Momyu no Ki no Mukougawa

**Momyu no Ki no Mukougawa** (モミュの木 (き)の向 (む)こう側 (がわ), *Across from the Momyu Tree*) is Sayonara Ponytail's first album. It was independently produced and is considered an indie album.

It consists of 8 tracks and was released on April 27, 2011. It was re-released as an LP on February 14, 2022.

## Concept and Background

Sayonara Ponytail began posting songs through MySpace in 2010. These songs would later appear on *Momyu no Ki no Mukougawa*. While it was initially announced as a 4-song EP, the group began to produce new songs rapidly, delaying the release. Half a year later, it was officially released as an 8-song album. It had a nationwide launch due to the collaboration between SayoPony's management office Ongaku to Mahou and the music label *felicity*. All songs were written and composed by Fukkun, while Miina sang the lead vocals.

The album is centered around the conceptual phrase "a girl's summer" or "the incidents of a certain girl’s summer." The titular *Momyu Tree* relates to a location in SayoPony World, the *Momyu Forest*.

## Personnel

* Nacchan - vocals; chorus; guitar; synthesizer; etc.
* Ayumin - vocals; chorus; guitar; synthesizer; etc.
* Fukkun - lyrics; composition; etc.
* Maumau - bass; guitar; keyboard; programming; recording; etc.
* 324P - recording; programming; synthesizer; mixing; etc.
* Yuritan - god
* Kuroneko - total production; etc.

**Ongaku to Mahou Staff (音楽と魔法)**
* Hayashi-sensei (林先生)
* Manager Yamamoto (山本監督)

**Guest Musicians & thanks**
* Shinya Wada - Pedal steel guitar (M1, 3, 4, 6, 8)
* Shoko mochiyama - Keyboards (M1, 3, 4, 6)
* Megane-kun
* Megu
* Tomohito Nomura
* Takaaki Taguchi

Mastered by KIMKEN at KIMKEN Studio
**felicity staff**
* Kei Sakuragi - A&R; Executive Producer
* Aki Matohara - A&R Assistant
* Hiroyasu Hirakawa - Public Relations

## Promotion

Sometime in 2010, a video featuring Yuritan's illustrations of the members against a medley of the album's songs was uploaded to MySpace. Titled a "documentary movie", the video depicted the vocalists in several scenarios, making various pop culture references, such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, K-On!, and
the anime film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. The video serves as a digest for the album.

Miina in the "documentary movie"a Neon Genesis Evangelion reference

The album was formally announced on January 24, 2011. A 2-page manga named after the track Mata ne, Bye Bye was released in music magazine MARQUEE vol.84 on April 10, 2011. The music video for Omoide ga Kanashiku Naru Mae ni was released on YouTube on May 2, 2011.

A day after release, a special collaboration page with music retailer HMV was created to promote the album. It featured a 3-page manga by Yuritan with Miina, Ayumin, and Nacchan working as store clerks in an HMV store, where they hold a live acoustic performance of Sukoshi Naketanda.

## Packaging and Design

The album shipped in a standard jewel case with a slipcase cover. Yuritan provided illustrations for the album. The slipcase cover's front contains an illustration of vocalists Ayumin, Miina, and Nacchan wearing conical hats (with their names on it) in front of a white background. The back cover features an illustration of the vocalists, music team members, Megane-kun, and Yuritan. The album's booklet cover features a close-up of Yuritan's face. The illustrations within the booklet depict the vocalists interacting with the other members and exploring SayoPony World, namely a dark forest of tall trees.

Slipcase front illustrationSlipcase back illustrationbooklet cover with Yuritan's face

Unlike future albums, the album has a solid black CD tray. On the insert behind this tray is a drawing of a brain, with the quote "There are no facts, only interpretations" by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche faintly printed beneath it in Japanese. The album also contains a transparent sticker card with the caption SayoPony World and various doodles of the members by Yuritan.

Insert behind the disc trayClose up of the Nietzsche quote

The inside of the slipcase cover contains a comic strip showing the 3 vocalists finding different uses for their hats.

Opened slipcase revealing the stripTranslated version of the strip

## Bonuses

Those who purchased the album at HMV retailers were eligible to download a special wallpaper, which was available until May 31, 2011.

## Post-release

The album peaked at 178 on the Oricon Albums Chart.

An alternative version of Sukoshi Naketanda was released on the Kirakira no EP later in the year. A third, acoustic version was played on the SayoPony LOCKS! web radio show, which was later included on disc 3 of Enban Utopia in 2015. Omoide ga Kanashiku Naru Mae ni was selected as the sole song of *Momyu no Ki no Mukougawa* to be included on the 10th anniversary compilation album ROM in 2019.

A remixed version of Mata ne, Bye Bye by 324P would be released a few months after the album on the Shimashima no EP. He would also remix Sekai to Mahou to Kare no Kimagure, first released on MySpace and later on YouTube in 2015. These remixes were collected on the Sayonara Ponytail 324P Remix cassette, which was subsequently included on disc 2 of Kitarubeki Sekai (What's Meant to Be).

The songs Nee, Zutto Suki de Itemo Ii Kai?, Omoide ga Kanashiku Naru Mae ni, and Kimi no Kotoba would serve as the namesakes for manga chapters featured in Kimi no Kotoba.

### LP Re-release

In celebration of ten years since its initial release in 2011, the album was re-released as a vinyl LP on February 14, 2022 on P-VINE's official store. Pre-orders of the LP came with a bonus sticker sheet featuring Yuritan's art of the members. Only a limited number of stickers were distributed.

## Trivia

* Though *Momyu no Ki no Mukougawa* was the first album released by the band, Mahou no Melody is officially counted as Sayonara Ponytail's first full album, with subsequent albums continuing the count from there. This is likely due to the indie release of this album, as future albums are released under major music labels.
* Fukkun's depiction on the slipcase cover's back is a possible homage to Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro.

## Gallery

* Various
* Booklet

slipcase frontslipcase backsticker cardinstructions to receive a limited illustrated letterdiscOriginal illustration for the sticker card

*Pages 1-2, 7-8, and 17-18 have not been scanned.*

booklet frontpages 3-4pages 5-6pages 9-10pages 11-12pages 13-14pages 15-16

## External Links

* OTOTOY
* Spotify (expired)

## References

1. ↑ Sayonara Ponytail. "Discography & Music Video." *Himitsu no Jikan*. Poplar Publishing, 2016.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Twitter announcement of LP re-release.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Sayonara Ponytail. "Sayonara Ponytail Himitsu no A to Z: Momyu no Ki no Mukougawa." *Himitsu no Jikan*, Poplar Publishing, 2016.
4. ↑ *The original phrase is「ある少女のひと夏の出来事」.*
5. ↑ Sayonara Ponytail. *Kimi no Kotoba*. Ohta Publishing, 2011. *The forest is shown on the map on the book's inner cover. The vocalists also travel to the forest in one chapter.*
6. ↑ Sayonara Ponytail. Booklet. *Momyu no Ki no Mukougawa*, felicity, 2011.
7. ↑  etc. was originally「など]
8. ↑ Natalie news announcement
9. ↑ Webpage outlining the contents of the MARQUEE issue
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Natalie article on the HMV collaboration
11. ↑ Translated as「事実というものは存在しない。存在するのは解釈だけである。」
12. ↑ The Oricon data is no longer public but has been retained on Japanese Wikipedia
13. ↑ Archived webpage of SayoPony LOCKS! episode 3
14. ↑ https://anywherestore.p-vine.jp/en/products/plp-7770