The Folk Crusaders

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The Folk Crusaders (also known as Fōkuru, フォークル) was a Japanese modern music group, taking Japan by storm in the later half of the 1960s, and laying the foundations for modern Japanese music.

The band was formed in 1965 by the 5 university students Katō Kazuhiko, Kitayama Osamu, Hiranuma Yoshio (平沼義男), Inomura (Imura?) Mikio (井村幹生) and Ashida Maki (芦田雅喜), but Ashida and Inomura left the band at an early stage. The 3-man band were active in the Kansai underground scene for some time, but in 1967 the band decided to split up, and to commemorate the split up they released the self-produced album "Harenchi", in 300 copies only. The same year, the album was picked up by radio in Kyoto and Kobe (where the songs "Imujingawa" and "Kaette kita yopparai" were played frequently). The band members continued their musical careers in different bands but had reunions with The Folk Crusaders and released some more albums.

The band's song "Imujingawa", a song about the Imjin River and the splitting of Korea, played an important role in the 2004 movie Pacchigi!.