is a Japanese march composed by Tōkichi Setoguchi with lyrics by Yukio Morikawa. It was released in December 1937.

History

At the outbreak of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, the

Cabinet of Japan The is the chief executive body of the government of Japan. It consists of the prime minister, who is appointed by the emperor after being designated by the National Diet, and up to nineteen other members, called Ministers of State. The prime ...

sponsored several public competitions for lyrics to ''Aikoku Kōshinkyoku'' in September 1937. There were 57,578 entries for lyrics that were received, and Morikawa's entry was selected as the winner. For the music, 9,555 entries to accompany the lyrics were then received, and Setoguchi was declared the winner. Setoguchi was already a noted composer who had written the ''

Gunkan kōshinkyoku The is a Japanese march composed in 1897 by Tōkichi Setoguchi. It was the official march of the Imperial Japanese Navy and is the official march of its successor, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). In Japan, the march is also comm ...

'', the official march of the Imperial Navy. A few days after its release, ''Aikoku Kōshinkyoku'' sold a hundred thousand copies from six labels. It sold over a million by 1938.

In popular culture

This song is used in the 1972 Malaysian film Laksamana Do Re Mi, but with different lyrics.

Lyrics

References

{{authority control 1937 songs Japanese-language songs Japanese military marches Japanese patriotic songs