How to live with “iki”; “we will not have extra money to use tomorrow”












Recently, I was asked by my friend to translate a short Japanese song into English.

Su-zu-shi-ge-ni

Mi-zu-no-o-to-su-ru Ya-na-gi-ka-ge

Tu-ki-ni-ka-ku-re-te To-bu-ho-ta-ru

The innocent meaning of the lyrics is as follows; “hearing the sounds of water I am comfortable, and I looked up to the moon from near the silhouette of a willow. What a lot of fireflies are flying under the bright moon!” It is so beautiful. If it were read innocently, you would be impressed by only the beautiful scene.

However, it is a short song which is sung by a geisha, who is a Japanese singer and dancer while serving sake to guests at a room for mature Japanese drinking. Then I translated it to the lyrics below.


The Translation

“Refreshingly

The sound of water resonates the silhouette of a willow

Flying fireflies hidden by the bright moon”

Do you understand the different nuances between both? The scene I described from the lyrics is as follows.


The Scene of The lyrics

I’m standing alone near a willow under the moon.

The sound of water would refresh my hot emotions if nothing else.

The silhouette of the willow resembles my mood.

Two fireflies hidden by the bright moon are intimately flying and nobody knows them.

I hope fireflies are playing more intimately without worrying about the eyes of others.

Fireflies, fly more intimately with the understanding of my hope.


The Commentary of The Translation

The song is called a “kouta”, a short song, generally it has been sung with syamisen by a geisya in a room for mature Japanese drinking since the Edo period. A geisya is a professional lady who sells her skills of dance and singing in entertainment areas, but she occasionally sells her body.

The greatest characteristic of kouta is “iki”, which is impossible to translate into other languages like “esprit” in French, because iki is the sense that was created by accumulated Japanese thoughts and emotions.

It is said that the essences of iki are coquette, principles on living to create beauty and abandonments. I want to explain it with regards to the song above.

The heroine of the song is a geisya who occatinally has to sell her body. Instead, she never sells her heart. She loves someone from the bottom of her heart, but she can’t meet him due to circumstances. She is with the dilemma between loving him and the impossibility of meeting him. It is coquette. If she were a normal woman in such a situation, she would cry or detest her situation. Nonetheless, taking a step back, her emotions were cooled down by the sound of water and she threw her sad feelings into the silhouette of a willow. And she abandoned her emotions. Next, she behaves stout-heartedly on her principles of living to create beauty. She projected an uninhibited self onto one of the many fireflies and imagined she were playing intimately with her lover without worrying about the eyes of others like fireflies in the bright moon. To convert the impossibility in her real life to the freedom of loving in the world of beauty is iki.

All the words of the song are beautiful, then the scene of the song is also beautiful. Besides, the sound of syamisen with overtones adds something emotive. But yet the slight skipping in rhythm of the syamisen colors the kind of abandonment like what will be, will be.

Finally, kouta is suitable for entertainment areas. The opposite word of iki is “yabo”. In an entertainment area a man who explains something logically is a man in yabo. I analyzed the kouta by the three elements, but yet if I did it in an entertainment area, I would be a man in yabo.


How to live with iki

To be called a man with iki was proud thing for citizens in Edo, Tokyo in the Edo period. The picture above is of a hero who is one of the popular characters, Sukeroku, of kabuki and he is the best man with iki. Conversely, especially for men, to be called a man with yabo is extreme dishonor.

A man with iki is a man with elegance, flashy appearance and astringency. Conversely, a man with yabo is a man with vulgarity, sober appearance and sweetness. A man with iki is mature, but a man with yabo is immature. In other words, yabo is young and everybody in youth is yabo, but only a man who has informed himself as a man with iki among many experiences on the journey of his life could become a man with iki from yabo. Iki was a supreme purpose rather than wealth for almost all citizens in Edo. Then, they could see themselves who had struggled during a lot of difficulties in their lives with their cooled eyes. And there is the extreme phrase which shows their lifestyle; “we will not have extra money to use tomorrow”.


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