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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.

Soldiers in Black Clothes (Kuroi obebe no heitaisan): Song from the Shôchiku movie A Corner of Great Tokyo (Dai Tokyo no ikkaku no naka no uta)


Shôchiku Harmonica Music Sheet (Shôchiku hȃmonika gakufu) No. 9
松竹ハーモニカ楽譜 九番 黒いおべべの兵隊さん、松竹映画「大東京の一角」中の唄」
Designer: Artist unknown, Japanese
Composer: Seki Shinji (Japanese, dates unknown)
Lyricist: Gosho Heinosuke (Japanese, 1902 – 1981)
Publisher: Shôchiku kinema gakufu shuppan sha (Japanese)
Japanese
Shôwa era
1930 (Shôwa 5), May 10

Medium/Technique Color lithograph; ink on paper
Dimensions Height x width: 26.2 × 19.1 cm (10 5/16 × 7 1/2 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Mary and Robert Levenson
Accession Number2023.1117
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical scores

DescriptionTranslation of lyrics from Japanese, by Kuniko and Kendall Brown:
"Soldiers in Black Clothes
Passing by, passing by, soldiers
In black clothes, big ants small ants
The spirited butterflies, are dancing
But they carry sugar, one two three.
Running, running, big ants small ants
Even the girls, are all in black
The fashionable crickets, are singing
But they carry sugar, one two three.
Rushing, rushing, the tower of ants
Before winter comes, in white clothes,
In shiny sunshine, they are smiling,
But they carry sugar, one two three."
ProvenanceBy 2019, Mary and Robert Levenson, Belleair, FL; 2023, gift of Mary and Robert Levenson to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 2023)