Kazamidori - Lyrics and Translation
I was discussing this song with drigby , and I revisited it since I hadn't listened to it for awhile. It's the bonus track on the RE version of the One album, and it's full of beautiful imagery, metaphors, and contains cultural references specific, perhaps, to Japanese culture. (You tell me. . . as I'm only familiar with Japanese and American culture ^^;;; )
Kazamidori has a slightly melancholy, nostalgic sound; it's a summer love song, but surprisingly it's not a song of nostalgia over a love lost. Rather, it has a happy ending between the two lovers, and the nostalgia is for childhood summers past. The weathervane bird referred to in the title was a childhood companion. The "wind" that both the singer and weathervane bird seek is a reference to love. Lots of layered meanings and metaphors to this seemingly simple little song.
*** Do not use or repost without permission or credit ***
風見鶏 - Kazamidori - Weathervane Bird
風見鶏 夏の終わりを遠くに見て何想う
つゆくさに想いを馳(は)せて 駆け抜けた頃に戻って
歩き疲れてた僕に空がやさしく見えるまで
kazamidori natsu no owari wo tooku ni mite nani omou
tsuyukusa ni omoi wo hasete kake nuketa koro ni modotte
aruki tsukareteta boku ni sora ga yasashiku mieru made
Weathervane bird, what do you think when you see the end of summer far in the distance?
My thoughts rode the tsuyukusa, going back to the time when I'd run though it
Until the sky seems gentle to me, who had become tired from walking
風音に誘われ君の生まれた場所へ二人
方言混じりの声 君がもっと愛おしくなって
kaza oto ni sasoware kimi no umareta basho e futari
hougen majiri no koe kimi ga motto itooshikunatte
Beckoned by the sound of the wind, the two of us go to the place of your birth
Hearing your voice use your dialect You become even more precious to me
夕焼け空の下 明日は晴れるかな
靴を空高く蹴飛ばしてみたり
yuuyake zora no shita ashita wa hareru kana
kutsu wo sora takaku ketobashite mitari
Under this sunset sky, we wondered, "Will tomorrow be sunny?"
And even kicked our shoes high up into the sky
茜さす空を見上げて 僕の知らない君になって
土手に咲く花を見下ろし 微笑み返す僕になった
重ね合わす記憶に君が溶け込む それだけで
akane sasu sora wo miagete boku no shiranai kimi ni natte
dote ni saku hana wo mioroshi hohoemi kaesu boku ni natta
kasane awasu kioku ni kimi ga tokekomu sore dakede
Looking up at the scarlet tinged sky You become someone I didn't know
Looking down at the flowers blooming on the embankment I became someone who smiles back at you
And with just that, you become a part of these shared memories
虫カゴたすきに掛け すり傷作りながら見てた
空に浮かぶ雲に 夢を乗せて時を留めて
mushi kago tasuki ni kake suri kizu tsukuri nagara miteta
sora ni ukabu kumo ni yume wo nosete toki wo todomete
Slinging the bug cage across a shoulder, I watched as I got scratched up,
The clouds floating in the sky that carried my dreams, stopping time
校庭の鉄棒で逆上がり出来るかな
肩を寄り添えば
君とキスしてた
koutei no tetsubou de sakaagari dekiru kana
kata wo yorisoeba
kimi to kisu shiteta
On the horizontal bar on the school grounds, I wondered, "Can I do a forward spin?"
When our shoulders drew closer
I would kiss you
風見鶏 夏の終わりを遠くに見て何想う
つゆくさに思いを馳(は)せて 駆け抜けた頃に戻って
僕の知らない景色に僕が溶け込む それだけで
kazamidori natsu no owari wo tooku ni mite nani omou
tsuyukusa ni omoi wo hasete kake nuketa koro ni modotte
boku no shiranai keshiki ni boku ga toke komu sore dake de
Weathervane bird, what do you think when you see the end of summer far in the distance?
