Tag: Japanese

Calendar Desktop Wallpaper: October 2010

未分類, Design, calendar, wallpaper

瀬を速み岩にせかるる滝川のわれても末に逢はんとぞ思ふ
Although a swift stream is divided by a rock in the strong flow,
in the end it unites again.

This is one of my most favorite waka poems I learned in school. It’s from a famous poetry anthology in the Heian period.


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Song you mustn’t miss: A Thousand Winds

未分類, music, song

This is from Kohaku Uta Gassen or an annual music show on the new year’s eve produced by a Japanese public broadcaster. I was so moved by the lyrics and the melody, so I’ll put the video and translation here. (Sorry, it’s not related to the main theme of this blog, but music must stimulate your creativity.)

The song is titled “A Thousand Winds”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCY5SQXQByQ&rel=1]

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow;

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sunlight on ripened grain;

I am the gentle autumn’s rain.

When you awake in the morning bush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet in circled flight.

I am the soft star that shines at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there; I did not die.