Oboro zukiyo

“Oboro … Hazy Moonlit Nights”… On a spring night, when you look up at the sky in a field of rape blossoms as dusk approaches, you can see the moon dimly appearing and disappearing in the thin clouds…. Such a moon is called “Oborozuki,” and it is a tasteful symbol representative of Japan.

TAKANO_Tatsuyuki, a well-known lyricist and Japanese literature scholar, was born in Toyoda Village (now Nakano City), Nagano Prefecture, and spent some time as an elementary school teacher in neighboring Iiyama City. The entire Hokushin region of Nagano Prefecture, which includes Iiyama and Nakano cities, has been a thriving rapeseed cultivation area since the Edo period (1603-1867), and fields of rape blossoms spread all over the area in spring, and it is a common theory that Takano used this scene as the motif for Oboro Gassho-yoru. However, rapeseed oil is grown all over Japan, and it is said that Takano was reminded of his hometown in Yoyogi Uehara, Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, where he spent his later years, and wrote about the rape fields there. In Nozawa onsen Village, Nagano Prefecture, there is a memorial museum, “Oboro Tsukiyo no Yakata HANZAN Bunko,” named after TAKANO’s pen name, HANZAN.

By the way, the hot springs in Nozawa onsen are great, you should definitely go there.

Incidentally, the word “oboro” means unclear or vague in outline. The Japanese people’s “fondness for ambiguity” may be reflected in such products as “oboro-dofu,” which is still popular today for its soft texture of tofu scooped out before it hardens.

It has been selected as one of the “100 Best Japanese Songss.