This band was formed in 1987. The lead singer is dressed as a literary master from Meiji era. The bass is dressed as a Buddhist monk with white face (white color in Asia is correlated to death or after life) and drummer is dressed as a Yakuza gangster. The lyrics are often very poetic and literary with often using old and ancient words.

A Meiji-era literary scholar, a monk, and a gangster walk into a bar…

I love that the guitarist looks like someone's grandpa, yet he riffs like a demon.

"what do you search for to find that?" ohhhh buddy. you don't. you hear something like wolf totem or yuve yuve yu by the hu on the radio, search that, let youtube do it's thing and a day or two later it just shows up like magic in your recommended page.

What it all amounts to, is that these guys are one of a kind. After over 35 years in the business they are finally getting the love and recognition they deserve thanks to the internet.

Shinji Wajima was like "I paid for the whole guitar I am gonna use the whole guitar".

The lead singer looks like he's gonna teach me Kendo, the bass player looks like he's gonna go home and eat babies, and the drummer looks like he'll sell me some ecstasy

Japanese bands almost exclusively sing in metaphors, which can sometimes get quite literally lost in translation.

These guys been throwing it down for 30 years or better. Glad to see them finally touring outside Japan.

A little explanation about the "sliding". They use elements of Japanese music and instruments like the Japanese Shamisen, a 3 string banjo style stringed instrument, in which the sweeping slide is used quite frequently. They are usually compared to Black Sabbath and classic style hard rock but most westerners will totally miss the Japanese traditional styles and writing in their music. The translation of the lyrics is a little...off. Some Japanese terms, sayings and words just don't have an English translation that would make sense to us as westerners. Btw, they are amazing live. Japan has a lot of great guitarists/artists that the west has no idea exists. I found this through first discovering Babymetal. Thru Babymetal I've discovered so much. Here is a great example of Japanese shamisen. Traditional 3 stringed instrument. It will show the sliding technique used by Ningen Isu (pronounced nin-gen-is, the G is a hard G and the U is very diminished to the point of silence) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/g81-ktt6rdewhXU.html

The bassist is just so good...

This bassist Grandpa is EPIC

This is one of the more interesting reaction videos I’ve seen for this video. Love how you quickly picked up the key, melody, and soloing. Great analysis!

I love this concept of sitting there with a guitar and analyzing the music 🎶

I accidentally discovered these guys going down the rabbit hole a few weeks ago and now I can't get enough!! ♡♡♡

I fucken love ningen isu, I so happy that others will now know about their great music

Doesn't surprise me that he is just a bit extra, this band has been rocking out for over 30 years!! Absolutely LOVE the KZfaq algorithm that brought me to this band a few years ago!!! I swear I hear notes of Sabbath, Tool, and Godsmack all throughout this song. I hope you react to some of their others!!!

I stumbled across Ningen Isu about a year ago and fell in love with them. Looked up some info on the band and was surprised to see they've been around for a really long time, since the 80's. I'm disappointed I didn't know about them back then.

In my mind (I know I'm wrong btw) you have; Samurai Warrior on vocals and guitar Warrior Monk on bass And 1973 Toyota salesman of the year Tokyo Prefecture on drums. And together, they're metal AF. I absolutely adore these guys.

There’s a ton of great stuff from japan. From all the genres over the years. If it exists in America, it’s in Japan too. Jazz was huge in Japan post WW2 but as the decades went on all the other influences from the western world of music influenced their cultural as well. Heck even Buck Owens has a live from Japan album from 1967. And it’s really good. Anyhooot.... I’d like to see you break down Band-Maid’s song “Blooming”.

In an interview they cited black sabbath and iron maiden as their influence.

Great stuff. Ningen Isu is a hard rock band from northeastern Japan, formed in 1987. Their musical influences include Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, Black Sabbath, Budgie and Motörhead. Their lyrics are often based on literary themes and sources, mostly Japanese but also, for example, H.P. Lovecraft. I discovered them from a reaction video two years ago (thanks, Hedgy!) and I'm going to see them play in London in three weeks' time. I'll let you know how this song sounds live! :)

I'm not a musician or anything like that but godd@mn dude, seeing you hear the song and pretty much playing it right there, amazes the sh!t out of me.

They're one of my favorite Japanese bands. Love that you did this one!

The holy algorithm finally came through. Just found them yesterday and I've been scouring youtube ever since.