My thoughts rode the tsuyukusa, going back to the time I used to run though it
And with just that, I grew accustomed to the unfamiliar scenery
風のない街で暮らし慣れてたけど
僕と風見鶏 探しあてた空
kaze no nai machi de kurashi nareteta kedo
boku to kazamidori sagashi ateta sora
I'd grown up living in a town with no wind, but
The weathervane bird and I searched the skies
茜さす空を見上げて 僕の知らない君になって
土手に咲く花を見下ろし 微笑み返す僕になった
akane sasu sora wo miagete boku no shiranai kimi ni natte
dote ni saku hana wo mioroshi hohoemi kaesu boku ni natta
Looking up at the scarlet tinged sky You've become someone I didn't know
Looking down at the flowers blooming on the embankment I became someone who smiles back at you
切なくてただ愛しくて 暮れゆく夏 風になって
瞳閉じて耳を澄ませば 僕と君の未来になった
setsunakute tada itoshikute kure yuku natsu kaze ni natte
hitomi tojite mimi wo sumaseba boku to kimi no mirai ni natta
Sad and just precious It became the fading summer wind
Close you eyes listen carefully it became the future, yours and mine
僕と君の未来になった…
boku to kimi no mirai ni natta. . .
It became the future, yours and mine . . .
t/n: (linguistic fail/flail)
OK, this is gonna be a long one folks. I don't think I've done a proper t/n for a set of lyrics for quite awhile, but this song needs it if you want to get more than a surface understanding of it.
Title
"Kazamidori" translates into "weathervane bird", but the kanji character being used for "bird" here is that for "chicken" or "rooster". So I see an image of your standard, rooster-shaped weathervane here. Just thought I'd mention it, as weathervanes and birds come in all shapes and sizes. XD
Stanza 1
There's a reference to "tsuyukusa" (literal translation "monsoon grass"), or spiderwort, in the second line. Spiderwort has absolutely no cultural meaning attached to it in English. However, that's not quite the case in Japanese. "Tsuyu" refers to the summer monsoon season in Japan. There's a tradition in Japanese poetry to use a "key" word to signify a season and/or mood. The "tsuyukusa" serves that purpose; it serves as a subtle reference to summer and helps to develop the setting for the story being told.
Stanza 2
TONS of information given through the cultural references made here:
kaza oto ni sasoware kimi no umareta basho e futari
hougen majiri no koe kimi ga motto itooshikunatte
Beckoned by the sound of the wind, the two of us go to the place of your birth
Hearing your voice use your dialect You become even more precious to me
Traditionally, you don't visit the hometown of your loved one unless you have a serious relationship. Oftentimes in old-school Japan, the first time one's family meets a boyfriend/girlfriend is when you want to announce that you're going out with someone with the intent to marry, ask permission to be allowed to married, or announce that you're engaged.
The lyrics in the first line imply that this the "two of us", the singer and his girlfriend, are visiting the girl's hometown for the first time. So in other words, they didn't grow up together. They met and fell in love as adults.
In the second line, the singer is slightly surprised to hear a regional dialect or "accent" being used by his lover when they visit her hometown, and this unexpected side to her is endearing to him. He's seeing a side to her that he's never seen before.
Stanza 3
yuuyake zora no shita ashita wa hareru kana
kutsu wo sora takaku ketobashite mitari
Under this sunset sky, we wondered, "Will tomorrow be sunny?"
And even kicked our shoes high up into the sky
The second line refers back to the first. The kicking off a shoe is a game children play in Japan where you predict whether tomorrow will be sunny or not. If your kick off your shoe and it lands right side up, it'll be sunny. If it lands sole side up, it's a prediction of bad weather, usually rain.
Stanza 4
akane sasu sora wo miagete boku no shiranai kimi ni natte
dote ni saku hana wo mioroshi hohoemi kaesu boku ni natta
kasane awasu kioku ni kimi ga tokekomu sore dakede
Looking up at the scarlet tinged sky You became someone I didn't know
Looking down at the flowers blooming on the embankment I became someone who smiles back at you
And with just that, you become a part of these shared memories
The "you became someone I didn't know" is referring to the fact that the singer is seeing a completely different side to his girlfriend that he wasn't aware of. He becomes aware that there's much he doesn't know about her because they didn't grow up together. There's a hint of sadness to this thought. But there's a turnabout as he becomes able to smile back at her in the second line. And in the third line, is (I think) a reference to the fact that even though they don't share a past, they're creating new memories together that they will both share.
