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Victor Harmonica Super Special Music Sheet (Vikutȃ hȃmonika chō tokusen gakufu) No.34
松竹楽劇 東京をどり主題歌 サクラ オンパレード
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Sakura on Parade from the musical Tokyo Dance (Tōkyō odori) (Gakugeki shudaika: Sakura on pareedo)
Victor Harmonica Super Special Music Sheet (Vikutȃ hȃmonika chō tokusen gakufu) No.34
松竹楽劇 東京をどり主題歌 サクラ オンパレード
Designer: Artist unknown, Japanese
Lyricist: Saijō Yaso (Japanese, 1892 – 1970)
Composer: Nakayama Shinpei (Japanese, 1887 – 1952)
Publisher: Bikutā shuppansha (Japanese)
Lyricist: Saijō Yaso (Japanese, 1892 – 1970)
Composer: Nakayama Shinpei (Japanese, 1887 – 1952)
Publisher: Bikutā shuppansha (Japanese)
Japanese
Shôwa era
1931 (Shôwa 6), May 15
Medium/Technique
Color lithograph; ink on paper
Dimensions
Height x width: 26.7 × 18.9 cm (10 1/2 × 7 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mary and Robert Levenson
Accession Number2023.1157.1-2
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical scores
DescriptionTranslation of lyrics from Japanese, by Kuniko and Kendall Brown:
“Despite the blooming cherries, girls of Japan
Why do you weep, on long-sleeved kimono?
And even on deer spot, long-sleeved kimono?
(Cherries blossom quickly, cherries fall quickly
Love too blossoms, it’s the spring thing.)
I’m not weeping for anything, on my sleeves
Spilling damply, a shower of blossoms
Parting this year, a shower of blossoms
(repeat chorus)
In the blossom shower, love’s path too is hazy
When you cry, with tears you become hazy
Which is it a flower, or a face?
(repeat chorus)
If you finally meet, it’s under the cherry tree
Shunning the public eye, in a shower of blossoms
The flowers will, prevent scandal
(repeat chorus)
For cherry viewing dances, hairpins are not needed
Scattered cherries, in black hair
Even if you try, you can’t keep love’s flower
(repeat chorus)
That flamboyant, cherry-pattern ‘cravat’
Which girl from where, gave it?
It matches somehow, and strikes my fancy.
(repeat chorus)
In spring flowers blossom, on the cherry trunks
Carve on them, your initials
How pitiable, a woman’s heart
(repeat chorus)
Love of nocturnal cherries, holding hands together
A cane between us, it’s becoming hard
Twisted and entangled, it’s becoming hard
(repeat chorus)
On a moonlight night of cherries, cigar smoke
Even for enduring love, it gets faint
As burns the spirit, so burns the flame
(repeat chorus)
Though we cut ties, attachment still lingers
Though flowers fall, fragrance yet lingers
Separating in tears, west and east
(repeat chorus)"
“Despite the blooming cherries, girls of Japan
Why do you weep, on long-sleeved kimono?
And even on deer spot, long-sleeved kimono?
(Cherries blossom quickly, cherries fall quickly
Love too blossoms, it’s the spring thing.)
I’m not weeping for anything, on my sleeves
Spilling damply, a shower of blossoms
Parting this year, a shower of blossoms
(repeat chorus)
In the blossom shower, love’s path too is hazy
When you cry, with tears you become hazy
Which is it a flower, or a face?
(repeat chorus)
If you finally meet, it’s under the cherry tree
Shunning the public eye, in a shower of blossoms
The flowers will, prevent scandal
(repeat chorus)
For cherry viewing dances, hairpins are not needed
Scattered cherries, in black hair
Even if you try, you can’t keep love’s flower
(repeat chorus)
That flamboyant, cherry-pattern ‘cravat’
Which girl from where, gave it?
It matches somehow, and strikes my fancy.
(repeat chorus)
In spring flowers blossom, on the cherry trunks
Carve on them, your initials
How pitiable, a woman’s heart
(repeat chorus)
Love of nocturnal cherries, holding hands together
A cane between us, it’s becoming hard
Twisted and entangled, it’s becoming hard
(repeat chorus)
On a moonlight night of cherries, cigar smoke
Even for enduring love, it gets faint
As burns the spirit, so burns the flame
(repeat chorus)
Though we cut ties, attachment still lingers
Though flowers fall, fragrance yet lingers
Separating in tears, west and east
(repeat chorus)"
ProvenanceBy 2019, Mary and Robert Levenson, Belleair, FL; 2023, gift of Mary and Robert Levenson to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 2023)