Ten people, including high school students from Niigata City, were selected as the winners of the "Utakai Hajime" held at the Imperial Palace in the new year.
The theme of the beginning of this song was "Actual", and more than 13,000 tanka songs were sent from all over Japan and overseas.
Ten of these were selected, including Daitoyo Fujii (17), a second-year high school student in Konan Ward, Niigata City, and Miwa Yamamoto (53), an office worker in Miyoshi City, Hiroshima Prefecture.
Mr. Fujii said that he wrote about his feelings when he was seriously working on the calligraphy class. "I am also learning tanka in class, but when I wrote it, I felt an unprecedented response. I thought it was about 95 points. I'm really looking forward to seeing His Majesty the Emperor at the Imperial Palace. "
In addition, Mr. Yamamoto said that while measures were taken to prevent the infection of the new coronavirus, he sang what he felt when he was working at the counter. I made a song about it. I'm very surprised to win the prize, but I'm really happy. "
The song will begin on January 15th next year at the Imperial Palace and Palace, where the number of people listening to the song will be significantly reduced, and people who will sing the song will be asked to wear a face shield. The songs of the 10 winners will be performed along with the songs of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress and the royal family.