Side note here. . . I love the imagery of how the two are positioned. She's looking up at the sunset sky. He's looking down at the flowers on the ground. Juxtaposed images, balancing one another out. . . so pretty. :D
Stanza 5
Weird time shift here. . . now we go back to the singer's childhood. . . remember, the two lovers don't share a childhood. . .
mushi kago tasuki ni kake suri kizu tsukuri nagara miteta
sora ni ukabu kumo ni yume wo nosete toki wo todomete
Slinging the bug cage across a shoulder, I watched as I got scratched up,
The clouds floating in the sky that carried my dreams, stopping time
Cultural reference here with the "mushi kago" (insect cage). It's both a childhood and seasonal reference. Hunting for bugs is a traditional summer pastime for children in Japan (particularly boys). You take your long handled bug net and look for various types of insects. You might look for "singing-type" insects such as "semi" (cicadas) or "suzumushi" (literal translation: "bell bugs" - I don't know what they're called in English - they make a soothing, bell-like sound). Or you might look for fighting bugs like kabuto mushi, horned beetles, and the like. You take a small plastic "bug cage" with you, often made portable by a long strap attached to it. The singer slings it across his shoulder like a "tasuki", or "sash" here. He's probably getting scratched up from climbing trees and/or walking through grass and bushes looking for insects. So the singer is reminiscing about his childhood summers through the "mushi kago" reference.
The sky/clouds reference is a reference to what he and the weathervane bird search for (and finds as an adult), love.
Stanza 6
Past and present meet in this stanza. The school grounds and the horizontal bar are references to childhood, again. But this time the singer and his girlfriend are adults. They're probably at the playground of her elementary school, playing on the horizontal bars, seeing how many times they can go around on it. But then their play turns romantic. . . I see an image of them lined up side by side, playing, and then the mood changes. Their shoulders draw closer together as they lean in towards one another, and then he kisses her. Sweet, no? : D
Stanza 8
kazamidori natsu no owari wo tooku ni mite nani omou
tsuyukusa ni omoi wo hasete kake nuketa koro ni modotte
boku no shiranai keshiki ni boku ga toke komu sore dake de
Weathervane, what do you think when you see the end of summer far in the distance?
My thoughts rode the tsuyukusa, going back to the time I used to run though it
And with just that, I grew accustomed to the unfamiliar scenery
The last line of the stanza probably refers to the discomfort the singer feels because he's in an unfamiliar place, his girlfriend's hometown. But just by thinking back to past summers, he relaxes and becomes accustomed to the scenery.
Stanza 9
kaze no nai machi de kurashi nareteta kedo
boku to kazamidori sagashi ateta sora
I'd grown up living in a town with no wind, but
The weathervane bird and I searched the skies
Metaphor and hidden meanings going on in this stanza. The literal translation for the first line is "I grew accustomed to living in a town with no wind, but". But the "kurashi nareteta" implies that "one grew up a certain way". Wind is a metaphor for "true love".
So there are two possible interpretations for this stanza. With just a surface reading, it could mean that his town literally had no wind blowing through it. But on a deeper level, it means that the singer grew up accustomed to not having a "true love" in his life, or having grown up without ever having experienced "true love".
Both he and the weathervane bird searched the skies for "wind", or "true love". You might even say that the weathervane bird symbolizes the singer and the wind, his girlfriend.
Stanza 11
And this stanza wraps things up with a happy, or rather, a mostly happy ending.
setsunakute tada itoshikute kure yuku natsu kaze ni natte
hitomi tojite mimi wo sumaseba boku to kimi no mirai ni natta
Sad and just precious It became the fading summer wind
Close you eyes listen carefully it became the future, yours and mine
The sadness felt here is that for summers past, happy childhood memories. But those fading summers became the wind (love!). . . so if you close your eyes and listen carefully, you realize that summers past became the wind, a metaphor for the love which both the singer and girlfriend will share together.
