JAPANESE LYRICS

Kimiga yo wa Chiyoni
Yachiyoni Sazaréishi no,
Iwao to narité,
Koké no musumadé.

---
ENGLISH TRANSLATION

May thy peaceful reign last long!
May it last for thousands of years,
Until this tiny stone will grow into a massive rock
And the moss will cover it all deep and thick.

-------------------------

Japan
"Kimigayo"

Words by:unknown
Music by:Hayashi Hiromori
In use since:1883, adopted 1999

While in use since the early 1880s as a national anthem on a de facto basis,
and the words to the anthem are from the tenth century or earlier, making
"Kimigayo" the oldest national anthem in that sense, the government only
officially adopted the anthem in 1999. The government presented its
interpretation of the meaning of the anthem "Kimigayo" in the Diet during the
deliberation of a bill to codify the country's national flag and anthem. At the
plenary session of the House of Representatives of the Diet held on June 29,
1999, Prime Minister Obuchi explained as follows: "Kimi in 'Kimigayo', under
the current Constitution of Japan, indicates the Emperor, who is the symbol of
the State and of the unity of the people, deriving his position from the will
of the people with whom resides sovereign power; 'Kimigayo' as a whole depicts
the state of being of our country, which has the Emperorderiving his position
from the will of the people with whom resides sovereign power as the symbol of
itself and of the unity of the people; and it is appropriate to interpret the
words of the anthem as praying for the lasting prosperity and peace of our
country."

It is not known who first wrote the words of the anthem. They first appeared in
the Kokinshu, a collection "of ancient and modern poems" dating from the tenth
century. From very early times, the poem was recited to commemorate auspicious
occasions and at banquets celebrating important events. The words were often
put to music and were also used in fairy tales and other stories and even
appeared in the Edo-period popular fiction known as ukiyo-zoshi and in
collections of humorous kyoka (mad verse).

When the Meiji period began in 1868 and Japan made its start as a modern
nation, there was not yet anything called a "national anthem." In 1869 the
British military band instructor John William Fenton, who was then working in
Yokohama, learned that Japan lacked a national anthem and told the members of
Japan's military band about the British national anthem "God_Save_the_King."
Fenton emphasized the necessity of a national anthem and proposed that he would
compose the music if someone would provide the words. The band members
requested Artillery Captain Oyama Iwao, who was well versed in Japanese and
Chinese history and literature, to select appropriate words for such an anthem.
Fenton put his own music to the "Kimigayo" words selected by Oyama, and the
first "Kimigayo" anthem was the result. The melody was, however, completely
different from the one known today. It was performed, with the accompaniment of
brass instruments, during an army parade in 1870, but it was later considered
to be lacking in solemnity, and it was agreed that a revision was needed. In
1876, Osamu Yusuke, the director of the Naval Band, submitted to the Navy
Ministry a proposal for changing the music, and on the basis of his proposal it
was decided that the new melody should reflect the style used in musical chants
performed at the imperial court. In July 1880, four persons were named to a
committee to revise the music. They were Naval Band director Nakamura Yusuke;
Army Band director Yotsumoto Yoshitoyo; the court director of gagaku (Japanese
court music) performances, Hayashi Hiromori; and a German instructor under
contract with the navy, Franz Eckert. Finally a melody produced by Hayashi
Hiromori was selected on the basis of the traditional scale used in gagaku.
Eckert made a four-part vocal arrangement, and the new national anthem was
first performed in the imperial palace on the Meiji Emperor's birthday,
November 3, 1880. This was the beginning of the "Kimigayo" national anthem we
know today.

There has been some opposition lately to the "Kimigayo" both within Japan and
in other east Asian countries, for its association with militarism, and for the
virtual worship of the emporer in the lyrics.

Special thanks to:Sun Shu Zhang for some of this information.

MUSIC
