[Japanese Military Songs and Marches] A collection of famous Japanese pieces deeply etched in the hearts of the Showa and wartime generations

Pray at dawnAikawa Yumi

Pray at dawn

When I hear it sung by Ms.

Aikawa with her resonant voice, and especially in a female voice, instead of simply sounding like the brave march of military boots, a certain sadness seeps through and resonates in my heart.

Looking at the background, I think a female voice suits the content well.

The motif is a lynching of prisoners of war, which was even adapted into a film.

That too is heartrending.

Comrades-in-arms cherry blossomsTsuruta Koji

“Synchronized Cherry Blossoms” with lines/dialogue, by Koji Tsuruta — To the heroic spirits who fell in the great sky

With Mr.

Tsuruta’s lines included, it really sinks into the heart.

Because there’s an underlying premise of “cherry blossoms = falling,” it feels all the more sorrowful.

I had only the impression of military songs, so I thought he might be someone who glorifies war, but I came to feel that by speaking about the fallen, there is a sense of remembrance and mourning woven into it.

Camping SongMisora Hibari

Camp Song by Hibari Misora

The Rising Sun flag, the advance, the victory…

Even if it was an era dyed in a single color, being encouraged in a dream to die and come home is such a sorrowful song.

The young men in the song would still be high school students today.

Though it is a time of peace, they were slack—completely the opposite of now.

I sense the sad courage of those days, when one had to accept this as right.

Song of the Showa Restoration (Song of Young Japan)Roiyaru Naitsu

Song of Young Japan (Song of the Shōwa Restoration) [Full Version Sung]

It was released in the early Showa era and is said to have been passed down in song among the young officers involved in the May 15 Incident and the February 26 Incident.

The lyrics are quite difficult, so I don’t really understand them.

Is it saying that Japanese youth should be like this? I feel it’s a song with real backbone.

Ah, Divine Wind Special Attack UnitItō Hisao

Ah, Kamikaze Special Attack Unit – Hisao Itō

They are valiant lyrics.

Yet I think of the young men who steeled themselves, cast aside their fear of death, and rammed their planes into enemy ships.

Their resolve, their thoughts, the very moment of impact—when I reflect on these, sadness wells up at the pure hearts of those youths, along with the terror of the era that drove them to such acts.

I felt this is something we must know as history.

Wheat and SoldiersTōkairin Tarō

Wheat and Soldiers — Taro Shoji (with: Live Report from the Battle of Xuzhou)

It is said to be a song based on a novel by Hino Ashihei.

The content is apparently something that makes you want to look away, which likely expresses the cruelty of war.

In Taro Shoji’s calm voice, I sense a quiet love for the homeland rather than a triumphant military march.

Japan going to the seaNagata Genjirō・Nagato Miho

Japan Going to the Sea — Genjiro Nagata, Miho Nagato — Men's Choir

Depicting a Japanese man of the sea, his rugged spirit—like using the waves as a pillow—inevitably brings to mind the glamorous Navy.

The idea that Japan’s domination of the world would begin by venturing out onto the seas feels unsettling.

They were brimming with spirit, and must have had absolute confidence in raising the song of victory.