Spring songs from the early Showa era: a collection of kayōkyoku and shōka that evoke spring
When you hear “spring,” what songs come to mind?In the early Showa era, spanning from before to after the war, many popular songs, school songs, and children’s songs were created that delicately captured the changing seasons.In this special feature, we present a rich selection of songs and school songs about spring from that time.Some of the linked audio-video materials use original recordings from the era, so please savor the spring air of those days along with the retro sound.We hope you enjoy a gentle springtime, humming along to these nostalgic melodies.
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Spring songs from the early Showa era. A collection of popular songs and school songs that evoke spring (51–60)
Spring NightMiyagi Michio
This piece beautifully portrays a scene where the pure tones of the koto reverberate through a spring evening wrapped in silence.
Released in 1914 (Taisho 3), it is known as a masterpiece of Japanese music composed by Michio Miyagi at the young age of twenty.
It delicately depicts a man, guided by the sound of the koto on a night scented with white plum blossoms, experiencing a fleeting encounter with a beautiful woman.
The melodies Miyagi wove after overcoming blindness gracefully express the quiet of a spring night and the subtleties of the human heart, opening a new horizon for traditional Japanese music.
This work is recommended for those who wish to feel the changing seasons of Japan and the nuances of emotion.
On a tranquil spring night, why not surrender yourself to the harmonies of koto and shakuhachi?
Spring is still young.Arishima Michio
“Spring, Still Shallow,” which incorporates a song that appears in Takuboku Ishikawa’s short story The Clouds Are Geniuses, is a piece created as the theme song for the 1936 film The Passionate Poet Takuboku: Hometown Chapter.
Takuboku, a leading poet and tanka composer of the Meiji era who died at the young age of 26, is central to its inspiration.
The music was composed by Masao Koga, one of Japan’s most celebrated national composers, and performed by Michio Arima.
In fact, the song is said to be an arrangement of a dormitory song Koga had worked on in the past, which explains why traces of the original’s atmosphere remain.
Sakura, sakurashouka
When you think of spring, isn’t the first thing that comes to mind cherry blossoms? There are many other famous flowers, but when you close your eyes, what you picture behind your eyelids is a row of cherry trees in bloom.
And this piece, “Sakura Sakura,” is a quintessential Japanese song—a classic sakura song.
It’s also well known as a practice piece for the koto.
You often hear it as background music in scenes meant to symbolize Japan.
It seems that the lyrics were a bit different before 1941, and singing it with the old lyrics can be fun too.
It’s a song that represents Japan’s beautiful four seasons—especially spring.
Happy Hinamatsuri
In 2006, in Japan, 101 songs selected from children’s songs, school songs, and popular songs—chosen by the Agency for Cultural Affairs with the aim of being passed down between parents and children for generations—were announced as the “100 Selections of Japanese Songs.” The piece introduced in this article, “Ureshii Hinamatsuri,” is one of those 101 selections.
It hardly needs explanation as it is a famous children’s song that everyone has heard.
Released in 1935 as a children’s song with lyrics by Hachiro Sato and music by Chokurei Kawamura, “Ureshii Hinamatsuri,” as its title suggests, is themed around the Doll Festival (Hinamatsuri).
Interestingly, despite its lyrics evoking the joy and sentiment of spending a delightful time during Hinamatsuri, the song is set primarily in minor keys—what is commonly called a “minor mode.” It is also true that the lyrics contain some inaccurate depictions of actual Hina dolls.
Nevertheless, the excellence of the composition remains unchanged, which is why, as mentioned at the beginning, it continues to be loved as one of Japan’s representative spring children’s songs.
Sakura DōjōjiMikado Junko
Released in 1937 by Junko Mikado, it became a hit song.
“Dōjōji-mono” refers to works based on the legend of Anchin and Kiyohime—a popular theme featured in Noh, Kabuki, and Japanese dance.
The legend goes like this: Kiyohime falls in love at first sight with the traveling monk Anchin, but when her feelings are not returned, she transforms into a great serpent and, in the end, burns Anchin to death—a terrifying yet single-minded tale of love.
For a moment, place yourself in this dramatic theater of love, raging and in full bloom amid a flurry of cherry blossoms, and listen, quietly and intently.
