In the recession in the wake of World War I, Noguchi & Nakayama's minyō folksong Sendō kouta (Boatman's song, 1921) struck chord with he audience with its melancholic strains, with its use of the pentatonic minor scale (五音短音階). "'Sendo Ko- uta' (Boatman's Ditty) was particularly successful, with its mood of despair and pessimism (lyrics by Noguchi Noguchi) emphasized by the typical minor- inclined pentatonic scale, which touched the heartstrings of the Japanese "『日本の詩歌（別巻：日本歌唱集 Nihon no Shika: supplemental volume, Nihon shika shū）』(Chūo Kōron Sha, 1974), pp.228-9 (commentary by music critic ) This song was turned into a film in 1923 (Shōchiku studio), the year the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake struck the Kantō area. Another song lyric that Noguchi wrote that year was set to music by Nakamura in 1928, and became the hit song set in the port of the Izu Ōshima island, it was recorded by Chiyako Sato and by tenor Yoshie Fujiwara.
