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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.

Nikkatsu Movie Theme Song: Song of Tōjin Okichi, the volume of the Black Ship (Nikkatsu eiga shudaika, Tōjin Okichi no uta, Kurofune hen)


唐人お吉の唄 黒船編
Designer: Imai Hisamaro (Japanese, dates unknown)
Composer: Nakayama Shinpei (Japanese, 1887 – 1952)
Lyricist: Saijô Yaso (Japanese, 1892 – 1970)
Publisher: Aporo shuppansha (Japanese)
Japanese
Shôwa era
1930 (Shôwa 5), February 1

Medium/Technique Color lithograph; ink on paper
Dimensions Height x width: 31.1 × 22.2 cm (12 1/4 × 8 3/4 in.) (closed)
Credit Line Gift of Mary and Robert Levenson
Accession Number2023.1172
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical scores

DescriptionTranslation of lyrics from Japanese, by Kuniko and Kendall Brown:
"Even the cry of the beach plover
Recalls the voice of Okichi
Because of the Black Ship of Shimoda Port
The Dawn Crow sings in tears. Ah yes.
The black ship of love, thinner than smoke
The transient love of a one-night-wife,
Dearest Okichi, she frequents the ‘consul’ with
Side-worn boxwood comb, washed hair. As yes.
Rain, falling, falling, fall in America
Still this sleeve pocket will not dry,
Will it darken today too, the sea of Shimoda?
The color of waves like blue eyes. Ah yes."
Marks “Hisamaro” at bottom left
ProvenanceBy 2019, Mary and Robert Levenson, Belleair, FL; 2023, gift of Mary and Robert Levenson to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 2023)