The Hayashi brothers started to play the guitar at a young age, encouraged by their father. Ryunosuke started covering various songs of folk artists of the 60's and 70's and in order to participate in an end of the year countdown event, he asked his younger brother Naojiro to join him. So at the end of 2000, they performed on Sado's end of the year count down event, playing a cover of a song by Takuro Yoshida, a famous Japanese folk-rock singer. Ryunosuke was twelve at that time, and Naojiro just barely ten years old. Their performance was very well received by the audience and they got various requests from across Japan for performances. Instead of only performing covers, they also started to write their own songs from then on.
In 2001, they decided to participate in an audition by Sony Music Japan; not really with the intention of winning, but more for the memory and to find out the judges' opinions. The young boys must have been very surprised when they won round after round, ending up as one of the five finalists from 37,000 participants and winning a contract with Sony Music: the chance to make their professional debut.
With the contract in their pocket, they spent two weeks in their summer holiday of 2002 in Tokyo recording their songs. Unfortunately, it did not go well, and with a heavy heart, they returned to Sado. Instead of giving it up, they started to make their own recordings on the island and their efforts came to fruition in March 2003 with the release of their first mini-album: Nanatsu no Hiragana, an indies release. In November, their major debut followed with the single Tokyo, the song relating to their first attempt in the capital in the previous year. Produced by the famous musician Saito Kazuyoshi, it ranked 23rd on the Oricon charts.
It was around this time that Naojiro's voice started to change, taking on a lower pitch. More single releases and performances across the entire country followed, and then in the summer of 2004 they released their first album, Enpitsu de Tsukuru Uta. It sold very well and ranked 7th in the Oricon charts, making them the youngest male artists ever to enter the top 10. In addition to being released in Japan, it was also sold in Taiwan. The band's popularity continued to grow, resulting in more performances and their first live DVD which was released in December.
Hirakawachi Icchome continued in the same fashion, releasing single after single and two more albums, amongst them Utaite o kaete, a cover album of well-known folk rock songs. Several of their songs were used as theme songs for movies and television shows, earning them even more recognition.
In 2007, Naojiro made his debut as an actor in the movie "Lemon no koro". He also wrote the theme song for it, Hikari, as a solo project under his own name, the song taking on a rockier sound than Hirakawachi Icchome's.
While it seemed that everything was going smoothly for the two siblings, in May 2008, shortly after the release of the single Utakata, it was announced that Hirakawachi Icchome would dissolve. Announcements said that they had started the band to solve some personal, family troubles. Their mother and younger brother had left the family, so they started the band hoping to find them again. When their plan had worked and their family had reunited, they must have felt there was little use in continuing the band, and so they split up. They held one last tour and its final concert took place in Tokyo on August 23rd.
They concluded their career with a new version of their first single Tokyo, released on July 30, as well as a self-titled best-of album. Later that year, another best-of album was released, which included a DVD of their last concert.
It seems that both brothers have plans to continue their show business careers. Naojiro has expressed an interest in continuing his acting career, as well as entering university. Ryunosuke has mentioned he may be starting a solo career, but has not made any concrete plans so far.
It is definitely a pity that Hirakawachi Icchome has disbanded so soon already; they had a great potential and their career was very successful, especially considering the young age of the duo. However, their youth is also an advantage for new projects; they have a whole future ahead of them to continue their music careers, and we certainly hope they will do so!
