Thanks, all and esp. Masato. The document Masato thought might be (partly) in Esperanto is indeed, so now I know the Esperanto text was translated by the appropriately named Ivan Lubianovskij. I would be interested in seeing the English, Japanese, and Ukrainian (if any) versions.

It looks like "mountain ash", "rowan", and "service" are all members of the same genus (Sorbus, so it's quite possible (if the Russian word names the whole genus, as the Esperanto sorpo does) that all three are accurate translations. I'm inclined to think the tune is anonymous, and Shalov is only the arranger. But I don't know that for sure; more info would be welcome.

Incidentally, Masato, another Japanese text I'm interested in is a little love song entitled Wasurenagusa. Do you have that lying about?

Liland/haruo