Just as the swift current, split in two by a rock, joins together again downstream, so we, though parted now, will surely meet again.
Retired Emperor Sutoku was a tragic sovereign who, defeated in the Hōgen Rebellion (1156), was exiled to Sanuki and died there, longing for a return to the capital that never came. After his death his bitterness was passed down in legend to such a degree that he is counted among Japan's three great vengeful spirits. He is also the subject of the rakugo tale "Sutoku-in," and as the one-syllable card "se" his poem is among the best known to competitive karuta players.
Even when a river's current is split in two by a rock, in the end it will surely become one again—"Though parted, in the end we shall meet, I believe" is a declaration of will, a refusal ever to give up, addressed to a lover torn away, or perhaps to his own torn destiny. And the man himself ended his life across the sea, without ever being reunited with anyone.
Sutoku, who wrote "though parted, in the end we shall meet, I believe," ended his life across the sea without ever meeting anyone again. So in this song we let two people of today achieve the reunion he could not—the structure of a reply poem to the original. The heart of it is the moment when the resolve of "we shall meet" turns, in the final chorus, into the fulfillment of "because we met." We wrote it believing that a single-mindedness beyond all reason shares the same body heat as the straight-ahead punch of youthful punk rock.
瀬をはやみ（崇徳院・百人一首77番）／ Garu JP
土手のさくらが 散りきった頃
君は遠くの 町へ行くと言った
川面を見つめて 黙り込む君に
「見てごらん」と 指をさした
岩にぶつかって 二つに分かれた
流れがまた ひとつになる
瀬をはやみ 岩にせかるる
滝川の水は 止められない
引き裂かれても 別々の道でも
流れの先で また会える
われても末に 逢はむとぞ思ふ
知らない街の 人混みの中
流されそうな 夜もあった
ポケットの中の 古い写真
あの日の川が 背中を押した
遠く離れた 空の下でも
同じ海へと 流れてる
瀬をはやみ 岩にせかるる
滝川の水は 止められない
早さも道も 違っていても
目指す海は ひとつだから
われても末に 逢はむとぞ思ふ
遠い昔に 海の向こうへ
流された人が いたという
帰りたい都に 帰れないまま
それでも「逢おう」と 歌に刻んだ
叶わなかった 約束が
時の川をくだり 今も光る
瀬をはやみ 岩にせかるる 滝川の
われても末に 逢はむとぞ思ふ
瀬をはやみ 岩にせかるる
滝川の水は 止められない
駆けてくる足音 振り向く前に
名前を呼ばれた あの日の声で
われても末に 逢はむとぞ思ふ
瀬をはやみ 岩にせかるる
ふたつの流れが いま重なる
君の右手と 僕の左手
われても末に 逢えたから
今日から先は ひとつの川
逢はむとぞ思ふ……
逢はむとぞ思ふ……
When the riverbank cherries had all fallen
You told me you were leaving for a faraway town
To you, staring silent at the river
I pointed and said, "Look —"
Split in two against the rock
The current becomes one again
The rapids run fast, blocked by the rock
No one can stop the cascading river
Torn apart, down separate roads
We'll meet again where the current leads
Though we are parted, I believe we will meet at last
In the crowds of a town I didn't know
There were nights I nearly got swept away
An old photograph in my pocket
That day's river pushed me on
Even under skies far apart
We're flowing toward the same sea
The rapids run fast, blocked by the rock
No one can stop the cascading river
Though our speed and our paths may differ
The sea we're bound for is one and the same
Though we are parted, I believe we will meet at last
Long ago, beyond the sea
There was a man swept into exile
Never to return to the capital he longed for
Yet he carved "we will meet" into a song
The promise that never came true
Rides down the river of time, still shining
The rapids run fast, blocked by the rock, the cascading river
Though we are parted, I believe we will meet at last
The rapids run fast, blocked by the rock
No one can stop the cascading river
Running footsteps — before I could turn
My name was called, in that same voice
Though we are parted, I believe we will meet at last
The rapids run fast, blocked by the rock
Two currents now flow into one
Your right hand and my left hand
Parted, and yet we met at last
From today on, a single river
I believe we will meet at last...
I believe we will meet at last...