was a Japanese popular music (ryūkōka

Ryukoka

- 1914–1927: Origin :In 1914, Sumako Matsui's song "Katyusha's song", composed by Shinpei Nakayama, was used as a theme of the rendition Resurrection in Japan. The record of the song sold 20,000 copies...

) singer and soldier. He was known for using naniwa-bushi

Rokyoku

Rōkyoku is a genre of traditional Japanese narrative singing. Generally accompanied by a shamisen, rōkyoku became very popular in Japan during the first half of the 20th century.-Notable performers:...

's kobushi vocalism in Japanese popular music. He was killed in action during the eastern New Guinea campaign

New Guinea campaign

The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II.Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between:...

 during the Pacific War.

Life

Uehara was born as Rikiji Matsumoto in Ōdate

Odate, Akita

is a city located in Akita in Tōhoku region of Japan.The city was founded on April 1, 1951.As of 2003, the city had an estimated population of 65,090 and the density of 162.10 persons per km²...

, Akita Prefecture

Akita Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region of northern Honshu, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Akita.- History :The area of Akita has been created from the ancient provinces of Dewa and Mutsu....

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. He graduated from Senshu University

Senshu University

is a private university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Former "Senshu College" was founded in 1880, the first school in Japan comprising Economics and Law Departments to systematically offer a specialized educational curriculum in the Japanese language....

, and made his professional debut under the Japanese division of Polydor Records

Polydor Records

Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...

 in 1936. His famous songs included the 1937 song . His vocal style, called kobushi, became popular as the more emphatic form among modern enka

Enka

is a popular Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern enka, however, is a relatively recent musical form which arose in the context of such postwar expressions of modern Japanese nonmaterial nationalism as nihonjinron, while adopting a more...

singers.

Uehara became a soldier in 1943, went to New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, and was killed in battle on July 29, 1944.

Discography

: 1937 : 1937 : 1938 : 1938 : 1938 : 1938 : 1938 with Taro Shoji

Taro Shoji

was a Japanese popular music singer.Shoji was born in Akita, Akita Prefecture. He graduated from the Waseda University. He at first entered the South Manchuria Railway. He made his debut as a recording singer in 1933. He attempted to become a Western classical singer, but finally became a popular...

: 1939 : 1939 : 1941