Hideo Murata

[1] Murata was born as a son of rōkyoku singer Senyu Hirosawa (広沢仙遊, Hirosawa Senyū) and Tsutako Yano (矢野ツタ子, Yano Tsutako).

However, he was immediately adopted by Sumiko Deriba (出利葉スミ子, Deriba Sumiko) and Haruo Kajiyama (梶山春雄, Kajiyama Haruo) became his stepfather.

He studied rōkyoku under one of Kumoemon Tochuken's disciples, Kumo Sakai.

Murata was scouted by Masao Koga, debuting with "Muhōmatsu no Isshō" (無法松の一生, lit.

Along with Hachiro Kasuga and Michiya Mihashi, he became a famous enka singer and Haruo Minami was regarded as his rival.