Phew, ok. . . told you that was long. (Jeez, the t/n is longer than the translated lyrics themselves ^^;;; ) Now, please understand that this is just my interpretation of the story being told in this song, but it's one that makes the most sense to me. XD Hope my convoluted explanations made sense, and I'm open to questions and comments if they didn't. :D
Kazamidori has a slightly melancholy, nostalgic sound; it's a summer love song, but surprisingly it's not a song of nostalgia over a love lost. Rather, it has a happy ending between the two lovers, and the nostalgia is for childhood summers past. The weathervane bird referred to in the title was a childhood companion. The "wind" that both the singer and weathervane bird seek is a reference to love. Lots of layered meanings and metaphors to this seemingly simple little song.
*** Do not use or repost without permission or credit ***
風見鶏 - Kazamidori - Weathervane Bird
風見鶏 夏の終わりを遠くに見て何想う
つゆくさに想いを馳(は)せて 駆け抜けた頃に戻って
歩き疲れてた僕に空がやさしく見えるまで
kazamidori natsu no owari wo tooku ni mite nani omou
tsuyukusa ni omoi wo hasete kake nuketa koro ni modotte
aruki tsukareteta boku ni sora ga yasashiku mieru made
Weathervane bird, what do you think when you see the end of summer far in the distance?
My thoughts rode the tsuyukusa, going back to the time when I'd run though it
Until the sky seems gentle to me, who had become tired from walking
風音に誘われ君の生まれた場所へ二人
方言混じりの声 君がもっと愛おしくなって
kaza oto ni sasoware kimi no umareta basho e futari
hougen majiri no koe kimi ga motto itooshikunatte
Beckoned by the sound of the wind, the two of us go to the place of your birth
Hearing your voice use your dialect You become even more precious to me
夕焼け空の下 明日は晴れるかな
靴を空高く蹴飛ばしてみたり
yuuyake zora no shita ashita wa hareru kana
kutsu wo sora takaku ketobashite mitari
Under this sunset sky, we wondered, "Will tomorrow be sunny?"
And even kicked our shoes high up into the sky
茜さす空を見上げて 僕の知らない君になって
土手に咲く花を見下ろし 微笑み返す僕になった
重ね合わす記憶に君が溶け込む それだけで
akane sasu sora wo miagete boku no shiranai kimi ni natte
dote ni saku hana wo mioroshi hohoemi kaesu boku ni natta
kasane awasu kioku ni kimi ga tokekomu sore dakede
Looking up at the scarlet tinged sky You become someone I didn't know
Looking down at the flowers blooming on the embankment I became someone who smiles back at you
And with just that, you become a part of these shared memories
虫カゴたすきに掛け すり傷作りながら見てた
空に浮かぶ雲に 夢を乗せて時を留めて
mushi kago tasuki ni kake suri kizu tsukuri nagara miteta
sora ni ukabu kumo ni yume wo nosete toki wo todomete
Slinging the bug cage across a shoulder, I watched as I got scratched up,
The clouds floating in the sky that carried my dreams, stopping time
校庭の鉄棒で逆上がり出来るかな
肩を寄り添えば
君とキスしてた
koutei no tetsubou de sakaagari dekiru kana
kata wo yorisoeba
kimi to kisu shiteta
On the horizontal bar on the school grounds, I wondered, "Can I do a forward spin?"
When our shoulders drew closer
I would kiss you
風見鶏 夏の終わりを遠くに見て何想う
つゆくさに思いを馳(は)せて 駆け抜けた頃に戻って
僕の知らない景色に僕が溶け込む それだけで
kazamidori natsu no owari wo tooku ni mite nani omou
tsuyukusa ni omoi wo hasete kake nuketa koro ni modotte
boku no shiranai keshiki ni boku ga toke komu sore dake de
Weathervane bird, what do you think when you see the end of summer far in the distance?
