Ware wa umi no ko - われは海の子 - Nostalgic Japanese Songs

Ware wa umi no ko

Ware wa umi no ko, shiranami no
Sawagu isobe no matsubara ni
Kemuri tanabiku tomaya koso
Waga natsukashiki sumika nare

Umarete shio ni yuami shite
Nami wo komori no uta to kiki
Senri yosekuru umi no ki wo
Suite warabe to narini keri

Takaku hanatsuku isono ka ni
Fudan no hana no kaori ari
Nagisa no matsu ni fuku kaze wo
Imijiki gaku to warewa kiku

Lyricist：MIYAHARA Kouichirou
Supplementary Lyricist：HAGA Yaichi
Composer：Unknown
in 1910

I am a child of the sea

I am a child of the sea,
In the pine forest on the side where white‐crested waves hit hard
The poor house where the smoke of cooking stands
It is my nostalgic house

I was born and washed my body in the sea water
The sound of the waves was a lullaby substitute
The power of the sea coming from the other side of a thousand miles
I spent my childhood while sucking in my heart

In the smell of a shore reef that stimulates the nose intensely
It smells like a flower that never dies
Wind blowing in the pine forest
I hear that it looks like a great music

utasuky

In 1910, after the Russo-Japanese War, “Ware wa Umi no Ko” was published in “Jinjou shougakkou tokuhon shouka”, a songbook for elementary school students at the time.

Russo-Japanese War (Public Domain)

Since the policy of the Ministry of Education at that time was not to reveal the author, the song was treated as “author unknown” for a while, but in the Heisei era, it became a common theory that the lyricist was MIYAHARA Kouichirou, based on the artifacts presented by the bereaved family.

showa beach

The song is recognized as a vivid portrayal of a boy born in a fishing village with a strong body and a tough spirit, as is typical of Japan, a maritime nation. The original lyrics go up to number 7, and numbers 4 through 7 depict a military man active on the sea. That part of the song was cut by GHQ after World War II, and it also disappeared from textbooks for a long time because the old-fashioned wording was difficult for children to understand. It was not until 1958 that it was revived. Of course, numbers 4 through 7 were not re-recorded.

Ware wa umi no koJinjyou shougakkou text book

In fact, according to the 2004 edition of Japan’s “Coastal Statistics,” the length of Japan’s coastline is 35,297 km, the sixth longest in the world. Moreover, it is characterized by a wide vertical range from the subarctic to the tropics, and a variety of oceanic landscapes can be seen. A sea of drifting ice. Colorful tropical fish dance in the sea. Japan’s food culture is also largely due to the benefits of the sea. When you visit a fishing village in each region, you can enjoy a variety of unique marine products. I wonder if the main character of this song was born and raised in a fishing village somewhere.