Chiharu Matsuyama

Ashoro is a small town in Hokkaido that few people outside Japan will ever hear of, and Chiharu Matsuyama has spent an entire career carrying its name. He debuted in 1977 with Tabidachi, then reached the whole country with Kisetsu no Nakade and Nagai Yoru. What gets me is the voice: no ornament, no hedging, one straight high line that takes you by the collar. He also turned his early life into a book, Ashoro Yori, which was later filmed, so the biography competes with the songs for drama. He is blunt enough to make enemies, but blunt in exactly the way he sings, and that consistency is the whole point.

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Name (English)

Chiharu Matsuyama

Name (Japanese)

松山千春

Reading

まつやま ちはる

Born

December 16, 1955 (age 70)

Origin

Ashoro, Hokkaidō, Japan

Height

170 cm

Occupation

singer-songwriter / composer / lyricist / recording artist

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Sagittarius / Goat

Active years

1976 -

High school

Hokkaido Ashoro High School

Works summary

Works

291 (1976–2025)

By year (titles with a known year)

1976: 1, 1977: 16, 1978: 4, 1979: 7, 1980: 4, 1981: 5, 1982: 4, 1983: 3, 1984: 4, 1985: 5, 1986: 9, 1987: 2, 1988: 7, 1989: 7, 1990: 6, 1991: 3, 1992: 3, 1993: 5, 1994: 5, 1995: 5, 1996: 5, 1997: 6, 1998: 6, 1999: 4, 2000: 3, 2001: 3, 2002: 5, 2003: 5, 2004: 2, 2005: 3, 2006: 3, 2007: 4, 2008: 5, 2009: 8, 2010: 6, 2011: 2, 2012: 3, 2013: 5, 2014: 3, 2015: 4, 2016: 2, 2017: 3, 2018: 5, 2020: 3, 2021: 2, 2023: 1, 2024: 2, 2025: 1, year unknown: 82

Debut work

襟裳の海

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttps://columbia.jp/artist-info/chiharu/
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiharu%20Matsuyama
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%BE%E5%B1%B1%E5%8D%83%E6%98%A5
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1000588

Tags

• Hokkaidō
• singer-songwriter
• composer
• lyricist

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.