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

Pacific MarchWatanabe Hamako

Pacific March - Hamako Watanabe

I wonder if many people in the armed forces also admired the navy.

I sense a feeling of claiming the Pacific as our sea and forging ahead across it.

Perhaps because this song was loved as a national popular tune, it doesn’t feel out of place to hear it sung by a woman like Ms.

Watanabe, even though it’s a military song.

Restoration March ~Miya-san, Miya-san~Kingu dansei gasshoudan

[Military Song] Restoration March ~Miya-san Miya-san~

It’s bright and humorous, but it’s said to be Japan’s first military song, and indeed, if you look closely at the lyrics, it’s undeniably bellicose.

I’ve heard that “Miya-san” refers to Prince Arisugawa, and I’m a bit surprised that even in those days they felt free to make light of him so casually.

Militarist Lullabyshiomazaru

Militaristic Lullaby (Masaru Shio) 1972

A mother is singing to her little boy a lullaby about his father, a soldier stationed in Manchuria.

She sings of an unwaveringly valiant father, as if teaching the child about his father’s strength and Japan’s strength.

It feels a bit heartbreaking to imagine that this child, too, will one day be sent to the front.

Little Cedar of the MountainAnzai Aiko · hoka

Little Cedar of the Mountain

I heard it a long time ago, and the sun is speaking humorously to a young cedar, so I never thought it was a military song.

I’ve heard it was a song meant to encourage children who had lost their fathers in the war.

It tells the story of a small child who was laughed at by other trees but grows into a splendid cedar, and the way it proves useful is so moving that I can’t listen without tears.

sinking with a bang; total destruction (esp. of a warship)kyū kaigun gungakutai yūshi

“Military Song” Sunk with a Roar (Gōchin)

I learned that it means to be sunk in an instant by shelling and the like, which was completely different from the carefree way the song is sung.

There are humorous parts in the lyrics as well.

I felt that singing as if one could be sunk so easily was a way of giving themselves courage.

Praying to the vast skyMatsubara Misao, hoka

Praying to the vast sky

It was said to be a mother’s prayer song, so I thought it expressed the shared feelings of many mothers.

But the sad part is that the prayer is not for her son’s safety, but for him to achieve glory.

Saying she’s hiding her true feelings is something only those of us who don’t know war in our time can say, but it is a song from a sorrowful era.

Song of the Great Air FleetNoriaki Fujii · Shizuko Chiba

Song of the Great Air (Noriaki Fujii & Shizuko Chiba)

The melody has a somewhat similar feel to radio calisthenics.

However, the lyrics are divine in nature.

As expected, the sky is an “eagle,” with repeated mentions of wings, wings, and a sense of pressing forward—small Japan moving out into the world—expressing hope.

It is a stern lesson for the youth.