Various -- Fuji no Yama（ふじの山）

 

Well, this one crept on me fairly quickly. I guess it's because this week at least is part of the O-Bon Holiday season but I had completely forgotten that August 11th is Mountain Day in Japan, a national holiday.

Of course, folks visited their nearby mountains. My old English conversation circle's members are all mountain-hiking enthusiasts although I'm glad that none of them invited me to any of their journeys up the slopes. My heart would have exploded.😨

So, on this Mountain Day, I went searching for whether there was a song that commemorates the most famous mountain of them all in Japan. And sure enough, it didn't take long before I encountered "Fuji no Yama"（Mt. Fuji）which is also known as "Fuji-san"（富士山）.

Designated as a children's song sanctioned by the Ministry of Education, "Fuji no Yama" made its first appearance in a 1910 elementary school student book of songs. Although the composer remains unknown, the lyricist was Sazanami Iwaya（巖谷小波）who was also a children's book author and a scholar of German literature. The song of course proudly boasts of the magnificence of Japan's most famous peak.🗻 The translation below is from Google Translate.

Rising high above the clouds,

Looking down upon the surrounding peaks,

Hearing the thunder roll far below—

Mount Fuji is Japan's greatest mountain.

Towering high in the blue sky,

Clad in a robe of snow,

Trailing a hem of mist far into the distance—

Mount Fuji is Japan's greatest mountain.

In 2007, almost a century after the first appearance of the song, "Fuji no Yama" was accepted as one of the songs in Nihon no Uta Hyakusen（日本の歌百選...Collection of 100 Japanese Songs）. During the past century, it's been sung by various people and bands including school choruses. I did find this rather interesting take on "Fuji no Yama" by veteran vocal group Bonny Jacks（ボニージャックス）. Their soulful cover (I almost thought that they were going to be joined by a few Pips) comes from their 1997 album "Bonny Jacks no Nihon no Shouka"（ボニージャックスの日本の唱歌...The Songs of Japan by Bonny Jacks）.

Various -- Haru ga Kita （春がきた）

Spring has indeed come! For us here in Toronto, the temperatures are slowly rising up through the single digits and the clumps of dark (and other-coloured) snow are also gradually being absorbed into the ground or sublimating into the atmosphere. We may even hit the big 10-degree mark by Saturday! In Tokyo, they're already into the double digits and the cherry blossoms are starting to open up which means another O-hanami season. Of course, the cedar trees have also opened up, which means hay fever season as well. And I had a very congested Skype student to prove that.

Last year, I put up Candies' "Haru Ichiban"（春一番）, the seasonal classic by the big aidoru group of the early 1970s. Well today, I'm gonna put up the classic children's song, "Haru ga Kita" (Spring Has Come). Written by Tatsuyuki Takano（高野振之） and composed by Teiichi Okano（岡野貞一） in 1910, the song first appeared in the Ministry of Education's "Everyday Elementary School Textbook Songs", and over the century, it would become the customary thing to sing once March and April come around.

Of course, a ton of singers have crooned the children's classic. I just heard veteran actress-singer Chieko Baisho of "Tora-san" fame perform it on an NHK special just the other day. And then, there is UA's short-but-very-sweet performance. In the 1990s, she first showed her great chops as an R&B/pop singer, but some years later, she also gained fame lending her voice to children's songs. Her heartfelt version of "Haru ga Kita" first came to light almost a century after the song's first appearance in that elementary reader through a compilation album titled "Nihon no Uta Dai San Shuu"(にほんのうた第三集.....Songs of Japan, 3rd Collection).

In 2007, the "Nihon no Uta Hyakusen"（日本の歌百選), or "The Collection of 100 Japanese Songs" was announced for which "Haru ga Kita" was No. 79, ordered according to the Japanese syllabary.