Share the song thats on your mind now

[vince95]

I wish to share a Japanese song which moves me to tears every time I hear it. The performance itself is very good but it's the story behind the song that really gets me.

This song "Shima Uta" was written by a Japanese band after their visit to Okinawa and learning about its tragic history during WW2. 

Okinawa was a separate kingdom a few hundred years ago and was only officially part of Japan in the 1800s. As such, they weren't really considered "Japanese". And towards the end of WW2, Okinawa was the first stop for the Americans in their invasion of Japan. About 1/3 of Okinawa's population died in the fighting. The truly sad part is how so many of them were killed by their own country.

During the 1945 battle, the Imperial Japanese Army showed indifference to Okinawans' safety, and its soldiers used civilians as human shields, or outright killed them. The Japanese military also confiscated food from the Okinawans and executed those who hid it, leading to mass starvation, and forced civilians out of their shelters. Japanese soldiers also killed about 1,000 people who spoke in the Okinawan language to suppress spying.[size=1][[/size]

With the impending Japanese defeat, civilians often committed mass suicide, urged on by the Japanese soldiers who told locals that victorious American soldiers would go on a rampage of killing and raping. [...] [font=sans-serif]Thousands of civilians, having been induced by Japanese propaganda to believe that American soldiers were barbarians who committed horrible atrocities, killed their families and themselves to avoid capture at the hands of the Americans. Some of them threw themselves and their family members from the southern cliffs where the Peace Museum now resides.[/font]

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_...atrocities

Anyway, the video below is of a famous Okinawan singer covering the song. Even before finding out the meaning of the lyrics, I couldn't help but tear up while listening to her. I hope you'll enjoy the performance too.

Wow what a voice. And you're right, the backstory to the song makes it an incredibly sad one.

This part of the song especially just felt so bittersweet and the suffering inevitable.

The deigo flowers are in full bloom, and they have called the wind, and the storm has come.
The repetition of sadness, like the waves that cross the islands.
I met you in the Uji forest.
In the Uji forest I bid farewell to Chiyo.

Island song, ride the wind, with the birds, cross the sea.
Island song, ride the wind, carry my tears with you.