My thoughts rode the tsuyukusa, going back to the time I used to run though it
And with just that, I grew accustomed to the unfamiliar scenery
風のない街で暮らし慣れてたけど
僕と風見鶏 探しあてた空
kaze no nai machi de kurashi nareteta kedo
boku to kazamidori sagashi ateta sora
I'd grown up living in a town with no wind, but
The weathervane bird and I searched the skies
茜さす空を見上げて 僕の知らない君になって
土手に咲く花を見下ろし 微笑み返す僕になった
akane sasu sora wo miagete boku no shiranai kimi ni natte
dote ni saku hana wo mioroshi hohoemi kaesu boku ni natta
Looking up at the scarlet tinged sky You've become someone I didn't know
Looking down at the flowers blooming on the embankment I became someone who smiles back at you
切なくてただ愛しくて 暮れゆく夏 風になって
瞳閉じて耳を澄ませば 僕と君の未来になった
setsunakute tada itoshikute kure yuku natsu kaze ni natte
hitomi tojite mimi wo sumaseba boku to kimi no mirai ni natta
Sad and just precious It became the fading summer wind
Close you eyes listen carefully it became the future, yours and mine
僕と君の未来になった…
boku to kimi no mirai ni natta. . .
It became the future, yours and mine . . .
t/n: (linguistic fail/flail)
OK, this is gonna be a long one folks. I don't think I've done a proper t/n for a set of lyrics for quite awhile, but this song needs it if you want to get more than a surface understanding of it.
Title
"Kazamidori" translates into "weathervane bird", but the kanji character being used for "bird" here is that for "chicken" or "rooster". So I see an image of your standard, rooster-shaped weathervane here. Just thought I'd mention it, as weathervanes and birds come in all shapes and sizes. XD
Stanza 1
There's a reference to "tsuyukusa" (literal translation "monsoon grass"), or spiderwort, in the second line. Spiderwort has absolutely no cultural meaning attached to it in English. However, that's not quite the case in Japanese. "Tsuyu" refers to the summer monsoon season in Japan. There's a tradition in Japanese poetry to use a "key" word to signify a season and/or mood. The "tsuyukusa" serves that purpose; it serves as a subtle reference to summer and helps to develop the setting for the story being told.
Stanza 2
TONS of information given through the cultural references made here:
kaza oto ni sasoware kimi no umareta basho e futari
hougen majiri no koe kimi ga motto itooshikunatte
Beckoned by the sound of the wind, the two of us go to the place of your birth
Hearing your voice use your dialect You become even more precious to me
Traditionally, you don't visit the hometown of your loved one unless you have a serious relationship. Oftentimes in old-school Japan, the first time one's family meets a boyfriend/girlfriend is when you want to announce that you're going out with someone with the intent to marry, ask permission to be allowed to married, or announce that you're engaged.
The lyrics in the first line imply that this the "two of us", the singer and his girlfriend, are visiting the girl's hometown for the first time. So in other words, they didn't grow up together. They met and fell in love as adults.
In the second line, the singer is slightly surprised to hear a regional dialect or "accent" being used by his lover when they visit her hometown, and this unexpected side to her is endearing to him. He's seeing a side to her that he's never seen before.
Stanza 3
yuuyake zora no shita ashita wa hareru kana
kutsu wo sora takaku ketobashite mitari
Under this sunset sky, we wondered, "Will tomorrow be sunny?"
And even kicked our shoes high up into the sky
The second line refers back to the first. The kicking off a shoe is a game children play in Japan where you predict whether tomorrow will be sunny or not. If your kick off your shoe and it lands right side up, it'll be sunny. If it lands sole side up, it's a prediction of bad weather, usually rain.
Stanza 4
akane sasu sora wo miagete boku no shiranai kimi ni natte
dote ni saku hana wo mioroshi hohoemi kaesu boku ni natta
kasane awasu kioku ni kimi ga tokekomu sore dakede
Looking up at the scarlet tinged sky You became someone I didn't know
Looking down at the flowers blooming on the embankment I became someone who smiles back at you
And with just that, you become a part of these shared memories
The "you became someone I didn't know" is referring to the fact that the singer is seeing a completely different side to his girlfriend that he wasn't aware of. He becomes aware that there's much he doesn't know about her because they didn't grow up together. There's a hint of sadness to this thought. But there's a turnabout as he becomes able to smile back at her in the second line. And in the third line, is (I think) a reference to the fact that even though they don't share a past, they're creating new memories together that they will both share.
