Fujiyama Ichiro was a Japanese singer, vocalist, composer, and conductor born in Nihonbashi-ku, Tokyo, He graduated from Tokyo Music School.

He was active as a tenor national singer and popular singer with the orthodox vocal technique, singing method, anf music theory cultivated at Tokyo Music School, as well as the voice of high baritone. From the 1930s to the 1940s, he released numerous hits such as "Sake wa Namida ka Tameiki ka", "Oka o Koete", "Tokyo Rhapsody", "Aoi Sanmyku", and "Nagasaki no Kane".
The government, which launched the National Spiritual Mobilization in the wake of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, encouraged the music industry to release songs that would raise the spirit of war, with the theme of humor, love, and sentiment. According to this policy, Fujiyama has released songs such as "Yamauchi Chui no Haha".

On August 15, 1945, Fujiyama learned of Japan's defeat in a car traveling from Surabaya, Java to Madiun. He was taken as a prisoner of the Republic of Indonesia, which had just declared independence, and was detained in a prison in Naui, central Java, and then transferred to a prison in Magetan in the middle Solo River. In 1946, he moved to a mountain village in Pujon, Malang, at the behest of Sukarno. There was a farm run by the Mitsubishi Zaibatsu, and the soldiers of the former Imperial Japanese Navy named the area "Kurama Village" and lived a self-sufficient life. On July 15, 1946, Fujiyama returned to Japan on the aircraft carrier Katsuragi, which was converted into a return transport ship.

In October 1972, with the death of the first chairman, Shoji Taro, he became chairman of the Japanese Singers Association. The association was a voluntary organization that sought to strengthen the position of singers, but it was discussed that it would become an incorporated association when Fujiyama became chairman. As a result of negotiations with the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the association was approved as an incorporated association in May 1975. Fujiyama served as chairman until May 1979, after which he served as a director.

On May 28, 1992, Fujiyama received the National Honor Award, being the first non-athlete to win the award during his lifetime. The reasons for the award were "with proper music technology and intellectual interpretation, he pioneered a unique frontier in the singing of songs", and "for a long time, he gave hope and encouragement to the people through songs".

In addition to the National Honor Award, Fujiyama also received the Order of the Sacred Treasure in Spring 1982, the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1973, the Special Merit Award of the Japanese Red Cross Society in 1952, the NHK Broadcasting Culture Award in 1958, the Medal with Social Education in 1959, and the Japan Record Awards Special Award in 1974.

Fujiyama died on August 21, 1993, due to acute heart failure. His last media appearance was "Dai 25-kai Omoide no Melody", which was broadcasted on NHK General TV on August 14th of the same year.

Fujiyama's relics were donated to NHK by the bereaved family and are exhibited in the "Ichiro Fujiyama Composition Room" of the NHK Museum of Broadcasting. In addition to NHK, the bereaved family also donated relics to Yono City for singing the city song "Yonoshi Tamika" in Yono City, Saitama Prefecture. Edit Biography