shima Uta and a regular studio album, Begin. Two versions backed with sanshin appear on Begin no Shima Uta , while the regular studio version appears on Begin.
Begin's version of the song was used as the theme song of Marvelous Entertainment's PlayStation 2 game Inaka Kurashi: Minami no Shima no Monogatari in 2002.
The single features two B-sides: "Kariyushi no Yoru" and "Hana ". "Kariyushi no Yoru" also appears on "Begin no Shima Uta," and "Hana" is a cover of Okinawan folk rock artist Shoukichi Kina's song "Hana "

Track listing

Chart rankings

ReleaseChartPeak PositionFirst Week SalesSales TotalChart Run
Oricon Daily Singles Chart
Oricon Weekly Singles Chart1595962,4164 weeks
Oricon Yearly Singles Chart

Rimi Natsukawa version

A year after Begin's version, the song was covered by Okinawan singer Rimi Natsukawa as her third single. Her version caused the song to become extremely popular, and is the only version to break the top 10. The song was used in commercials for Japan Post Holdings from 2007 onwards.
Natsukawa first heard the song from the broadcast of the 26th G8 summit held in Okinawa, where Begin had sung the song, and found she could not get the melody out of her head. She requested she cover the song backstage at a Begin concert, to which the band composed the song "Anata no Kaze" for her. She still preferred Nada Sōsō, however, and released both songs her third single.
Due to the song's popularity, it became the focus of the "Nada Sōsō Project" by Japanese television company TBS. The project consists of two dramas released in 2005, "Hiroshima Showa 20 nen 8 Gatsu Muika" and "Nada Sōsō Kono Ai ni Ikite", and a film "Nada Sōsō" in 2006. Natsukawa's version was used for "Hiroshima Showa 20 nen 8 Gatsu Muika" and "Nada Sōsō," while Moriyama's was used for "Nada Sōsō Kono Ai ni Ikite".
Two B-sides feature on the single. The first, "Anata no Kaze", was also written by Begin. The second, "Hana ni Naru ", is an acoustic version of her previous single. A special version of the single, limited to 30,000 copies, was released in 2004, collecting the four main versions of the song.
The Rimi Natsukawa version of the song has been certified as a triple platinum ringtone by the RIAJ, as well as a platinum cellphone download.

Track listing

Standard edition (2001)

Special edition (2004)

Chart Rankings

The single is one of the slowest and steadiest selling singles in Japanese history. It began charting in late May 2002, and charted constantly until November 2007. it broke the top 50 in June 2002, and the top 20 in July. From there, it charted between #20-#50 until January 2003. After a performance at the 53rd Kōhaku Uta Gassen, the song reached #8. It stayed within the top 40 until June. The single charted steadily until next year's Kōhaku Uta Gassen, where Natsukawa, Begin and Ryoko Moriyama performed the song together. The single reached #8 again, and stayed within the top 40 until March. The single still continued to chart slowly, between #50 and #200 before breaking the top 50 once again in 2006, after the release of the Nada Sōsō film.
ReleaseChartPeak PositionFirst Week SalesSales TotalChart Run

Oricon Daily Singles Chart

Oricon Weekly Singles Chart8
54		1,930
2,615		683,908
9,411		232 weeks
9 weeks

Oricon Yearly Singles Chart87
21
58

Other cover versions

The song has become a standard for Okinawan folk music, Enka, choir and instrumental musicians. The song has been recorded in cello, erhu, harmonica, harp, guitar, koto, music box, piano and violin versions, amongst others. It has also been covered by overseas artists, such as Hawaiian Kealiʻi Reichel and New Zealander Hayley Westenra, who sung a classical crossover rendition in English, and Korean singer Memory,. Two versions in Chinese exist: one by Taiwanese Huang Pin-Yuan, and one by Joi Chua. In Cambodia, this song covered in Khmer by Sokun Nisa and it's called "ចិត្តស្មោះក្នុងខ្លួនមនុស្សក្បត់" in 2007 and 2008. It also performed by Saori Kawabata, Narumi Ii, Kenta Tanahara, Taiki Tokuda and Cambodian musicians whose jointed perform this song at night as its original Japanese song during CJCC Kizuna Festival in 2014.