è»æŒï¼šæˆ¦å‹ (Comrade in Arms)The whole song is comprised of 14 verses. This is a shortened version, which only includes the first 6.
I translated it to allow everyone to understand the meaning and importance in its entirety.
This is the most important and well-known of all the Gunka songs. It's probably not an understatement to stay that every Japanese soldier, and perhaps every Japanese back at home, knew this song. Its the main Japanese soldier song, par excellence, of WW2.
Originally written in 1905, a product of the Russo-Japanese war, the song was revived during the period of war hysteria in the 1930s, amid the first pushes into China. It was sung throughout the war and experienced immense popularity among civilians and soldiers alike.
To me its a sort of soldier's lament, of tragedy and bravery on the battlefield, born of a war in which many Japanese soldiers laid down their lives (i.e. the Russo-Japanese War).
To understand the prevalent popular culture of the times, it might be instrumental for students of this period of history （not to mention its fame which stretches on to this day in Japanese minds and collective memory and literature) to memorize at least the first verse:
"koko wa okuni o nanbyakuri
hanarete touki manshuu no
akai yuuhi ni terasarete
tomo wa nozue no ishi no shita"Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=32173.0
