ID Japanese song at the end of 'Tokyo Story'?

February 1, 2024 12:48 PM

What's the song the kids are singing at the end of 'Tokyo Story'? You can also hear it in the excerpt from this film at he end of Wim Wenders' 'Tokyo Ga' (about 1:27), which is available at the Internet Archive. Sub-titled lyrics below the fold.

People of the old days
Where are they now?
Now I'm back and as I stand alone
The sound of the bells
Travels to me
Across the sky in the gleam of twilight
When the pigeons flap their wings
The eaves dissolve and disappear
The spring wind caresses the shore

posted by Rash to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Best answer: Comments on a Youtube video point out that the tune is a minstrel song from 1852 by Stephen Foster, who you may know from Oh! Susanna.

Googling the title of that song and Japan turns up an article on JSTOR entitled Foster’s Songs in Japan, which covers how US minstrel songs ended up as

Since the late nineteenth century, Stephen Foster’s songs have been among the best-known American music in Japan for his simple, familiar tunes, which Japanese people associate with pastoral scenery or nostalgia for their native place or their childhood. Most Japanese students learn a number of Foster’s songs in their music classes, from elementary through high school.

Japanese people also often hear his melodies on TV commercials and in many public places. Generally, their image of Foster is of a happy songwriter, but they have paid little attention to his life itself in the context of American history. In fact, many Japanese regard his music as part of their own cultural heritage.

…

Thereafter, other Foster songs were introduced along with Japanese verses. “Massa’s in de Cold Ground,” for example, appeared in 1903 and 1908 as “Haru Kaze” (Spring Breeze, by Yoshikiyo Katou), and in 1908 and 1911 as “Yube no Kane” (Evening Bell, by Kazuma Yoshimaru).

So, possibly one of those?
posted by zamboni at 1:19 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Yes, it is “Yūbe no Kane” 《夕べの鐘》. The lyrics in Japanese are:

昔の人　今やいずこ
訪れ来て　たたずめば
黄昏ゆく　空をたどり
通いて来る　鐘の声
家鳩の　羽ばたきに
乱れて消ゆ　軒の妻
みどりの風　岸をそよぐ
川のほとり　さまよえば
黄昏ゆく　路地を越えて
おとない来る　鐘の声
牧の童が　笛の音に
消えては行く　村はずれ

posted by mbrubeck at 1:24 PM on February 1

Searching for "Yube no Kane" "Kazuma Yoshimaru" in Google Books turned up a text preview from Filmzeit: Zeitdimensionen im Film that has a chapter on Tokyo Monogatari and, among other things, the use of Yube no Kane, but that is probably best left for someone with better German than I to interpret. I think they do point out that the original minstrel song is also used in Max Steiner's score for Gone With The Wind.
posted by zamboni at 1:32 PM on February 1

Response by poster: Fascinating -- explains why it's hauntingly familiar to me.

Since the late nineteenth century, Stephen Foster’s songs have been among the best-known American music in Japan

This also explains why we hear his "Home Sweet Home" towards the end of "Grave of the Fireflies" which I found a little incongruous, the first time I saw (and only time I'll ever be seeing) that film.
posted by Rash at 2:45 PM on February 1