Japanese Tanka from Kyoto, it’s a beautiful love song

階段を　　　　　　ka i da n wo

二段跳びして　　　ni da n to bi shi te

上がりゆく　　　　a ga ri yu ku

待ち合わせのなき　ma chi a wa se no na ki

北大路駅　　　　　ki ta o u ji e ki

This poem was written by a young female poet, within Kyoto. Her name is Mikako Umenai, who is a famous poet. I lived in Kyoto around my young days so I love this poem. “Tanka 短歌” has rhythm of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 sounds. This is a rule of Tanka and a beautiful rhythm for Japanese people. First, I would like to tell you the meaning of these Japanese words.

階段　　　　　　　stairway

二段跳び　　　　　double jumping

上がりゆく　　　　going up

待ち合わせのなき　without a promise of meeting

北大路駅　　　　　Kitaoji station

Kitaoji station is located in Northern Kyoto city and this station is metro. This poem expresses that the poet is going up stairs from the underground. You may feel some fresh feelings from this poem.

She was a university student at the time. And in this case, she didn’t have a promise to meet with someone there. In my understanding, “someone” means a boyfriend in this case. So, maybe, she wanted to have a promise to meet someone but she didn’t have that unfortunately. 

Around when she was living in Kyoto, I was also living in Kyoto as a student. So I can understand what she wanted to say well. Kyoto is a students’ town, so there are many young couples here and there. I can say, if you are walking in the town alone, you may feel a bit lonely. Because she must have been living in Kyoto alone. And, that’s why this poet wanted to have a promise of dating at this time. I understand this way.

She didn’t have a promise to meet someone, therefore she wrote this poem. I think this poem expresses her feelings very well. And, therefore I can say this poem is very beautiful.

“Mayonaka no door” from the 1970s in Japan

“Mayonaka 真夜中” is a Japanese word and “door” is English. Japanese often name the title of the song this way. It’s confusing. Although, they spell “Doa ドア” not “door” in Japan. I mean, this is a foreign word for Japanese people.

When I listened to this song, I was a junior high school student back then. In schools, there had been storms in classrooms, because some bad boys belonged to any class. And I didn’t know what it means to love a female yet. The lyrics of this song are a bit complicated.

In this song, she is listening to music from the record. Do you know what “record” is? It’s a black disk to record music. There were no iPhones, CD-players and Amazon yet around those days.

“Mayonaka no door,” it means “door at midnight.” 

She left her lover but she is still thinking that he may come to her. She imagines her lover is standing over the door, while she is listening to music in her room. It’s midnight, therefore she feels lonely. No matter how much she hopes he comes again, nobody emerges from the door.

“Stay with me, mayonaka no door wo tataki”

Japanese singer Miki Matsubara sang this way. She was born in 1959, and passed away in 2004 unfortunately. This song was a big hit in 1979 in Japan. Those days, the Japanese economy was growing quickly. Whereas, we had many environmental problems domestically. There were many bad students in schools and also you saw many political conflicts in society. Although, Japan was lively and we were enjoying ourselves everyday, as I.

God of Toilets : Japanese-like faith

This is a serious story, not a joke. There is a God of toilets in Japan.

One missionary came to Japan from the Philippines, and I met him. He sometimes asks me if the Japanese don’t have God. However I can’t answer his question well. Because I can say both that we don’t have a God and we have a God.

In Japan, since a long time ago, we have thought that there is a God everywhere, that God lives in everything. We call it “Yaoyorozu-no-Kami”. This way of thinking means that nature itself is God. God of forest, God of fire, God of ocean and…

The song called “God of toilets” is very popular in Japan. This song was sung by a female folk singer. And the lyrics of this song is this way;

In the toilet

That means there is a beautiful God.

So if you clean it every day,

you can be beautiful like a goddess

I’m not sure if he can understand what these lyrics mean or not. But, I can say, in my case I can understand these lyrics very well. Yes, actually I was thinking there was a God in the toilet when I was little.

In your country, what kind of God do you have?