Sen'yū

"Sen'yū" (戦友, Comrades) is a Japanese gunka released in 1905 following the Russo-Japanese War. The lyrics were written by Hisen Mashima, and the song was composed by Kazuoki Miyoshi. The first verse, along with that of "Fujin Jūgunka" (婦人従軍歌), was used in the interlude of Hachirō Konoe [ja]'s song, "Aa Waga Sen'yū [ja]".^[1] The melody also served as the basis for "Daigaku no Uta" (大学の歌, Song of the University), which was written by Yukitoki Takigawa and published in Asahi Shimbun.^[2]

The song describes the soldier's feelings about his partner who had fallen in battle while in Manchuria.^[3] In the song, a soldier attempts to aid his fallen friend while ignoring strict military orders, but the friend tells him to continue the combat mission alone.^[4]

Although the song has been criticised as "weak" at the time of its publication, it was sung by several army generals.^[5] It was also sung in schools across Japan, primarily in the east.^[6] Within ten years, however, enka-shi spread the song throughout the country. Following the Mukden Incident in 1931, the song regained popularity as it reminded the Japanese about defending their foothold in Manchuria.^[7] During World War II, the Japanese military banned the song on the grounds that it spread war-weariness.^[8][9]

References

1. Sakuramoto, Tomio (2005-03-20). 歌と戦争: みんなが軍歌をうたっていた Uta to sensō: Min'na ga gunka o utatte ita [Songs and wars: everyone was singing songs] (in Japanese). アテネ書房. p. 142. ISBN 9784871522359.
2. Karube, Tadashi (2008). Maruyama Masao: and the fate of liberalism in twentieth-century Japan. International House of Japan. p. 48. ISBN 9784924971240.
3. Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko (2010-10-01). Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History. University of Chicago Press. p. 131. ISBN 9780226620688.
4. 兵役: 資料と研究, 第 4～7 号 Heieki: Shiryō to kenkyū, dai 4 ~ 7-gō [Military service: Materials and research, 4-7] (in Japanese). 戦争体験を語り継ぐ会. 1984. p. 116.
5. 満州楽土に消ゆ: 憲兵になった少年 Manshū rakudo ni shō yu: Kenpei ni natta shōnen [Disappearing in Manchuria: A boy who became a soldier] (in Japanese). Kanagawa Shimbun. 2005. p. 107. ISBN 9784876453665.
6. Miyake, Okiko; Biesel, Diane (1997-01-01). Children's Rights in the Multimedia Age: Proceedings of the Fourth Pacific Rim Conference on Children's Literature. Scarecrow Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780810832060.
7. Young, Louise (1999). Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism. University of California Press. p. 91. ISBN 9780520219342.
8. Williams, Duncan Ryuken (2019). American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War. Harvard University Press. p. 347. ISBN 9780674986534.
9. "戦友" Sen'yū [Sen'yū]. Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-05-12.