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大東亜決戦の歌
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Song of the Decisive Battle of Greater East Asia (Daitôa kessen no uta)
大東亜決戦の歌
Designer: Artist unknown, Japanese
Composer: Kaigun gungaku tai (the Navy Band)
Arranger: Miyata Tōhō (Japanese, 1898 – 1986)
Publisher: Shinkō ongaku shuppansha
Composer: Kaigun gungaku tai (the Navy Band)
Arranger: Miyata Tōhō (Japanese, 1898 – 1986)
Publisher: Shinkō ongaku shuppansha
Japanese
Shôwa era
1942 (Shôwa 17), February 5
Medium/Technique
Color lithograph; ink on paper
Dimensions
Height x width: 24.6 × 17.8 cm (9 11/16 × 7 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mary and Robert Levenson
Accession Number2023.1190
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical scores
DescriptionTranslation of lyrics from Japanese, by Kuniko and Kendall Brown:
"A triumphant shout in the Pacific Ocean
Rising up immediately at the destruction of
The hundred-year incursion of East Asia
That criminal ambition overturned here
Now comes the time for the decisive battle.
From furious conquest by Imperial forces
Gunfire roars in Greater East Asia
Human bullets must succeed the first time
No regrets at dying is the Japanese spirit
Now comes the time for absolute loyalty.
Gaze upon the shining Imperial nation,
Its great resolve to protect its history
The battlefront and homefront in unison
Flaring and roaring with this step forward,
Now comes the time of the rich country.
Now let’s carry out the great mission
The establishment of Asia of one billion
Determined punishment, majestically
Attaining justice with an iron-stone will,
Now comes the time of the decisive battle."
"A triumphant shout in the Pacific Ocean
Rising up immediately at the destruction of
The hundred-year incursion of East Asia
That criminal ambition overturned here
Now comes the time for the decisive battle.
From furious conquest by Imperial forces
Gunfire roars in Greater East Asia
Human bullets must succeed the first time
No regrets at dying is the Japanese spirit
Now comes the time for absolute loyalty.
Gaze upon the shining Imperial nation,
Its great resolve to protect its history
The battlefront and homefront in unison
Flaring and roaring with this step forward,
Now comes the time of the rich country.
Now let’s carry out the great mission
The establishment of Asia of one billion
Determined punishment, majestically
Attaining justice with an iron-stone will,
Now comes the time of the decisive battle."
ProvenanceBy 2019, Mary and Robert Levenson, Belleair, FL; 2023, gift of Mary and Robert Levenson to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 2023)