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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.

Is Sake Tears or Sighs? (Sake wa namida ka tameiki ka)


白眉超特選楽譜No.109 酒は泪か溜息か
Designer: Artist unknown, Japanese
Composer: Koga Masao (Japanese, 1904 – 1978)
Lyricist: Takahashi Kikutarô (Japanese, 1901 – 1970)
Publisher: Hakubi shuppansha (Japanese)
Japanese
Shôwa era
1931 (Shôwa 6), November 13

Medium/Technique Color lithograph; ink on paper
Dimensions Height x width: 26.5 × 19.4 cm (10 7/16 × 7 5/8 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Mary and Robert Levenson
Accession Number2023.1107.1-2
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical scores

DescriptionTranslation of lyrics from Japanese, by Kuniko and Kendall Brown:
“Is Sake Tears or Sighs?
Is sake tears or is it sighs?
There we discard the heart’s gloom
The bonds of love for the person who
Comes in nightly dreams of heartbreak
Is sake tears or is it sighs?
There we discard sad love
For the person we should forget
What becomes of a remaining heart?"

ProvenanceBy 2019, Mary and Robert Levenson, Belleair, FL; 2023, gift of Mary and Robert Levenson to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 2023)