Kumaki Anri – Kaze no kioku [Japanese lyrics with English translation]
artist: Kumaki Anri
title: Kaze no kioku | Memory of the wind
discs: Atarashii Watashi ni Natte (single)
Kaze no Naka no Koushin (album)
lyrics, music: Kumaki Anri
arrangement: Yoshimata Ryou
Romanization
aoi chikyuu ga watashi no mune ni
yoru ni ukabu mangetsu wo kureta
daichi no hana ga watashi no mune ni
shizumanai taiyou wo kureta
hito to deau yoko ni wa itsumo aru
itsuka wakare ni kawaru yuunagi ga
kaze wo kugutte umi wo koetara
kimi ga takarajima ni naru
hitokakera no yume wa
yure wo obiteru sakana no you ni
yokogitte yuku kisetsu
kimi to kanaeru kiseki [1]
ashita no ue wo tori-tachi ga tobu
yoake made ni maniau you ni
fune no kiteki wa hajimari no oto
mienai yajirushi wo ukabete [2]
kimi to sugoshita mijikai kioku ga
itsuka nagaku nobite mukae ni kuru [3]
kaze wo tayori ni me wo tojita toki [4]
kimi ga takarajima ni naru
yume wo kazari nagara
sango no you ni nami ni yurarete
ki ga tsuiteyuku kisetsu
hitotsuzuki no kono tabi
English translation
The blue earth planted in my heart
the full moon floating in the night sky.
The flowers of the earth planted in my heart
a sun that never sets.
Along with new encounters there is always
the calm twilight that someday becomes a farewell
If I pass through the wind and cross the ocean,
you become a treasure island.
The fragments of my dream scatter
like goldfish when the water ripples.
The passage of the seasons
The miracle that I can realize with you [1]
The birds fly past tomorrow
to make it by dawn.
The ship’s whistle is the sound of a beginning,
pointing an invisible arrow [2]
Someday, the brief memories we had together
Will lengthen and come back to meet us [3]
When I let the wind close my eyes, [4]
you become a treasure island,
decorating my dream
like a coral sea, undulating with the waves.
Aware of the seasons that pass by
I continue on my travels
Japanese
青い地球が 私の胸に
夜に浮かぶ満月をくれた
大地の花が 私の胸に
沈まない太陽をくれた
人と出会う横には いつもある
いつか分かれに変わる夕凪が
風をくぐって 海を越えたら
君が宝島になる
ひとかけらの夢は
揺れを帯びてる魚のように
よこぎってゆく季節
君と叶える奇跡
明日の上を 鳥たちが飛ぶ
夜明けまでに間に合うように
船の汽笛は はじまりの音
見えない矢印を浮かべて
君と過ごした短い記憶が
いつか長く伸びて迎えにくる
風を頼りに 目を閉じたとき
君が宝島になる
夢を飾りながら
珊瑚のように波にゆられて
気がついてゆく季節
ひと続きのこの旅
==========
Notes from this translation revision on 2016-01-17.
[1] yokogitte yuku kisetsu = “The passage of the seasons.” kimi to kanaeru kiseki = “The miracle that I can realize with you.” There is no particle to suggest the relationship between these two phrases. It is possible that both are fragments of the dream that scatter, from the preceding lines of that verse.
[2] mienai yajirushi wo ukabete: “Imagining/thinking [of]/remembering an arrow that cannot be seen.” My interpretation is that the speaker imagines the ship’s whistle, like an invisible arrow, pointing in the direction of the speaker’s next journey. In my previous version, I interpreted the whistle to be signalling for departure, marking the start of the journey.
[3] mijikai kioku ga itsuka nagaku nobite mukae ni kuru. This phrase is very difficult to express gracefully in English. More literally, the short memories (mijikai kioku) will lengthen and extend (nagaku nobite), then come back to pick us up (mukae ni kuru – as in, to pick up [from the airport], to greet [after a long journey]).
The idea here is that our memories transform over time, becoming more colorful and more extensive as our minds fill in/make up details and ascribe meanings, adding to the original events that were, in fact, brief. By the time the memories come back to pick us up, they are changed from before.
[4] kaze wo tayori ni me wo tojita toki: lit. “When I counted on (relied on) the wind to close my eyes.” This implies the speaker’s eyes would otherwise remain open, but that presumably, because the wind is blowing hard enough, she has to close them, and she is thankful to the wind for making her do that.
More notes:
Every time I hear this song, I get a very specific image of wheat fields billowing in the breeze at dusk. Five years after my first attempt to translate this song, I continue to feel that my translation does not do justice to Kumaki Anri’s words, the meaning of which is conveyed by the music.
You can see a shortened acoustic live version on Youtube HERE. (Links to outside content are not guaranteed to work after the posting date).
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