Jōnetsu (Yuki Saito song)

Jōnetsu (情熱; lit. "Passion") is the fourth single by Japanese pop singer Yuki Saito. It was released November 15, 1985 by Canyon Records together with "Sasayaki no Yōsei" (ささやきの妖精; lit. "Whispering Fairy"). It was ranked #3 on the Oricon charts and #6 on The Best Ten chart.

"Jōnetsu" was released on November 15, 1985, as a 7-inch single vinyl record through Canyon Records. The single reached #3 on the Oricon charts,^[1] and #6 on The Best Ten chart. The B-side release was "Sasayaki no Yōsei". Both songs had lyrics written by Takashi Matsumoto, with Kyōhei Tsutsumi composing the songs and Satoshi Takebe arranging them.^{[notes 1]}

The title single was used as the theme song for the 1985 Toho film Yuki no Danshō: Jōnetsu (雪の断章 -情熱-; lit. "Literary Fragment in the Snow: Passion"). Saito starred in the film, which was based on a 1975 novel, Yuki no Danshō, by Marumi Sasaki.^[2][3] It was also used in commercials for the Axia brand of cassette tapes from Fujifilm in Japan.^{[notes 2]}

The original single sold 178,000 copies. It was later rereleased as a mini CD single on April 29, 1988.^[1]

A photo book with the same title was released by Ponica Shuppan (through Wani Books) on November 15, 1985. The photographer for the book was Tatsuo Watanabe.^[4]