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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.

Theme song from the Nikkatsu movie Shin Tōkyō kōshinkyoku (New Tokyo March) (Shin Tôkyô kôshinkyoku: Eiga shudaika)


New Tokyo March, Theme Song from the Nikkatsu Film (Shin Tokyo koshinkyoku, Nikkatsu eiga shudaika)
Japan Victor Special Selection Music Sheet (Nihon Bikutȃ chôtokusen gakufu) No. 4
日活映画主題歌 新東京行進曲
Designer: Saitô Kazô (Japanese, 1887 – 1955)
Lyricist: Saijô Yaso (Japanese, 1892 – 1970)
Composer: Nakayama Shinpei (Japanese, 1887 – 1952)
Publisher: Vikutȃ shuppansha (Japanese)
Japanese
Shôwa era
1930 (Shôwa 5), November 5

Medium/Technique Color lithograph; ink on paper
Dimensions Height x width: 31.3 × 45.7 cm (12 5/16 × 18 in.) (open)
Height x width: 31.3 × 22.9 cm (12 5/16 × 9 in.) (closed)
Credit Line Gift of Mary and Robert Levenson
Accession Number2023.1162
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical scores

DescriptionTranslation of lyrics from Japanese, by Kuniko and Kendall Brown:
"Unconsciously lured by the ‘neon signs’
Today too on Ginza’s ‘asphalt’ streets;
If I see her it’s torture, if not it’s sadness
A ‘cocktail’ of love and rumination.
Tokyo’s expressway of love
The intersection of meeting and parting;
Line 1 on the right, line 2 (nigō) on the left
That girl passes by, so too the number two (nigō).
At much-talked-about Kagurazaka
Tonight torrents of people for Tiger-Bisha day;*
Rubbing sleeves with cute apprentice geisha
The flowers of a just bought potted flower scatter.
Samurai films yesterday, ‘erotic revues’ today
‘Modern’ Asakusa ‘nonsense;’
That beauty of leg lines in the swirl of ‘jazz’
Tossing “it,”** night falls"

* The Tiger-Bishamon festival at Zenkokuji.
** Sex appeal as in Clara Bow, the “It Girl.”
Marks “S Kazō” at lower right
ProvenanceBy 2019, Mary and Robert Levenson, Belleair, FL; 2023, gift of Mary and Robert Levenson to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 2023)