| Sakuragawa Tadamaru | |
| Birth Name: | Tadao Hirata |
| Birth Date: | 2 January 1938 |
| Birth Place: | Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, Japan |
| Yearsactive: | 1947- |
| Occupation: | Singer |
| Website: | 初代桜川唯丸思い出ページ(Japanese) |
From Osaka came the 'musical anarchist', who sang in a style called Goshu ondo. With the backing of the now disbanded Spiritual Unity, Tadamaru broke out of the festival circuit with his only album, Ullambana, released in 1991. Ullambana is a Sanskrit word that refers to a Buddhism sutra, and is the origin of the Japanese word Urabonne whose shortened form Bon or Obon is now widely used throughout Japan. Tadamaru's music is characterized as a radical new workout of summer festival music from Kansai area of Japan.
The song Yui Maru Bushi from the album can be found here:
Tadamaru retired in 1995 and passed his name to one of his pupils who now sings as Tadamaru Sakuragawa II (二代目 桜川唯丸).
Music of Japan