Anti-war songs that pierce the heart: Japan’s masterpieces conveying prayers for peace
Music sometimes has the power to move people’s hearts and exert a great influence on society.
Among such works, anti-war songs imbued with wishes for peace have appealed across generations, conveying both the horrors of war and the preciousness of peace to many.
The anti-war songs etched into Japan’s musical history contain profound messages that we who live today must never forget.
In this article, we highlight Japanese anti-war songs—focusing mainly on popular Japanese music—and explain the backgrounds of the tracks and the sentiments embedded in their lyrics.
We invite you to take this opportunity to reflect anew on war and peace.
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[Anti-war songs that pierce the heart] Prayers for peace conveyed by Japan’s masterpieces (41–50)
The world calls it love.Sambomasutā
This one song by the rock band Sambomaster, where they shout love and peace with everything they’ve got.
The lineage of LOVE & PEACE from John Lennon is carried straight into a gritty modern rock sound—the lyrics are unbelievably cool.
Their wholehearted performance singing about love and peace is deeply moving, making it a song with a powerful message.
Antiwar Songs That Pierce the Heart: Japanese Classics Conveying Prayers for Peace (51–60)
a pencilMisora Hibari
A quintessential anti-war song of the Showa era, released in 1974.
It’s a classic that continues to be sung at the Hiroshima Peace Music Festival.
There aren’t many songs that convey an anti-war message so simply and directly.
I really hope you listen closely to the lyrics.
Her voice seems to further convey the importance and poignancy of this song.
I want it to reach not only Japan, but people all over the world.
That’s the kind of song it is.
When the white lilies bloomAragaki Tsutomu
Released in 2005, this is an anti-war song written and composed by Kazufumi Miyazawa of THE BOOM.
The lyrics, carried by a gentle melody, convey a wish for peace born from tragic wartime experiences.
The sorrow of losing loved ones to war never fades.
This song reminds us that even today’s peaceful Japan has lived through war and overcome great sadness, and that we must not forget this.
Don’t make the one you love sing.Moriyama Ryoko
Lyrics and composition by Koichi Morita.
It’s said to have been created using Morita’s upbringing as a motif.
When Morita and Moriyama were performing concerts together for a long time, it was apparently their connection that he let Moriyama hear this song.
The sorrow of losing a father in the war is also expressed here.
The Vanished AugustSakushi: Eitani Atsuko / Sakkyoku: Kurosawa Yoshinori (Gasshōkyoku)
There are many choral pieces that take war as their theme, but “The Vanished August” is a choral work about the atomic bomb.
Dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki just before the end of the Pacific War, the bombs claimed countless lives and caused immense devastation.
The lyrics of “The Vanished August,” which sing of the moment of the bombing and its aftermath, convey a raw and powerful message.
It is something we must never look away from; we must face it and pass it on to future generations.
If you’re unsure what to choose for a choral competition, I encourage you to sing “The Vanished August.”
Suzukake Street, 3-chomeTaniyama Hiroko
Hiroko Taniyama, a singer-songwriter known for her fantastical worldbuilding.
“Suzukake-dori 3-chome,” included on her 1977 album I Can’t Return to the Cats’ Forest, appears to have been inspired by Kimiko Aman’s children’s story The Color of the Car Is the Color of the Sky.
It’s a gently seeping song whose melody accompanies a parent’s thoughts of a deceased child, as memories vividly revive in a place of remembrance and are wrapped in a bittersweet ache.
Though never stated outright, the inclusion of wartime radio audio evokes an antiwar message.
Precisely because the scars carved by war can never be erased, the song also prompts us to reflect on the importance of caution.
Becoming a Thousand WindsAkiyama Masashi
Masafumi Akikawa’s song “Sen no Kaze ni Natte” (“A Thousand Winds”).
The song was also performed at the 2006 NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, and its lyrics carry a profoundly memorable message.
While it’s known for its famous melody and lyrics sung in a low register, a deeper reading of the words reveals a song imbued with compassion for the course of a human life.