Hajime Hana

**Hajime Hana** (ハナ肇, *Hana Hajime*, February 9, 1930 - September 10, 1993) was a Japanese actor, comedian and drummer. He was the leader of the comic jazz band The Crazy Cats, which featured such talent as Hitoshi Ueki and Kei Tani, and which starred in a series of film comedies (such as the "Irresponsible" (Musekinin) series, Crazy Strategy series, Japan's Best series, Historical Dramatic works, & Parallel works at Toho) and in TV variety shows such as "Shabondama Holiday." He won the award for best actor at the 31st Blue Ribbon Awards for Kaisha monogatari: Memories of You.

Real name: **Sadao Nonoyama** (野々山 定夫, *Nonoyama Sadao*)

Nicknames: **Hana-chan** (ハナちゃん, *Mr. Hana*)

## Career

Born in Nagasaki in 1930, Hana was the son of a lead plumber at the Waterworks Bureau. His father was born in Taketoyo, Chita Peninsula, Aichi Prefecture. After graduating from Nagasaki Daini National School, Hana attended the civil engineering department of the old high school to take over the family business, but the school was destroyed by an American bombing raid in 1945.

Around the same time, Hana went to the Yokote City, Akita Prefecture, where his mother's parents lived to transport rice supplies, but after returning home, he suffered from pneumonia. He lived in the town hospital from December 1945 until his recovery in February 1946. After leaving the hospital, Hana joined the Katsumi Tone Orchestra as a drummer since 1946 with fellow musician & future film

composer Hachirō Matsui. Hitoshi Ueki revealed that he knew Hana Hajime at this time in an interview with "Sudara Legend Hitoshi Ueki, a man who kept eating dreams" (NHK Hi-Vision aired November 1, 2005).

After working for Toshiyuki Ichimura's group, Fumio Nanri's group, Hiroaki Hagiwara's "Duke Octet", Frankie Sakai and City Slickers' and junior group "Kuranosuke Hamaguchi and the Afro Cuban" in 1955, he formed "Hana Hajime and Cuban Cats" and became the band leader. Later, with the addition of Hitoshi Ueki, Kei Tani and the others, the band named was changed to "Hana Hajime and Crazy Cats" in 1957. Hana's appearance as a hippie in "Koizumi x Maebu Gebageba 90 Minutes!" At the Nippon Broadcast Television Company, the band appearing on numerous variety shows and films such as Nippon Television's "Soap Bubble Holiday", which became popular in the media. It has also become a buzzword. It is also famous as a bronze statue of the tale bronze statue, which was a specialty of Fuji TV's New Year program "Shinshun Kakushigei Taikai". He is also the godfather of every member of The Drifters before Ken Shimura joined the group in 1968.

To put it mildly, Hana was a unique leader, but he is known for his strong leadership. Not only crazy, but also the frontman of the multimedia management company Watanabe Productions as a whole, with founders Shin Watanabe and Misa gave Hana full confidence, and Hana did his best without turning them down. However, at the start of Watanabe Production, Misa struggled with Hana, who repeatedly borrowed her salary in advance. At the height of popularity, Hana was sometimes mistakenly described as "Hitosho Ueki and his Cats" in local shows, and is said to be not calm in his heart as that leader, but he endured well (he was not a character who grows plants) (although there is), he fulfilled his role of coordinator without making waves. As an actor, Hana has a tough and goofy image, but he has a very keen sense of planning and talent, and for this reason, the names of great directors from Yuzo Kawashima and Kon Ichikawa to Jun Ichikawa in his latest years. Many films are in line. In particular, he quickly spotted the talent of Yoji Yamada, a young director of Shochiku, and before the start of the series "Otoko wa Tsuraiyo", he formed an unshakeable combination in the series "Idiot".

Yamada's "It's Tough Being a Man" and Jun Ichikawa's "Memories of You" have won awards such as the Blue Ribbon Leading Actor Award. Screenwriter & novelist Nobuhiko Kobayashi has covered the Crazy Cats in magazines during the jazz cafe era, and since getting to know him he has also been a mastermind of the film, but Hana has carefully checked the critical phrases and has suddenly asked questions at the first meeting, he wrote the episode in his book "Japanese Comedy". Although there are places he rushes into, Hana is excited to study and understands etiquette as a member of society. In his later years, there were rumors that “Hana could become the president of Watanabe Productions”, but that did not happen.

In 1985, he formed the group "Hana Hajime & Over the Rainbow" and was active until a month before his death (drums: Hana, trombone: Kei Tani, piano: Hiroshi Miyagawa, trumpeter Yoshihiro Nakagawa, bassist Isao Eto , tenor sax Jiro Inagaki). It is reported that Hana in his later years was devoted to practicing the drums, and Shin Yasuda made a statement at Hana's awakening headquarters stating that "Hana has become a real drummer in her later years in terms of skills."

Hana received the Medal of Honor on April 29, 1991 by Emperor Akihito. In February 1993, he was diagnosed with liver cancer and underwent surgical removal. After that, he gradually recovered and was discharged from the hospital, but in the summer he suffered complications from cancer, metastases, pneumonia, and his condition deteriorated. Then, on September 10, Hana died at Kyorin University Hospital in Mitaka City, Tokyo at the age of 63. Kei Tani, Hiroshi Inuzuka, and other Crazy Cats members attended the funeral. During the last hospitalization, two performers, Osami Nabe and the former The Peanuts, took turns taking care of each other, and each time they smiled and said: "I am not always done", "Ototsuan, that's a promise I won't say," "Shabontama Holiday." 』They say he was repeating the control lines.

Until the end, Hana was not informed that he had cancer. Hisaya Morishige and Hitoshi Ueki read condolences for the funeral and farewell ceremony. Shigeru Mori closed the condolences with "Abayo!" And Ueki concluded with "Hana ... Goodbye ...". Overnight, Ueki said the group was disbanded. The next day this statement was withdrawn and Kei Tani denied it, but in reality the members' activities as madmen ended with Hana's death.