Side note here. . . I love the imagery of how the two are positioned. She's looking up at the sunset sky. He's looking down at the flowers on the ground. Juxtaposed images, balancing one another out. . . so pretty. :D
Stanza 5
Weird time shift here. . . now we go back to the singer's childhood. . . remember, the two lovers don't share a childhood. . .
mushi kago tasuki ni kake suri kizu tsukuri nagara miteta
sora ni ukabu kumo ni yume wo nosete toki wo todomete
Slinging the bug cage across a shoulder, I watched as I got scratched up,
The clouds floating in the sky that carried my dreams, stopping time
Cultural reference here with the "mushi kago" (insect cage). It's both a childhood and seasonal reference. Hunting for bugs is a traditional summer pastime for children in Japan (particularly boys). You take your long handled bug net and look for various types of insects. You might look for "singing-type" insects such as "semi" (cicadas) or "suzumushi" (literal translation: "bell bugs" - I don't know what they're called in English - they make a soothing, bell-like sound). Or you might look for fighting bugs like kabuto mushi, horned beetles, and the like. You take a small plastic "bug cage" with you, often made portable by a long strap attached to it. The singer slings it across his shoulder like a "tasuki", or "sash" here. He's probably getting scratched up from climbing trees and/or walking through grass and bushes looking for insects. So the singer is reminiscing about his childhood summers through the "mushi kago" reference.
The sky/clouds reference is a reference to what he and the weathervane bird search for (and finds as an adult), love.
Stanza 6
Past and present meet in this stanza. The school grounds and the horizontal bar are references to childhood, again. But this time the singer and his girlfriend are adults. They're probably at the playground of her elementary school, playing on the horizontal bars, seeing how many times they can go around on it. But then their play turns romantic. . . I see an image of them lined up side by side, playing, and then the mood changes. Their shoulders draw closer together as they lean in towards one another, and then he kisses her. Sweet, no? : D
Stanza 8
kazamidori natsu no owari wo tooku ni mite nani omou
tsuyukusa ni omoi wo hasete kake nuketa koro ni modotte
boku no shiranai keshiki ni boku ga toke komu sore dake de
Weathervane, what do you think when you see the end of summer far in the distance?
My thoughts rode the tsuyukusa, going back to the time I used to run though it
And with just that, I grew accustomed to the unfamiliar scenery
The last line of the stanza probably refers to the discomfort the singer feels because he's in an unfamiliar place, his girlfriend's hometown. But just by thinking back to past summers, he relaxes and becomes accustomed to the scenery.
Stanza 9
kaze no nai machi de kurashi nareteta kedo
boku to kazamidori sagashi ateta sora
I'd grown up living in a town with no wind, but
The weathervane bird and I searched the skies
Metaphor and hidden meanings going on in this stanza. The literal translation for the first line is "I grew accustomed to living in a town with no wind, but". But the "kurashi nareteta" implies that "one grew up a certain way". Wind is a metaphor for "true love".
So there are two possible interpretations for this stanza. With just a surface reading, it could mean that his town literally had no wind blowing through it. But on a deeper level, it means that the singer grew up accustomed to not having a "true love" in his life, or having grown up without ever having experienced "true love".
Both he and the weathervane bird searched the skies for "wind", or "true love". You might even say that the weathervane bird symbolizes the singer and the wind, his girlfriend.
Stanza 11
And this stanza wraps things up with a happy, or rather, a mostly happy ending.
setsunakute tada itoshikute kure yuku natsu kaze ni natte
hitomi tojite mimi wo sumaseba boku to kimi no mirai ni natta
Sad and just precious It became the fading summer wind
Close you eyes listen carefully it became the future, yours and mine
The sadness felt here is that for summers past, happy childhood memories. But those fading summers became the wind (love!). . . so if you close your eyes and listen carefully, you realize that summers past became the wind, a metaphor for the love which both the singer and girlfriend will share together.
Phew, ok. . . told you that was long. (Jeez, the t/n is longer than the translated lyrics themselves ^^;;; ) Now, please understand that this is just my interpretation of the story being told in this song, but it's one that makes the most sense to me. XD Hope my convoluted explanations made sense, and I'm open to questions and comments if they didn't. :D