[Songs Praying for Peace] To Prevent Repeating Tragic History | A Collection of Peace Songs That Resonate with the Heart
Songs of peace that resonate in our hearts in every era.
Many timeless classics that wish for a world without war or conflict and embody the preciousness of peace in song have long continued to stay close to people’s hearts.
In this article, we introduce songs—mainly from Japanese music—that are imbued with prayers and hopes for peace.
Powerful messages like “Don’t forget the painful history,” and warm sentiments such as “Let’s build a Japan and a world without conflict together.” You’re sure to find a message of peace that resonates with your heart.
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[Songs Wishing for Peace] To Prevent Repeating Tragic History | A Collection of Heart-Touching Peace Songs (11–20)
dogwood (flowering dogwood)Hitoto Yo
It’s one of Yo Hitoto’s signature songs, and the story that the lyrics were written in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks is well known.
Set to a gentle, soothing melody, the lyrics unfold like a prayer: “May happiness last long for the people we hold dear.” Listening to this song makes one feel strongly that wars and other conflicts should come to an end.
You can’t help but wish that people all over the world may spend happy times with their loved ones—and with themselves.
Looking up at the nameless skyMISIA
It’s a grand, MISIA-performed piece that feels like sending a wish up into the distant sky.
Koji Tamaki, who composed the song, also joins on chorus, and the blend of male and female vocals makes the track feel more familiar and intimate.
It expresses the joy of being able to spend time with someone dear, while also conveying a wish for peace so that everyone around the world can be with their loved ones.
It’s a gentle yet powerful song, as if casting a grand wish toward the sky.
AlchemillaRīgaru Rirī
No matter how harsh the reality may be, I at least hope peaceful sleep will come.
This work feels like a requiem, a heartfelt prayer that gently enfolds the listener’s heart.
Legal Lily’s soothing guitar sound and Honoka Takahashi’s clear, translucent vocals quietly keep you company on a still night.
Released in November 2021 as their second single, it was selected as the ending theme for the second cour of the TV anime 86 -Eighty Six-.
When your heart is worn down by sorrowful events, listening to this song will surely fill you with a warm feeling that wishes for someone’s peace.
If only it could be summer foreverMinami Kōsetsu
This is a masterpiece in which Kōsetsu Minami’s gentle singing voice and the warm tone of his acoustic guitar sink deeply into the heart.
Created as the theme song for the Hiroshima Peace Concert held in 1992, it was later included on CD for the first time in the best album “50 Songs of Kōsetsu Minami.” Depicting serene scenes of everyday summer life as a symbol of peace that must never be lost, the piece carries a quiet yet powerful prayer not to repeat tragic history and to pass hope on to the future.
It is a song that warmly stays by your side when you quietly wish for peace in the world.
Dragon NightSEKAI NO OWARI
A single by SEKAI NO OWARI released in 2014 that became a hit.
Conceived as early as their outdoor live show “Fire and Forest Carnival,” this song lets you feel SEKAI NO OWARI’s signature sense of fantasy in a more tangible, warm way.
It evokes an image of everyone around the world partying and having fun together.
Battles will end someday, and we’ll become friends.
I feel it carries thoughts not only about war but about all kinds of conflicts.
Even if we’re at odds, on certain days we can join hands and stand together.
I hope the flame born in moments like that will keep burning forever.
decoy (sacrificial pawn)THE BLUE HEARTS
A song by THE BLUE HEARTS that hurls a scathing message over a driving punk sound.
Using the word “sacrificial pawn” to depict the absurdity of individuals being sacrificed for great powers, it voices a strong indignation toward an atmosphere that threatens peace.
Released in February 1993, this track opens the album “STICK OUT,” which topped the charts.
With deliberately paradoxical phrasing that confronts us with the ruthlessness of war and the preciousness of life by questioning the logic of sacrifice, its shocking content still shakes the heart today.
When you feel anger at society’s injustices, listening to it will push you to think more deeply about the meaning of peace.
[Songs Praying for Peace] To Prevent Repeating Tragic History | A Collection of Heart-Touching Peace Songs (21–30)
Blue EarthHY
This is a gentle song by HY, a band from Okinawa, that expresses a wish for world peace and conveys how heartbreaking war is.
When conflicts break out between nations, even uninvolved people and children can be caught up in them.
The song expresses a desire for a peaceful world so that no sad events befall children, and it encourages extending a helping hand to those who have faced tragedy.
It carries a powerful message that can inspire listeners to think about what they themselves can do to help bring about a peaceful world.