is a well-known 1914 Japanese children's song, with music by Teiichi Okano and lyrics by .
Although Takano's hometown was Nakano, Nagano, his lyrics do not seem to refer to a particular place."100 years of Furusato", Sankei Shinbun, p1, Oct 9, 2014 Instead, they describe a person who is working in a distant land, expressing his feelings of nostalgia for the hills and fields of his childhood home.
Background The Japanese government has designated Furusato as a Japanese children's song to be taught in the Japanese public school system, and the song has also been included in the recent popular song collection known as Nihon no Uta Hyakusen.
The composer and the writer of the song were unknown until the 1970s. Since 1992, however, the names of both Teiichi Okano and Tatsuyuki Takano have been printed with the song in Japanese music textbooks.
At the closing ceremony of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, the song was played, and in 2014, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Furusato, the song was performed by children's chorus with orchestral accompaniment at the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto in Nagano, under the direction of Seiji Ozawa.
Plácido Domingo, one of The Three Tenors, sang the song in Japanese at his concert that held in NHK hall on April 10, 2011.
Lyrics Standard Hiragana Romaji Translationusagi oishi ka no yama ko-buna tsurishi ka no kawa yume wa ima mo megurite wasure-gataki furusato
ika ni imasu chichi-haha tsutsuganashi ya tomogaki ame ni, kaze ni tsukete mo omoi-izuru furusato
kokorozashi o hata shite itsu no hi ni ka kaeran yama wa aoki furusato mizu wa kiyoki furusatoI chased after rabbits on that mountain. I fished for minnow in that river. I still dream of those days even now Oh, how I miss my old country home.
Father and mother―are they doing well? Is everything well with my old friends? When the rain falls, when the wind blows, I stop and recall of my old country home.
Some day when I have done what I set out to do, I'll return home one of these days Where the mountains are green, my old country home, Where the waters are clear, my old country home.
English version The song was translated into English by Greg Irwin and this was published in the album called "Japan's Best Loved Songs of the Season" in 1998.Best loved songs Amazon This version was also performed by Lexi Walker.
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