Surprisingly, a lot of the japanese love classic rock and metal, ranging from heavy metal to prog rock.

This is band is awesome. First time listening to them because of your video. Definitely gonna stan them now even if they are a group for 30 years now. We are so late.

I saw them back in 1991 when i was 6 years old. Love them

Thanks for doing this video! I’ve seen a lot of reaction videos to this song, but you’re the first to watch it with a guitar in hand and explain what Shinji Wajima is actually playing. Very cool!

Dude! Thank you! 🙏 - your gut level ability to quickly assess and NAIL a concise summary is un-canny! It was totally a "Buddhist power trio!" but I didn't even know there was "such a thing" you crushed it! I was really impressed watching how you deconstruct this, very informative learning! - how you can transpose alternate tunings to standard without changing tunings! -- I like that the main thing was C# minor penta (progression wise) it's cool to know you can build a song around one main scale / chord -- Your instinct on the melodies through the transitions was awesome to watch....you have a great ear man - fun to watch you work with it -- I love that you talk about what it would take to cover something like this...very cool! I honestly don't know how I came across this...I think it was a KZfaq Music algorithm....I'm going to Japan this year (first time) so I was doing a bunch of research on KZfaq - this just "showed up" in my music stream and I was gobsmacked! I always love a good trio! This is their wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ningen_Isu Most of the stuff I found at first was live and strong.

Had my mind completely blown at Fuji Rock last year. There's so much going on in Japan music-wise that barely reaches western audiences.

I never expected shredding like that out of a tweedy older guy in a kimono.

A finely honed rock and roll machine.

New sub here! Another amazing Japanese band. Band-Maid and their instrumental track Onset. Live or DVD close up to Kanami the guitarist.

BAND MAID : Onset (live). The lead guitarist is an absolute goddess, this is an instrumental track, they use to break up live shows.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, Minor pentatonic is the basis of many traditional Japanese music pieces. The traditional flute called the shakuhachi is often tuned in D minor pentatonic for example. I think it is quite natural for them to fall back on it so much.

The Black Sabbath mention is spot-on; that's who the remind me most of.

best discription i can give its a heavy metal band with an elder wheres waldo, a japanese uncle fester & a japanese elvis drummer its insane and i love the gimmick they worked this out for long time

Nice reaction! Great commentary and guitar play! Thank you!

This track is insane!

Great insight!! Thank you reviewing Ningen Isu!!

1:25 That was I thought and my face looked exactly like yours when first hearing Ningen Isu....

Your community is so great! All the information about this band in the comments. I like that, make me smile. Best wish from Germany.

Glen it's okay to find this.... it popped up in my feed a few years ago and I love it!

i hear partial nuances of a few japanese scales with the penatonic scale the slides are a common technique in japanese music, this band is fucking awesome my 1st hearing them def gonna research their music more.

スーパーグルービングって誉めてるのだけわかった。確かに凄いグルーヴだぜ。

ningin Isu has been around since the 80s and just realesed a 32nd album. great video man

Ok wow. This is actually the first and one and only REACT Vid I really liked. Nice analysing here. You may proceed! :D

I love Ningen Isu, they are a sweet band.

I just heard this yesterday . its definitely a banger.

One does not "find" this song. The algorithm chose it for me...

世界の皆さん…ギターのワジーはおじいちゃんじゃないんです…3人とも同い年なんです… ワジーは日本でいうところのワビサビ、枯れた佇まいというんです… あと、ドラムのノブさんはどういうわけだか歳を取らないんです…！

This guy is one of the best in the world and his sound is just perfect!

This band really is the Black Sabbath of Japan, and I love them to death

They still sound bad ass live!

とにかくありがとう❤

Devin Townsend plays in Open C because it made it easier for him to play... It really does make shredding quite a bit more convenient & also awesome at the same time with the low C just chugging behind those cleans.

Thanks from JAPAN Please react to Life for sale(Ningen isu)

もっと流行らんかな人間椅子

i just discovered this song today.....it's awesome.

