The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #146175   Message #3384754
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
01-Aug-12 - 03:13 PM
Thread Name: BS: Olympic Games National Anthems?
Subject: RE: BS: Olympic Games National Anthems?
Japan has a very short anthem with an unusual text. A poem of the Heian Period. Music now used added in 1880.

Kimi Ga Yo

May Japan's reign
Continue for a thousand, eight thousand generations
Until the pebbles
Grow into boulders
Lush with moss

Kimi ga yo wa
Chi yo ni ya chi yo ni
sa za re i shi no
I wa o to na ri te
Ko ke no mu su ma de

(Japanese words from musical score, Wikipedia)

Can be heard on youtube, musical score in Wikipedia.