Elizabeth van Kampen
Aug 12, 2007, 16:08
Kimigayo wa
Chiyo ni yachiyo ni
Sazareishi no
Iwao to narite
Koke no musu made
In English May the reign of the Emperor continue for thousand, nay, eight thousand generations and for the eternity that it takes for small pebbles to grow into a great rock and become covered with moss.
====================
It was in the beginning of 1941 that I heard the "Kimigayo" for the first time. on Radio Malang, together with my mother while we were sitting in the living room, high in the mountains, on the ridge of the Semeru, East Java.
The radio announcer told us that this lovely peace of music was the Japanese national anthem. And they played it again.
Both my mother and I agreed that it was really beautiful.
I guess that the Kimigayo goes with the image of Japan I had once long ago when I was a teenager.
Chiyo ni yachiyo ni
Sazareishi no
Iwao to narite
Koke no musu made
In English May the reign of the Emperor continue for thousand, nay, eight thousand generations and for the eternity that it takes for small pebbles to grow into a great rock and become covered with moss.
====================
It was in the beginning of 1941 that I heard the "Kimigayo" for the first time. on Radio Malang, together with my mother while we were sitting in the living room, high in the mountains, on the ridge of the Semeru, East Java.
The radio announcer told us that this lovely peace of music was the Japanese national anthem. And they played it again.
Both my mother and I agreed that it was really beautiful.
I guess that the Kimigayo goes with the image of Japan I had once long ago when I was a teenager.