Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to StudeOke! This week we'll be
looking at the Southern All-Star's TSUNAMI and the many wonderful uses of
furigana.
TSUNAMI saved the Southern All-Stars. From 1978 through
1996, the band racked up an impressive 43 number-one hits on the Oricon charts
(more than one per year), but the mid 90s saw them struggling to stay relevant.
From 1996 to 1999, the All-Stars failed to top the charts even once.
But lead singer Keisuke Kuwata (who also has an impressive
catalog of number one hits as a solo act) wasn't ready to give up. After
experimenting with hard rock for 1999's Yellow Man, Keisuke penned a classic
J-Pop love ballad that not only became their 44th chart-topper, but also the
All-Stars' highest-selling hit of all time. A remastered version topped the
charts again in 2005.
Although the band has not performed the song live since the
Tohoku earthquake, TSUNAMI is the all-time #3 hit on the Oricon charts, and the
#1 song on the Oricon J-Pop CD single list.
[Today's Topic – The Wonderful World of Furigana is after the jump]
Today's Topic – The Wonderful World of Furigana
Let's start with an exercise. It's going to be require
reading some kanji, but even if you don't have much experience with kanji, don't
worry. Today's lesson is still going to save you a few hours of
head-scratching.
Watch this video (another karaoke version of TSUNAMI), and see
if anything feels out of place. Something that looks almost like a typo. Pay
attention to the text. I've linked to this video so you know I didn't just make a typo.
Okay, time's up. Did you get it? Check this out:
For the record, I'm not talking about the weird video.
That's normal for karaoke! But you may have noticed that some of the kanji didn't match up
with the reading given above them:
What's going on here? Why is the reading for 女性 given as ひと (hito)? Shouldn't it be read as じょせい (jousei)?
What's going on, is something called furigana. It's one of
the most fascinating aspects of Japanese, and one of my personal favorites.
Now, you may be familiar with furigana from your Japanese text book (or
whatever study materials you use). In the context of Japanese as a Second
Language, furigana is used to indicate the proper reading of a kanji :
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| Like this |
It gets used the same way in Japanese media (you'll see a lot of furigana in children's media), but this is far from its only use. By providing a reading that differs from the kanji, furigana creates double-meanings that enriches the message.
TSUNAMI gives four examples of this sort of wordplay:
Gen'ei
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Kage（影／陰）
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Josei
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Hito（人）
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Unmei
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Sadame（定め）
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Shunkan
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Toki（時）
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This allows song writers to play with the number of
syllables. For example, gen'ei has four syllables (ge – n – e -i) to kage's two
(ka – ge). Using furigana allowed Keisuke to keep the meter while playing the
two meanings of “illusion” and “shadow” off of each other. Substituting the
reading of hito for josei gives the song a stronger universal appeal (it can work as a
love song to a “person” or to a “woman”).
Personally, I find the contrast of unmei (generally a
positive term in love songs) with sadame (a more negative term) to be
particularly heart-wrenching. It beautifully contrasts the idea of “destined
love” with the fate of wandering in the darkness for love.
Of course, if you see a reading you recognize with a kanji
you don't, it's not always a case of word-play. Many kanji have obsolete or
uncommon forms that authors and songwriters like to use for their more poetic
feel. Think of it as using “shall” instead of “will” - the less common form
just looks/sounds more classy. TSUNAMI, in fact, gives us three examples of
this:
Now, the "shall" rule of thumb doesn't always hold
true. Sometimes the different kanji for the same word do have different shades
of meaning. In the context of songs, however, it's pretty safe to assume that
it means the same thing, just fancier.
That's all for now. Keep StudyOke-ing, and I'll see you next
time!
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