Teiichi Okano

Teiichi Okano (1878-1941)

Teiichi Okano (Japanese: 岡野おかの貞一さだいち Okano Teiichi; 16 February 1878, Tottori, Tottori, Japan – 29 December 1941) was a Japanese composer.

Selected works

Popular songs

• "Furusato" (故郷こきょう) (1914)
• "Haru ga kita" (春はるが来きた) (1910)
• "Haru no ogawa" (春はるの小川おがわ) (1912)
• "Hinomaru no hata" (日ひの丸まるの旗はた) (1911)
• "Momiji" (もみじ) (1911)
• "Oborozuki yo" (朧おぼろ月夜つきよ; "Dark Moon Night") for soprano, flute and harp (1914)
• Momotarō's song (1911)

Oborozuki yo

Oborozuki yo (朧おぼろ月夜つきよ; "Dark Moon Night") is a song composed by Teiichi Okano with lyrics by Tatsuyuki Takano. The song was written to pass down the Japanese landscape to posterity. In 1914, the song appeared in the list of "Jinjo Elementary School Songs for 6th-grade," to be taught in the Japanese public school system. It is still sung to this day.

Japanese

１．

菜なの花はな畠ばたけに、入日いりひ薄うすれ、

見みわたす山やまの端は、霞かすみふかし。

春風しゅんぷうそよふく、空そらを見みれば、

夕ゆう月がつかかりて、にほひ淡あわし。

２．

里さとわの火影ほかげも、森もりの色いろも、

田中たなかの小路こうじをたどる人ひとも、

蛙かえるのなくねも、かねの音おとも、

さながら霞かすめる　朧月夜おぼろづきよ。

Translation

1.

Evening sun goes down in a mustard field.

When I look out over mountain ridges, they are veiled in dense mist.

I feel the spring breeze and I look up at the sky.

Then, the evening moon rises high and it is colored softly.

2.

The lamps of a village, green of the forest,

people who walk along a path between rice paddies,

croaking of a frog and the sound of a temple bell

everything is shrouded in mist on a hazy moonlit night.