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CLASSICS — BEYOND THE HYAKUNIN ISSHU

Kagerō

“First Light”Source: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (Man'yōshū I · 48)
東の 野にかぎろひの 立つ見えて
かへり見すれば 月かたぶきぬ
Himugashi no no ni kagiroi no tatsu miete
kaerimi sureba tsuki katabukinu
Out on the eastern fields, the first light of dawn rises trembling —
and when I look back, the moon is sinking low.
Kagerō jacket art

Music Video

ミュージックビデオ

The Story

歌のものがたり
At the end of the Asuka period, the young Prince Karu — soon to be Emperor Monmu — camped on the hunting grounds his late father had loved, and the court poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro caught the moment: dawn light trembling up from the eastern fields, the moon sinking in the west. The rising sun is the young prince's age to come; the setting moon, the father who is gone. Our song swells that celestial image into a story of remembrance and succession — 'a thousand years from now, I will still be thinking of you.'

Lyrics

歌詞
Japanese

あの日この野で 君は弓を引いた

若き日の主 愛しき君よ

篝火を囲み 笑い合ったあの夜

もう還らぬと 知りながら来た

寒き夜を明かし 御子の傍らに

父に瓜二つの 横顔を見る

私の涙 草の露に紛れさせて

東の空を 仰いでいる

東の野に かぎろひの立つ

振り返れば 月かたぶきぬ

昇る光は 御子の御世

かたぶく月は あなたの面影

私は ここに立ち尽くす

あなたが居た場所に 今日も僕は立つ

受け継いだ言葉 胸に抱きしめて

夜を越えた者だけ 知る光がある

失って初めて 見える景色

君の面影は 月に似て静か

僕の行く先を 照らしてくれる

振り返ることは 弱さじゃないと

今ようやく 分かりはじめた

東の空に かぎろひの立つ

かへり見すれば 月かたぶく

昇る日を浴びて 歩き出す

かたぶく月に 君を見ている

喪って なお生きてゆく

東の野に かぎろひの立つ見えて

かへり見すれば 月かたぶきぬ

亡き君よ 御子は今 弓を構える

あなたの血を継ぐ その若き手で

東に 日は昇り

西に 月はかたぶく

過ぎし日よ さらば

されど私 忘れじ

東の 野に立ちて

千年の後も 君を想う

English

That day, in this field, you drew your bow

my lord of those young days, my beloved one

that night we circled the watchfires and laughed together

I came here knowing you would never return

Through the cold night till dawn, beside the young prince

I gaze at his profile, the image of his father

letting my tears blend into the dew on the grass

I look up at the eastern sky

In the eastern fields, the dawn light rises

and looking back, the moon has sunk low

the rising light is the young prince's coming reign

the sinking moon, the memory of your face

and I stand here, rooted, unable to move

In the place where you once stood, today I stand again

holding to my heart the words you left to me

there's a light only those who've crossed the night can know

a landscape you see only once you've lost

Your remembered face is quiet, like the moon

and it lights the road that lies ahead of me

that to look back is not a weakness after all

at last I am beginning to understand

In the eastern sky, the dawn light rises

and when I look back, the moon sinks low

bathed in the rising sun, I start to walk

in the sinking moon, I see you still

having lost you, still I go on living

In the eastern fields, I see the dawn light rise

and when I look back, the moon has sunk low

My departed lord — the prince now sets his bow

with those young hands that carry on your blood

In the east, the sun climbs up

in the west, the moon sinks down

days now gone, farewell

and yet I will never forget

standing here in the eastern field

even a thousand years from now, I will think of you

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