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1. みかんの花が 咲いている
思い出の道 丘の道
はるかに見える 青い海
お船がとおく かすんでる
2. 黒い煙を はきながら
お船はどこへ 行くのでしょう
波に揺られて 島のかげ
汽笛がぼうと 鳴りました
3. いつか来た丘 母さんと
いっしょにながめた あの島よ
今日もひとりで 見ていると
やさしい母さん 思われる
Composer 海沼 實 (かいぬま みのる, 1909-1971) / Lyricist 加藤省吾 (かとう しょうご, 1914-2000)
Listen (original recording) Singer 川田正子 (1934-2006)
1. mi-ka-n-no ha-na-ga sa-i-te-i-ru
Tangerine flowers are blossoming
o-mo-i-de-no mi-chi o-ka-no mi-chi
along the path to the hill, where my memories abide.
ha-ru-ka-ni mi-e-ru a-o-i u-mi
From afar the blue ocean can be seen,
o-fu-ne-ga tō-ku ka-su-n-de-ru
and a ship is appearing from the distant haze.
2. ku-ro-i ke-mu-ri-o ha-ki-na-ga-ra
With black smoke spewing out,
o-fu-ne-wa do-ko-e i-ku-no-de-shō
I wonder where the ship is headed for.
na-mi-ni yu-ra-re-te shi-ma-no ka-ge
Rocked by waves while (sailing into) behind an island,
ki-te-ki-ga bō-to na-ri-ma-shi-ta
it blows its whistle, making a "woo" sound.
3. i-tsu-ka ki-ta o-ka kā-san-to
This is the hill where I used to hang out with my mother.
it-sho-ni na-ga-me-ta a-no shi-ma-yo
That is the island that we used to watch together.
kyō-mo hi-to-ri-de mi-te-i-ru-to
Today as I watch it alone by myself,
ya-sa-shii kā-san o-mo-wa-re-ru
I cannot help but think of my sweet mother.
It is said that two kinds of fruit marked the start of post-war Japanese music: apple and tangerine. The "apple" refers to リンゴの唄 ("Apple Song") written in 1945 (not a children's song), and the "tangerine" refers to this song. It was first sang by the 12-years-old, wildly popular children's song singer Kawada Masako in a radio program. The composer Kainuma Minoru was her stepfather. The lyricist Kato Shōgo was then working as the chief editor of a music magazine.
Numerous accounts of this song's creation have been published in various sources. Despite minor inconsistencies among those accounts, the story goes basically as follows: NHK's radio program "Sky Theater" (空の劇場) decided to broadcast a live episode featuring a primary school in the city of Itō, located at the east side of Izu peninsula. The school is now known as 伊東市立西小学校, and part of the program was to be broadcasted from the school's auditorium, where Kawada, who was already wildly popular at that time, would make an appearance with a new song composed by Kainuma.
The live broadcast was scheduled on the evening of August 25th, 1946, but the song was still far from ready the day before. Kainuma (living in Tokyo) only had some vague idea of what the lyrics should include, such as watching the sea from a hill and seeing a ship with dark smoke. At noon, Kato paid a visit to Kainuma's place for an interview. Kainuma took this opportunity to break the news about the upcoming broadcast, and asked Kato if he could write the lyrics. In the course of this it was also determined that the new song would involve tangerine, a well-known product of Itō.
Kato decided that the song shall involve the flower, rather than the fruit, of tangerine, even though in August most of the tangerine flowers would have already died away. It was for fear that the fruit itself might cause the song to be perceived as a mere imitation of the already popular "Apple Song". He wrote the first two parts of the lyrics in accordance with Kainuma's ideas. Upon Kainuma's further request, he then added a third part based on his own experience. The entire process took no more than 30 minutes.
The dainty white flowers of tangerine (みかん "mikan" in Japanese)
With the lyrics in hand, Kainuma went directly to the GHQ, where all media was to undergo censorship. After obtaining clearance, he, together with Kawada, hopped on the 3:10 train to Itō. The train would arrive at 6:18 p.m..
Onboard the train, Kainuma began composing. According to Kato's later account, Kainuma said that the melody came naturally to his mind when vast areas of tangerine orchards appeared at the train window in the vicinity of Kōzu station. The composition was finished when the train was passing Usami, at the base of the peninsula of Izu. Later that evening, in the little hotel where they stayed for the night, Kainuma taught this brand new song to Kawada sentence by sentence, when they were together in the bath. The hotel did not have a piano at that time.
Kawada was unable to memorize the lyrics completely during such haste, and Kainuma had to write the lyrics on the back of a business card for her to look at while performing live at the program. The program was widely appreciated, and this song became a great hit.
Kawada Masako at the age of 12 (from her own book 『童謡は心のふるさと』)
The first record of this song was released in July 1947 by KING record. The singer was 井口 小夜子 (いぐち さよこ, 1914-2003). Kawada's recording (the one linked above) was released soon afterwards by Nippon Columbia. The other side of Kawada's recording was 蛙の笛 ("Frogs' flute").
The third part of the lyrics would have certainly resonated with children who lost their mother during the war. Note that the last sentence does NOT contain passive voice. Although 思われる might look like the passive form of 思う (to think, to remember) at first sight, it is crucial to keep in mind that the auxiliary verb れる・られる has 4 different meanings depending on context: (1) 受け身, i.e., expressing passive voice, (2) 使役, i.e., expressing causative voice, (3) 自発, i.e., expressing voluntary or spontaneous action, (4) 尊敬, i.e., expressing respect for the corresponding subject. Here the context indicates meaning (3) should be understood. The noun 母さん (mother) is the object of this verb and the object marker を is omitted.
I like this song because we also had a small path leading up to a hill near my home. The hill faces a wide river where my mom and I used to hang out watching ships come and go. That was before the area was industrialized and my mom was still in good health. Needless to say I almost cried when I first heard this song.
