Kikuchi Madoka(菊地まどか)

Kikuchi Madoka(菊地まどか) got her stage name from her teacher, the second generation Kyōyama Koenjō(京山小圓嬢) who also uses the name Kikuchi Yōko(菊地容子). Madoka comes from the kun'yomi(訓読み) for the character 圓.

Her father was the master instructor of shamisen. In 1996, she started singing on stage with the kawachi ondo(河内音頭). Before entering the entertainment industry full time, she worked as a medical clerk.

She later studied under Naruse Shōhei(成世昌平) and Kikuchi Yōko(菊地容子).

In 2006, the prime minister of Japan at the time Koizumi Junichirō invited her to a cherry blossom viewing party. During the party, she gripped onto his hands when they shook hands and proceeded to make an appeal for rōkyoku(浪曲).

In January of 2007, she, along with four other performers Haruno Keiko(春野恵子), Kō Itten(幸いってん), Ippūtei Hazuki(一風亭初月), and Sawamura Sakura(沢村さくら) got together to form the New Star Rōkyoku☆New Declaration Team(新星浪曲☆新宣組 Shinsei Rōkyoku ☆ Shinsengumi). In October of that year, she formed the Rōkyoku Women's Group(浪曲乙女組 Rōkyoku Otomegumi) along with Tamagawa Nanafuku(玉川奈々福) and Haruno Keiko(春野恵子).

On July 1, 2008, she sung the Japanese national anthem before the start of the baseball game between the Orix Buffaloes and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

In February of 2010, she made her debut as an enka singer singing the song "Naniwa Woman's Vivacious Melody(浪花女のげんき節 Naniwa on'na no genki-bushi)."

This blog post translates information from the Wikipedia article 菊地まどか which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.