"Shima Uta" - Begging, Pleading, and Commanding

Good morning, good night, good whatever! In this week's StudyOke, we'll be looking at commands and requests in The Boom's Shima Uta.

Original Lyrics / Romaji / Phrasal Translation

About the Song

In terms of Japanese songs known outside of Japan, Shima Uta is perhaps only surpassed by Ue wo Muite Arukou (aka Sukiyaki) or Sakura. It has been covered by foreign artists from Alfredo Casero to Andrew WK, and was one of the first songs I learned as a Japanese language undergrad.

Shima Uta is often described as an Okinawan anthem, but it was created by four guys from Yamanashi Prefecture.

Note that Yamanashi Prefecture is not Okinawa.

While at first glance, Shima Uta seems like a simple (if sad) love song, it takes on a darker tone when you understand what has caused the "one-thousand year separation"  with the friend who once sang the island song in the forest of Uuji.

Kazufumi Miyazawa, lead singer of The Boom, became interested in Okinawan music and culture after speaking to survivors of the American invasion of Okinawa. The invasion, often relegated to the status of footnote in American history, inflicted a terrible toll on Okinawa, with fully one-third of the civilian population dying in the attack or committing suicide.

In expressing this great sorrow of separation, Shima Uta has taken an important cultural role in both Okinawa and Japan as a whole. The version of the single released in 1993 sold 1.5 million copies , snatching up awards, and being featured on 1993's Kohaku Uta Gassen. It has been re-released periodically since then, including the 20th anniversary edition in 2013. The Boom also released a new music video for the song in 2013, featuring Okinawans singing the song.

[Today's Grammar - Begging, Pleading, and Commanding is after the jump]

Today's Grammar - Begging, Pleading, and Commanding

There are many different ways to make commands and requests in Japanese. Today, we're going to talk about the ones used in Shima Uta. Unlike some of the previous lessons, we're going to break a section of the song down, line by line:

島唄よ　風に乗り

鳥とともに　海を渡れ

Shima uta yo Kaze ni nori

Tori to tomo ni Umi wo watare

島唄よ - As most of you know, the particle yo is used as a verbal exclamation mark. As such, we might be tempted to translate this sentence simply as "Island Song!"

However, in this context, the singer is not simply shouting "Island Song!" as we might yell "Hell yes!" He is addressing the island song, speaking to it. As we will see in a few lines, he is addressing it on order to make a command/request.

How do we know that this is an example of yo as a form of hailing and not a simple exclamation mark? Well, we look at the next few lines:

風に乗り鳥とともに海を渡れ (Kaze ni nori tori to tomo ni umi wo watare)

Here's where the command form becomes important. By using the re form of wataru (to cross), the singer lets us know he is making a command. So "kaze ni nori tori to tomo ni umi wo watare" is not simply a statement that "[something] rides the wind, and with the birds crosses the ocean" but a command - "Oh Island Song! Ride the wind and with the birds cross the ocean."

This re command form is generally seen as impolite (don't offer your boss a seat by yelling 'suware!'), but it can also be used to indicate strong emotion. The Japanese translation of Psalms often uses yo hailing (主よ、神よ) in conjunction with a re command verb, not to suggest that David is being impolite to God, but rather speaking with great emotion.

This contrasts nicely with the nasai form (suwarinasai, tabenasai) which almost always functions as a command from a greater to a lesser. While there are case-by-case examples of it functioning differently (gomennasai is not a command), these exceptions are few and far between.

Later in the song, we see a slightly different command/request form:

海よ　宇宙よ　神よ　いのちよ

このまま永遠に夕凪を

Umi yo Uchuu yo Kami yo Inochi yo

Kono mama towa ni yuunagi wo

We see the yo as hailing (Oh ocean, Oh skies, etc.), but not a re command verb. Instead, the verb is dropped entirely - "Kono mama towa ni yuunagi wo" . Leaving a dangling wo particle leaves the verb implied; "Just like this eternally, an evening calm..." is still a request in context. Again, this is a very poetic usage that we see in the Japanese translation of the Psalms as well.

In comparing the two (re verb vs. dangling wo), the re is more commanding and emphatic, while the dangling wo is more polite and humble. Miyazawa commands his Island Song to cross the waves, but implores the ocean/the skies/God/life to preserve the evening calm.

These nuances may seem confusing at first, but that confusion is a good sign. It means that you're starting to see beyond dictionary definitions and into the real complexities of Japanese. Breaking the illusion that Japanese grammar has one-to-one English equivalents essential to truly learning Japanese.

As always, karaoke leads the way to better Japanese. Now that you've seen the verbs used this way, you'll recognize it everywhere else. Keep your eyes on the context, and the worst case scenario will always be that you learn something new.

That's all for now. Keep StudyOke-ing, and I'll see you next time!