Hashi Yukio

Actor Ryugo Hashi is his son, and enka singer Hiroyuki Hashi is his nephew. He is from Arakawa Ward, Tokyo, and currently resides in Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture. In his later years, he suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

He was born on May 3, 1943, in Arakawa Ward, Tokyo City, Tokyo Prefecture, as the youngest of nine children of a family that owned a kimono shop. Incidentally, his unusual surname, "Hashi," is said to originate from the fact that his ancestors served as Shinto priests in Shiga Prefecture for generations. During his school days, he was a troublemaker and was passionate about boxing, and was even encouraged to take the professional test. His worried mother enrolled him in Minoru Endo's singing class, which became theきっかけ (trigger/opportunity) for him to enter the world of singing.

He later became a disciple of Masashi Yoshida of Victor, and on July 5, 1960, he debuted with "Itako Gasa" from Victor Records (now Victor Entertainment, the second generation), the music record division of Victor Company of Japan (now JVC Kenwood). He won the New Artist Award at the 2nd Japan Record Awards with the song and made his first appearance on the 11th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen. He appeared on the Kohaku Uta Gassen 17 consecutive times from the 11th to the 27th in 1976, and a total of 19 appearances. After "Itako Gasa," he released many "matatabi-mono" (traveling gambler) songs such as "Kutsukake Tokijiro," "Nakayama Shichiri," and "Saku no Koitaro," with lyrics by Takao Saeki and music by Masashi Yoshida. Along with Kazuo Funaki and Teruhiko Saigo, who debuted later, he gained idol-like popularity as one of the "Big Three." In fact, he had failed an audition for Columbia before debuting with Victor, and later stated that if he had debuted with Columbia, he would have used the stage name Kazuo Funaki. He also worked for Kobe Geinosha for a period of time.

In September 1962, his duet with Sayuri Yoshinaga, "Itsudemo Yume o" (Always Dreaming), was released. The song became a massive hit, setting an astonishing record of 300,000 copies sold in just one month after its release (and surpassing 1 million copies in May of the following year, six months later) and winning the 4th Japan Record Award.

On May 12, 1963, he was attacked by an assailant wielding a military sword during a concert in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture (details below).

In 1966, he won the 8th Japan Record Award again with "Muhyo" (Frost-covered Ice). At the same awards ceremony, he became the first person in history to win the Grand Prize twice, achieving a double crown of New Artist Award and Grand Prize (at the time, there were no awards for Best New Artist or Best Vocal Performance, so the only major awards were New Artist Award and Grand Prize). Also in 1964, he released "Koi wo Suru Nara" (If I Fall in Love), which was the first Japanese song to introduce electric sounds, and subsequently released a series of rhythmic ballads such as "Zekken No. 1 Start Da" (Zekken No. 1 Start Da), "Che Che Che Namida ni Sayonara wo" (Che Che Che Goodbye to Tears), and "Ano Ko to Boku (Ano Ko to Boku (Swim Swim Swim)" (That Girl and Me (Swim Swim Swim)), winning the Planning Award at the 7th Japan Record Awards. He was seen as the number one young singer with both popularity and talent, and appeared in many films.

During the era of the "Big Three" (Yukio Hashi, Kazuo Funaki, and Teruhiko Saigo), Oricon had not yet been established, so there are no Oricon records for the Big Three during their heyday. Nevertheless, in 1969, "Kyoto, Kobe, Ginza" became a hit, reaching the top 10 on the Oricon charts. In the same year, he met his wife, Namiko, who was a flight attendant for Japan Airlines' international flights, on a plane, and they became engaged in 1970. They married in January of the following year, 1971, and had a daughter and a son (Ryugo Hashi). His wife, Namiko, also worked in the entertainment industry as an essayist and talent, hosting the Fuji TV variety show "Wide Wide Fuji" from April 1982 to March 1985, as well as giving lectures. They have also co-authored books.

Released in 1971, "Lone Wolf and Cub" was originally an image song for a graphic novel, but it became popular with the general public after being used as the theme song for the third season of the TV drama "Lone Wolf and Cub." It also became a top 10 hit and won the 14th Japan Record Award (Popular Award), the Japan Song Award Special Award, and other awards.

More than 10 years after his debut, he established the record company "Libastar Onsan" with investment from Sagawa Express and became its vice president, but it fell through 8 years later due to various circumstances. During his time at Libastar Onsan, in 1983, he won the Japan Cable Awards Special Prize for his hit song "Konya wa Hanasanai" (I Won't Let You Go Tonight).

During the manzai boom that swept the country around 1980, Bonchi Osamu of The Bonchi frequently performed impressions of Hashi Yukio. This brought attention to Hashi, who was experiencing a slight slump as a singer. In 1981, Hashi himself performed the "Are~" pose that Bonchi Osamu used when imitating Hashi in a Sanyo Foods TV commercial, which became a topic of conversation as a reverse parody. Also, Shimizu Akira added him to his repertoire of impressions, and from around this time, Hashi began to appear frequently on variety shows

In 1984, he was involved in producing the female idol group Saint Four (although it has been revealed that he was not actually involved), but disagreements with their management agency and financial troubles led to the project's failure.

He later revealed that when he was younger, he received offers from political parties to run for office, but he turned them down both times because he had always believed that "politics is a job you have to risk your life for."

In 1990, she appeared on the 41st NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen for the first time in 14 years. She also appeared on the 49th Kohaku Uta Gassen in 1998, and sang "Itsudemo Yume o" as the grand finale of the first part in tribute to Masashi Yoshida, who passed away that year.

Around 2000, the "Big Three" formed a unit called G3K and performed together. During that time, they sang the theme song "Ah, There Are Tears in Life" for seasons 29 through 32 of the TV drama "Mito Komon," along with the other members of the "Big Three."

