is a Japanese song whose lyrics are based on a chōka poem by

Ōtomo no Yakamochi was a Japanese statesman and '' waka'' poet in the Nara period. He was one of the ''Man'yō no Go-taika,'' the five great poets of his time, and was part of Fujiwara no Kintō's . Ōtomo was a member of the prestigious Ōtomo clan. Like his g ...

in the ''

Man'yōshū The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...

'' (poem 4094), an eighth century anthology of Japanese poetry, set to music by Kiyoshi Nobutoki.

History

The poem is part of Ōtomo no Yakamochi's famous long poem celebrating the imperial edict on the discovery of gold in Michinoku province (modern Tohoku) in 749. The distant ancestors of the Ōtomo clan were known as masters of the royal Kume guard. The poem reflects their pledge to serve their sovereign. "Umi Yukaba" later became popular among the military, especially with the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

. As set to music in 1937 by it became popular during and also after

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. After Japan surrendered in 1945, "Umi Yukaba" and other ''gunka'' were banned by the Allied occupation forces. With the ending of the occupation, the song has now been widely played across military circles in Japan, including performances by the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJ ...

. Prior to Nobutoki’s composition, the poem had been set to music in the trio section of 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 ...

Lyrics

Umi yukaba / Mizuku kabane /
Yama yukaba / Kusa musu kabane/
Ookimi no / he ni koso shiname /
Kaerimi wa seji ''At sea be my body water-soaked,
''On land be it with grass overgrown.
''Let me die by the side of my Sovereign!
''Never will I look back.( Keene.)

In popular culture

* ''Umi Yukaba'' is also the name of a 1983 Japanese film. * "Umi Yukaba" is featured in the 1970 film, ''

Tora! Tora! Tora! ''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' ( ja, トラ・トラ・トラ！) is a 1970 epic war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The film was produced by Elmo Williams and directed by Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda and Kinji ...

''.

References

External links

Umi Yukaba
from ''Victory in the Pacific'', PBS documentary on World War II
Kiyoshi Nobutoki Research guide
in Japanese only
Nihonkai daikaisen: Umi yukaba
from IMDB

account of an elderly Chamorro man singing ''Umi yukaba'' Japanese poems Japanese songs Japanese patriotic songs Death in Japan 1937 songs Songs based on poems {{Japan-music-stub

History

Lyrics

In popular culture

See also

References

External links