Music

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Let’s sing Japanese songs in English – February 2017
“Beyond The Horizon” (Original – “Kimi-wo Nosete”)

This month’s song is titled “Beyond The Horizon”, an English version of the theme song for the famous animation film “Tenkuu-no Shiro Laputa” produced by Ghibli Studio. I saw the film a number of times and enjoyed every time. The film carries fantasies and romances viewers adore, and so does the theme song, “Kimi-wo Nosete”. “Kimi-wo Nosete” sounds to literally mean “Riding along with you” (on something). From the story described in the film, it may well indicate the hero boy riding along with the heroine girl on a spaceship in quest of Laputa, the Castle in the Sky. The girl is the princess fallen from Laputa and the boy saved her on the ground, and Laputa is the legendary space station of old where the boy’s father once travelled to, and did not quite accomplish his mission and perished with a will left back home to the son. The boy’s mother seemed to encourage him to pursue the same mission, and reach Laputa. The success of his mission will also mean that he will be able to bring the princess back to her home kingdom. They do reach Laputa with the help of the magical Holy Stone which the girl had worn as the symbol of the princess, but what they find there in the sky is a heavenly body where the evils rampage and the destruction prevails after the kingdom crumbled. Can the boy and the princess make good Laputa back to what it was, the Castle in the Sky where peace and humanity ruled and the cohabitation of humans and robotics prevailed? The music of the song is beautiful, and the film and the song became very popular in Japan as well as in world over, and I hope that overseas fans of this charming anime film and the song will enjoy singing the song, or hearing their sons and daughters sing it!

“Kimi-wo Nosete”

  • The original song, “Kimi-wo Nosete”, was composed by Jo Hisaishi and the lyrics were written by Hayao Miyazaki, sung by Azumi Inoue.
  • English lyrics by Hidekazu (Morris) Morishima

Beyond the horizon, I see a gleam of dawn
Somewhere the flames of lights wave to us all to come.
I know why so warmly and kindly we are drawn
Toward that twinkling unknown star – that’s where my Father was!

Let us fill our backpack with a loaf of bread and a knife,
And an oil lamp and the Holy Stone that will be our guide!

(*refrain)
We’ll fly to Laputa, the Castle in the Sky,
With Father’s legacy and Mother’s love as wings.
Beyond the horizon, and through the clouds, we fly,
To the land where trees are green, and the birds so merrily sing.

We’ll fly to Laputa, the Castle in the Sky
Where we’d live with the summer winds,and breathe with the winter seeds.