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Shinkô Music Sheet (Shinkô gakufu) No. 999
愛馬進軍歌
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Beloved Horse Marching Song (Aiba shingunka)
Shinkô Music Sheet (Shinkô gakufu) No. 999
愛馬進軍歌
Designer: Artist unknown, Japanese
Composer: Rikugunshô (Ministry of the Army)
Arranger: Miyata Tōhō (Japanese, 1898 – 1986)
Lyricist: Rikugunshô (Ministry of the Army)
Publisher: Shinkō ongaku shuppansha
Composer: Rikugunshô (Ministry of the Army)
Arranger: Miyata Tōhō (Japanese, 1898 – 1986)
Lyricist: Rikugunshô (Ministry of the Army)
Publisher: Shinkō ongaku shuppansha
Japanese
Shôwa era
1939 (Shôwa 14), February 20
Medium/Technique
Color lithograph; ink on paper
Dimensions
Height x width: 25.9 × 18.1 cm (10 3/16 × 7 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mary and Robert Levenson
Accession Number2023.1196
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical scores
DescriptionTranslation of lyrics from Japanese, by Kuniko and Kendall Brown:
"Since leaving home, how many months?
To death together, with this horse
Attack and advance, mountains and rivers
Holding the bridle, blood flows.
At a pillbox, taken yesterday
At today’s nap, loud snoring
My horse soundly, did it sleep?
Tomorrow’s battle, will be tough.
A rain of bullets falls, a muddy stream
Depending on you, I survived
I did my duty, at that time
While crying, I feed you.
Wearing an amulet, of a comfort bag
It fights, this chestnut horse
Covered in dirt, up to an unshaven face
Why so attached, moving your face closer?
Nor for show, I carry this sword
To be first to charge, and plunge it in
How brittle, the enemy lines
My horse whinnies, a cry of triumph.
On your back, the Hinomaru flag
Enters a fortress, this victory!
Equal to a soldier, your splendid
Service, forever remembered."
"Since leaving home, how many months?
To death together, with this horse
Attack and advance, mountains and rivers
Holding the bridle, blood flows.
At a pillbox, taken yesterday
At today’s nap, loud snoring
My horse soundly, did it sleep?
Tomorrow’s battle, will be tough.
A rain of bullets falls, a muddy stream
Depending on you, I survived
I did my duty, at that time
While crying, I feed you.
Wearing an amulet, of a comfort bag
It fights, this chestnut horse
Covered in dirt, up to an unshaven face
Why so attached, moving your face closer?
Nor for show, I carry this sword
To be first to charge, and plunge it in
How brittle, the enemy lines
My horse whinnies, a cry of triumph.
On your back, the Hinomaru flag
Enters a fortress, this victory!
Equal to a soldier, your splendid
Service, forever remembered."
ProvenanceBy 2019, Mary and Robert Levenson, Belleair, FL; 2023, gift of Mary and Robert Levenson to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 2023)