Tadamaru Sakuragawa

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Tadamaru Sakuragawa, born Tadao Hirata on January 2, 1938, in Neyagawa, Osaka, Japan, was a Japanese singer known as the “musical anarchist.” He sang in the Goshu-ondo style, a kind of summer festival music from the Kansai region. With support from the group Spiritual Unity, he released his only album, Ullambana, in 1991, which helped him break out of festival stages. Ullambana’s title comes from a Sanskrit sutra and is linked to Obon, the Japanese summer festival. The album includes the song Yui Maru Bushi. Tadamaru retired in 1995 and passed his name to a student who now performs as Tadamaru Sakuragawa II.