So cool seeing a music fan first discovering Ningen Isu. :)

"If you got the nuts, you got the nuts," perfect analysis

Its fucking amazing you can just hear that and play it

Glad you're still doing this series! It's super interesting and informative to see you go through these and work out the theory and such as you analyze it. (I'm not at all impatient or upset in asking this) I suggested a couple songs for this last month on the Los Lonely Boys episode, and you said you'd give it a look. Any chance you're still planning on getting to them? If you just haven't got around to it yet, no rush I'm just curious. Also, if you checked them out and just weren't into it that's cool too, no worries. Regardless, keep up the great videos and this series. I'm loving it! :)

日本の音楽は欧米の音楽に比べて楽曲の構成が複雑なんだってマーティ・フリードマンとリヴァース・クオモが言ってた。ロックもポップスも転調が多いって。

great metal band

Everyone's first time hearing/seeing this video..."WHAT THE? WHERE HAS THIS BEEN HIDING?!!!"

Coming a little late to this party, but ... Wajima (guitarist and main writer for Ningen Isu) uses this open tuning for Heartless Scat: C# F# B E G# C#. You mentioned you'd like to hear it live: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fdORh7Wpps_HlJc.html

ありがとう！！！

If you liked this reacts to X Japan, Galneryus, Hizaki, Takayoshi Ohmura, Wagakki band, Onmyo-za, The Alfee, L'arc en ciel (or VAMPS), LUNA SEA, a lot of great bands and musician out there in Japan.

Man, you have some serious talent! Blew my mind how you picked up the song so fast

"what do you search to find that?" it basically starts like this: -game of thrones: random episode gets recomended: Vikings gets recomended: Heilung Gets recomended: The Hu Gets recomended: Ningen Isu Gets recomended: Baby Metal (topic seems to stop shifting from there) shortcut: Look for Heilung, Alien Weaponry or straight up The Hu

You are absolutely going to love this song.

なまはげの三味線ギターやって欲しいｗ

Dude I totally love your attitude..... 2020 heavy metal Buddha's make sense.....

Great vid thanks!

That was fun. I play (somewhat), and don't often like the breakdowns like you did here. But I liked that. Good job and Thanks!

This reminds me of how I learned how to play songs back in the day before youtube tutorials and online tabs. Just put the needle on the record, and try to figure out what the hell is going on. It wasn't always perfect, but I could usually get things a bit closer than the gawdawful tablature that was around.

If you want to hear more of Ningen Isu than their KZfaq channel, look for 人間椅子 on Spotify.

I feel like they're all musical teachers who play in a band after school.

Nice breakdown. I was surprised to this video while looking back at some older jrock.

It was super fun watching you pick the tune out during the video And, they're definitely not from L.A.!

Shinji is a god among men! This band is amazing and being together for 30 years they have developed a lot in that time.

Discovered this band just few weeks ago it's like Black Sabbath but about Buda, those doom lyrics are so profound when sang by an 70yo dude.

KZfaq just recommended me this song sometime early last year, figured it had to be there for a reason, whether awesome or weird and it was both.

I gonna see these guys in 2 days in Berlin!

Imagine of you could never be as cool as your japanese granpa

Ningen Isu (which translates to "The Human Chair") is a Japanese three-piece hard rock/doom metal band from Aomori, Japan. In 1987, the band was formed by Shinji Wajima (Guitar & Vocals) and Kenichi Suzuki (Bass & Vocals), who were classmates in the same high school in Aomori Prefecture in the northern area of Japan.

lead singer has a youtube channel out about camping.

That's a 64 year old man. He's been playing guitar since before a lot of us were both. I say as a 31 year old.

Ningen Isu is what happens when old guys get tired of the new "music" and decide to take steps to rectify the situation.

Live version is on their site. Good power trio live handling.

Thank you so much fun seen you do this reaction. If you could please do GALNERYUS " Hunting for your dream" that would be awesome. Keep up with this great bands!

I highly suggest band-maid if you haven't heard of them. 5 women from Japan who are amazing and their lead guitarist kanami is unbelievable. They have countless great stuff. Onset for an instrumental. Blooming, dice, moratorium, puzzle, secret my lips, domination and many more all worth checking out. They are great especially live

Great Band

I implore to search for more japanese music since they are a lot more interesting musically. There's a reason Marty Friedman moved to Japan. Glad you've noticed some things Japan music loves (minor pentatonix, melody over structure, minor chords).

I can't wait for them to sing of the taste of victory...

Gonin-Ish is another phenomenal band. They where like Japanese Prog metal and the singer sang in a language many do not speak in Japan because is it spiritual and tribal in nature. Amazing music.

fun fact: the guitarist can rift with three stringed instrument called "Shamisen"

Glad to see you playing the Silver Sky. There's nothing like it.