is a song sung at

graduation Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is a ...

ceremonies in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is usually in the key of D or E-flat major, in time.

History

The melody is often said to be based on a traditional

Scottish folk song Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

of uncertain provenance (similar to "''Hotaru no hikari''" borrowing the melody of "

Auld Lang Syne "Auld Lang Syne" (: note "s" rather than "z") is a popular song, particularly in the English-speaking world. Traditionally, it is sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. By extension, it is also often ...

"); however, others insist that both lyrics and music were by

Meiji-era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization by ...

educator

Isawa Shūji was a Japanese educator of the Meiji period. Biography Isawa Shūji was born in 1851 in the Takatō Domain, Shinano Province, to an impoverished samurai family. Shūji's father, Isawa Katsusaburō (伊澤勝三郎, also known as Bunkoku ...

(1851–1917). The lyrics are also said to have been written collectively by

Ōtsuki Fumihiko was a Japanese lexicographer, linguist, and historian. He is best known for two Japanese-language dictionaries that he edited, ''Genkai'' (, "sea of words", 1891) and its successor ''Daigenkai'' (, "great sea of words", 1932–1937), and for hi ...

(1847–1928), Satomi Tadashi (1824–1886), and Kabe Iwao. Its first known appearance was in 1884, when Isawa added it to the Ministry of Education's published collection of songs for primary-school students. In January 2011, Hitotsubashi University professor emeritus Masato Sakurai announced that he believed he had found the origins of the song in an English school music book, "The Song Echo", published in the United States in 1871. According to Sakurai, the American music book's song "Song for the Close of School" is exactly the same as Aogeba Tōtoshi. The U.S. song's words were written by T. H. Brosnan and the music by "H. N. D.". Sakurai stated that the song is no longer known in the U.S. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the song's lyrics, with their worshipful attitude towards teachers, were felt inappropriate for a democracy in some quarters. This was especially true during the student protests of the 1960s, as opposition to this song was part of a larger reaction against the old regime, and schools hesitated to play the song at graduations for fear of protest. After these protests died down, the further ebb of older notions resulted in the song, which used archaic grammar and vocabulary even for the 1880s, being largely abandoned by public schools (especially primary schools), in favor of alternative songs such as "'' Tabidachi no hi ni''", "'' Okuru kotoba''" by Kaientai, or "''

Sakura A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of Prunus, genus ''Prunus'' or Prunus subg. Cerasus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especia ...

''" by

Naotarō Moriyama (born April 23, 1976) is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter. His mother is Ryōko Moriyama, a well-known folk singer. Moriyama came out with the album (music), album "Kawaita Uta wa Sakana no Esa ni Chōdo Ii" in 2002, and distinguished himself ...

. Even for those schools which continued to use this song, the second stanza, which contains the lyrics , focusing on personal success, was felt at odds with the changing state of society and often omitted. In the postwar period, children's author Tamao Fujita published a version with modernized lyrics, but it was unpopular among parents because it did not elicit tears the way the original song did. In 2007, "Aogeba Tōtoshi" was selected for the

Nihon no Uta Hyakusen is a selection of songs and nursery rhymes widely beloved in Japan, sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Parents-Teachers Association of Japan. A poll was held in 2006 choosing the songs from a list of 895. The results were announc ...

, 100 songs from Japan, by the Agency of Cultural Affairs and the National Congress of Parents and Teachers Associations of Japan. As the songs are ordered by the Japanese gojūon system, "Aogeba Tōtoshi" is number one on the list.

References

External links

Moto Saitoh "Songs for Primary Schools"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aogeba Totoshi Graduation songs Japanese songs 2015 singles Year of song unknown Songwriter unknown