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, the first-ever torch relay took place across all five continents, and Hashi served as a torchbearer, running through Tokyo as one of 123 people selected by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

In 2005, a monument was erected at the Maekawa Iris Garden in Itako City, Ibaraki Prefecture, to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Hashi's debut. The monument features a bronze statue modeled after Itako no Itaro, the character Hashi played in the film "Itako Gasa" (Itaro was actually played by Katsuhiko Kobayashi in the film, with Hashi making a guest appearance), a monument inscribed with the first verse of "Itako Gasa," and a jukebox set playing five songs: "Itako Gasa," "Itaro Tabiuta," "Itsudemo Yume wo," "Koi no Mexican Rock," and "Bon Dance."

In the interim results of the fan survey for the 56th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen in 2005, three songs—"Itsudemo Yume wo," "Itako Gasa," and "Muhyo"—appeared in the top 10. In the final results, "Itsudemo Yume wo" ranked 22nd in the Red Team and "Itako Gasa" ranked 68th in the White Team, but ultimately, neither song was selected for the Kohaku Uta Gassen.

In 2012, the year the "Yukio Hashi Cup Assistance Dog Charity Golf Tournament" celebrated its 10th anniversary, he was appointed "Assistance Dog Support Ambassador" by the Japan Assistance Dog Association.

He separated from his wife, Fumiko, in November 2016 and divorced her at the end of 2017. Immediately after the divorce was finalized, he remarried.

In July 2018, he released his 181st single, "Kimi no Te wo" (a duet with Yoshiko Hayashi), which topped the Oricon Enka/Kayokyoku weekly ranking and the USEN HIT Enka/Kayokyoku weekly ranking, demonstrating her continued vitality.

On February 1, 2020, to mark the 60th anniversary of he debut as a singer, he returned to his former agency, JVC Kenwood Victor Entertainment, after leaving his personal agency, and joined the newly established team "3rdWing" within the company.

On October 4, 2021, at the Yume Group headquarters in Gokoku-ji, Tokyo, he announced that he would retire from singing on May 3, 2023, his 80th birthday. He explained that the reason was that he had come to realize that it had become difficult to maintain the power and vocal cords of his singing due to the weakening of the muscles in his vocal cords due to aging, and that it was not in his character to hide or pretend that he was doing it. His final tour was scheduled to start on December 8 of the same year in Fussa, Tokyo, with the concert "Hashi Yukio Concert: Life Seems Long But Goes By in an Instant, Let's Live with Dreams!" and would visit 160 locations nationwide. He will continue his entertainment activities even after retiring from singing.

On April 3, 2022, he enrolled in the Calligraphy and Painting course at the Kyoto University of the Arts' correspondence education program. As the representative of the new students, he gave a speech saying, "I want to relearn what I didn't learn during my student days."

On January 12, 2023, Shigehiro Ishida, president of Yumegroup, to which Hashi belonged, announced that they would be looking for a singer to inherit the name "Hashi Yukio" and continue to sing his songs. On April 1, the final round of the "Find the Second Hashi Yukio!" audition was held, and Akifumi Kawagishi, Kohei Susumu, Junpei Tokuoka, and Yuta Komaki were selected. The four were to each use a different kanji character for "husband" and perform as "Hashi Yukio."

On May 1, 2023, they held their final concert at Asakusa Public Hall in Tokyo. At a press conference held before the show, the four members of "Second Generation Hashi Yukio" were introduced and it was announced that the group name would be "yH2". The plan for the four members to use different kanji characters for "Hashi Yukio" and call themselves "Hashi Yukio" was abandoned. "yH2" will be a trio consisting of Tokuoka Junpei, Shin Kohei, and Komaki Yuta when they officially debut on September 6, 2023.

On April 15, 2024, he held a press conference in Tokyo and announced his return to singing. He revealed that since he had stopped singing, fans had been asking him to resume his activities, and said, "I thought I had put an end to it with my retirement press conference, but I realized that singing was my mission." He then bowed his head and said, "I want to keep going until I can no longer sing." On the 26th, he made his comeback as a singer at the "Hashi Yukio Film Concert & Talk Show" held at Omiya Sonic City in Saitama.

On May 20, 2025, it was announced that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. According to the medical report, she was diagnosed with mild Alzheimer's disease in 2022, and suffered a right parietal lobe infarction in November of the following year. In December 2024, he was diagnosed with moderate Alzheimer's disease.With the advice of her doctor, she decided to continue his entertainment activities. Subsequently, on May 31, 2025, he suffered a transient ischemic attack at home and was rushed to the hospital for a short stay. He was discharged on June 8 and returned to the stage on June 11 at a performance in Shiga Prefecture. However, according to Shigehiro Ishida, president of his management agency, he was "barely able to speak, unable to swallow water, and drooling uncontrollably," and was readmitted to the hospital two days later on June 13. On September 1 of the same year, Ishida explained Hashi's medical condition during a talk show, but after being readmitted to the hospital, his dementia symptoms had progressed, and he was unable to communicate and was bedridden.

He died of pneumonia at 11:48 p.m. on September 4 of the same year at a hospital in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo. He was 82 years old. His death was announced on the 5th by the Yume Group, to which he belonged.

The wake was held on the 9th and the funeral service on the 10th at Muryozan Dentsuin in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo. His posthumous Buddhist name was "Kankiin Doyo Koun Koji". As the coffin was carried out, he was sent off with yH2 singing Hashi's hit song "Itsudemo Yume wo".

On October 9, 2025, Kyoto University of the Arts announced that it would award Hashi an honorary bachelor's degree.

On December 30, 2025, he received the Special Achievement Award at the 67th Japan Record Awards.