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"Kimi Ga Yo" (May 1,000 Years of Happy Reign Be Yours) is the official
national anthem of Japan as was unofficial until 1999. It is in the form of
a Waka, an ancient Japanese style of poem, from the Heian period. The author
is unknown.
Lyrics (Phonetic Translation)
- Kimi ga yo wa
- Chiyo ni,
- Yachiyo ni
- Sazare ishi no,
- Iwao to narite,
- Koke no musu made.
Lyrics (English Translation)
- May my Lord's reign,
- Continue for a thousand,
- Eight thousand generations,
- Until pebbles
- Grow into boulders,
- Covered in moss.
Lyrics (Japanese)
- 君が代は
- 千代に
- 八千代に
- さざれ石の
- 巌となりて
- 苔の生すまで
There is a theory that this lyric was once a love poem.
In 1869 Oyama Iwao and other Satsuma military officers selected Kimi Ga
Yo as a national anthem and made an Englishman John William Fenton write
music for it. However, due to bad reputation, it was abandoned in 1876. The
present music was composed by Hayashi Hiromori in 1880.
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