炭★坑★節 (The★Tanko★Bushi) is an electrifying arrangement of the traditional Japanese coal-mining folk song Tankō Bushi (炭坑節), adapted for maimai's very first release on July 11, 2012. The arrangement was handled by Kai (Takahiro Kai), SEGA's virtuoso guitarist known for his work across the company's rhythm-game catalog, with spirited vocals by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi of SEGA Sound Unit [H.]. At 112 BPM and roughly a minute and forty-one seconds long, the track transforms a centuries-old folk tune, one traditionally sung during coal-sorting work in the Chikuhō region of Fukuoka Prefecture and danced at summer Bon festivals across Japan, into a playful, neo-folk romp far removed from its source material's stately cadence. According to the maimai soundtrack booklet, the production team originally intended to hire a professional folk singer. But Kai's arrangement was so defiantly unconventional, merging the classic melody with rock-tinged production and humorous vocal ad-libs, that they instead turned to Mitsuyoshi, whose childhood familiarity with enka and folk singing (at what he calls "imitation level") made him the ideal fit for what the booklet dubs a "neo-folk sound." The song launched as the first entry in what would become maimai's Japanese folk song arrangement series, later followed by ソーラン☆節 (So-ran bushi). On the charting side, the Expert difficulty was designed by 譜面-100号 (Fumen -100 gou) and the Master difficulty by ニャイン (Nyain). Over the game's many version updates, the Master chart's level has climbed dramatically, from an original level 10 at launch to its current 13.3 constant, reflecting the shifting difficulty landscape of the series. The song's in-game jacket was refreshed for maimai でらっくす, and its original animated video was replaced with a still of the new artwork. In Asian English releases, the title is displayed as The★Tanko★Bushi with the artist credit reading Kai / Takenobu Mitsuyoshi; the Chinese 舞萌 version uses 炭★坑★节.