One of the aspects I love about Japan are the unusual monuments, scattered throughout the country, often sending beautiful messages.
While strolling through Sumida Park I discovered a little know monument, built to honor Takeshima Hagoromo, the author of the lyrics of a famous Japanese song, Hana.
The monument of Hana was raised in 1956 by its students from the Tokyo Music School (today’s Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music) and, since the poem expressed the beauty of the Sumida River, it was placed nearby.
Haru-no urara-no Sumidagawa
Nobori kudari-no funabito-ga
Kai-no shizuku-mo hana-to chiru
Nagame-wo nani-ni tatou-bekiMizu-ya akebono tsuyu abite
Ware-ni mono-iu sakuragi-wo
Mizu-ya yuugure te-wo nobe-te
Ware sashi-maneku aoyagi-woNishiki orinasu choutei-ni
Kurure-ba noboru oboro-zuki
Geni ikkoku-mo senkin-no
Nagame-wo nani-ni tatou-bekvia From Keisho Center ・継承センター便り.
You can find a translation at Pacific Islander.
Takeshima Hagoromo was also a very good calligrapher, the text from the monument being a copy after one of his manuscripts:
The song was composed by Taki Rentaro, one of the best known Japanese composers.
Let’s listen to it, performed by Saori Yuki and Sachiko Yasuda: