Go!Go!7188 "Ukifune"

My committee is convinced that what distinguishes written lyric from song is a certain complexity of performed thought. I beg to differ.



haru no nioi mo mebuku hana mo
neither the scent of spring nor budding flowers
tachisukumu atashi ni kimi wo tsurete wa konai
will bring you back to me as I am petrified

natsu ga kuru goro wa akegata no ame
there's rain at daybreak when summer comes
shizuka ni yorisotte kakera hiroiatsumeru
silently drawing closer I pick up the pieces

aki ga sugitara kitto atashi wa
once autumn has passed for certain will I
nobita kuroi kami wo kiriotoshite shimau
completely lop off the black hair I let go long

itoshii hito yo hanare-kao nante mikka mosurya sugu ni wasurete shimatta
my beloved, I completely forgot your face after just three days parting
tada shimitsuite kienai no wa tabako no nioi
but I've been indelibly stained by the smell of your cigarettes

kimi wo matsu hibi wa tarinai setsunai nari yamanai
the days I pine for you-insufficient-painful-ceaselessly calling
fukyoiwaon ga hibiki-atte
dissonces ring in harmony
sore ga atashi no karenai tokenai nari yamanai
that is my undying, undissolving, ceaselessly calling
kodoku no uta
song of solitude
rai rai rai...

kasuka na wakare wo tadayowasu koto mo naku
without even floating about the least little bit
ashioto wa totsuzen togireta
the sound of your feet suddenly cut off
aa kanashiku mo utsushiki shiroi fuyu
ah, this sad, beautiful, white winter...

aeru mono naraba hoka ni nanimo nozomanai
if only I could see you, I'd wish for nothing else
furitsumoru wa ano hi mo yuki
what blanketed that day was snow as well

kimi wo matsu hibi...

*the rai Yuu repeats in the chorus is a morphological unit meaning "coming" or "next" that normally expects a period of time, e.g. raigetsu "next month," rainen "next year," etc.

The song alludes to an episode in the Tale of Genji when Nio (repeating the mistakes of his father) sneaks in the night to the country apartments of his friend and seduces the young woman Kaoru (the friend) keeps there. The woman, called Ukifune ("floating boat," also a euphemism for "adrift"), is caught between her desire for Nio and loyalty to Kaoru, so she tries to kill herself by drowning in the river. Ironically, she floats downstream where she is rescued by a bishop. When Nio discovers she is still alive, he tries to win her back, but before he can do so, Ukifune cuts her hair and becomes a Buddhist nun, thus cutting herself off spiritually from Nio in a way she was unable to do physically.