Recording made on August 8, 1939, by the Imperial Japanese Army Band conducted by Ōnuma Satoru [ja]. The B and C sections of the march[time needed] use the "Battōtai" melody.
The song references the Battōtai, who fought in the Battle of Tabaruzaka during the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion. Due to supply problems and heavy rain, the Satsuma rebels were forced to engage with the Imperial Japanese Army in hand-to-hand combat. The Satsuma rebels inflicted heavy casualties against Imperial forces, who were mostly conscripts with no experience in wielding swords. Lieutenant General Yamagata Aritomo selected and deployed men from the surrounding area who were proficient with swords. He named this unit the Battōtai, or "Drawn-Sword regiment."[4]
History
Toyama Masakazu, the poem's author
Charles Leroux, the song's composer
The song's lyrics were originally a poem[5] written by Toyama Masakazu [ja].[6] Toyama had been inspired by the English poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which he had translated.[2] He published "Poem of the Battōtai" in book Selection of Poetry in the New Style[7] (『新体詩抄』),[8] published 1882.[8] Despite the name of the book, Toyama's poem was written in the "old style". The poem gained immediate popularity amongst boys and young men.[5] The genre of gunka, the Japanese term for military music, gives a favorable bias towards themes of death.[9]
"Battōtai" was first publicly performed the same year at a concert hosted by the Greater Japan Music Society at the Rokumeikan. It was considered the first Western-style military song in Japan and the first to become popular across the country, although it was initially believed to be difficult to sing for Japanese individuals unaccustomed to modulation.[10][12]
Leroux took the tune of "Battōtai" and another one of his songs, "Fusōka", and created an arrangement called the "Army March" [ja]. It was used as the official march of the Imperial Japanese Army and was used to announce military successes during World War II.[13] The march is still part of the repertoire of the military bands of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the National Police Agency.[14] It has been the march of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force since 2007.[3]
Others
The song's tune was borrowed for a song titled "The Normanton Sinks Beneath the Waves", written after the English ship Normanton sank off the coast of Japan.[11] The tune was also used for a wide variety of songs, including "The Voice of the Pines," "The Tsingtao Motif," "Naramaru's Chaos," "The Ancient Moon and Flower," and "First Comes Ichinomiya Shrine."[14]
Ware wa kangun waga teki wa
Tenchi irezaru chouteki zo
Teki no taishou taru mono wa
Kokon musou no eiyuu de
Kore ni shitagou tsuwamono wa
Tomo ni hyoukan kesshi no shi
Kijin ni hajinu yuuaru mo
Ten no yurusanu hangyaku wo
Okoseshi mono wa mukashi yori
Sakaeshi tameshi arazaru zo
Teki no horoburu sore made wa
Susume ya susume moro tomo ni
Tamachiru tsurugi nuki tsurete
Shisuru kakugo de susumu beshi
Mikuni no fuuto mono no fu wa
Sonomi wo mamoru tamashii no
Ishiin kono kata sutaretaru
Yamato-gatana no ima sara ni
Mata yo ni izuru mi no homare
Teki mo mikata mo moro tomo ni
Yaiba no shita ni shisu beki ni
Yamato-damashii aru mono no
Shisubeki toki wa ima naruzo
Hito ni okurete haji kakuna
Teki no horoburu sore made wa
Susume ya susume moro tomo ni
Tamachiru tsurugi nuki tsurete
Shisuru kakugo de susumu beshi
Mae wo nozomeba tsuruginari
Migi mo hidari mo mina tsurugi
Tsurugi no yama ni noboranwa
Mirai no koto to kikitsuru ni
Kono yo ni oite manoatari
Tsurugi no yama ni noboru nomo
Wagami no naseru zaigou wo
Horobosu tame ni arazushite
Zoku wo seibatsu suru ga tame
Tsurugi no yama mo nann' no sono
Teki no horoburu sore made wa
Susume ya susume moro tomo ni
Tamachiru tsurugi nuki tsurete
Shinuru kakugo de susumu beshi
Tsurugi no hikari kirameku wa
Kumoma ni miyuru imazuma ka
Yomo ni uchidasu housei wa
Ten ni todoroku ikazuchi ka
Teki no yaiba ni fusumono ya
Tama ni kudakete tama no o no
Taete hakanaku usuru mi no
Kabane wa Tsumite yama wo nashi
Sono chi wa nagarete kawa wo nasu
Shichi ni hairu nomo kimi ga tame
Teki no horoburu sore made wa
Susume ya susume moro tomo ni
Tamachiru tsurugi nuki tsurete
Shinuru kakugo de susumu beshi
Dangan'uhi no aida nimo
Futatsu naki mi wo oshimazu ni
Susumu wa ga mi wa noarashi ni
Fukarete kiyuru shiratsuyu no
Hakanaki saigo wo togurutomo
Chugi no tame ni ususu mi no
Shishite kai aru mono naraba
Shisurumo sarani uraminashi
Wareto owowan hitotachi wa
Ippo mo ato e hikunakare
Teki no horoburu sore made wa
Susume ya susume moro tomo ni
Tamachiru tsurugi nuki tsurete
Shinuru kakugo de susumu beshi
Ware ima koko ni shinan mi wa
Kimi no tame nari Kuni no tame
Sutsu beki mono wa inochi nari
Tatoi kabane wa kuchinu tomo
Chugi no tame ni usuru mi no
Na wa kanbashiku nochi no yo ni
Nagaku tsutaete nokoru nan
Bushi to umareta kai mo naku
Gi mo naki inu to iwaruruna
Hikyou mono to na soshirare so
Teki no horoburu sore made wa
Susume ya susume moro tomo ni
Tamachiru tsurugi nuki tsurete
Shinuru kakugo de susumu beshi
We are the government troops and our enemies are Heaven and Earth do not tolerate the Emperor's enemies
The enemy's commander is one who it is
through ancient times has no equal, a 'hero'.
The soldiers who follow him are
United as fierce warriors ready to fight to the death Demon Gods, shakened their courage not
Heaven will not forgive their rebellion.
Those who have stand up against us since olden times
Have never had their moment of glory.
Until that time that our enemy is destroyed
Charge, charge, together as one
Drawing our swords, glistening like a broken jewel
We must charge forth, determined to die.
Our divine nation's ways and the samurai's
Bodies were defended by the spirits
Though thrown away after the restoration Japanese swords now and again may be carried.
Again in our era, our reputation returned;
Enemy and ally together as one
Must die under the edge of the blade
And to those with the Yamato spirit.
The time to die is now
Do not disgrace yourself with delay.
Until that time that our enemy is destroyed
Charge, charge, together as one
Drawing our swords, glistening like a broken jewel
We must charge forth, determined to die.
As I look ahead, there is a sword
To my right and to my left, everywhere a sword
To climb a mountain of swords
They say is a deed for the future.
Seeing this world from the top with my own eyes
I climbed this mountain of swords
Not for the sake of atoning
For the sins I have committed.
But for the sake of subjugating the rebels is
The mountain of swords — what does it matter?
Until that time that our enemy is destroyed
Charge, charge, together as one
Drawing our swords, glistening like a broken jewel
We must charge forth, determined to die.
The glint of light on a sword —
Is it a flash of lightning between the clouds?
The voice of the artillery firing in all directions —
Is it the roar of the thunder?
The ones defeated by the enemy's blades
Or those struck by the enemy's rounds —
Their life ended, their bodies without a grave
The corpses piled up into a mountain.
Their blood streaming into a river —
They go into certain death for the sake of the Emperor.
Until that time that our enemy is destroyed
Charge, charge, together as one
Drawing our swords, glistening like a broken jewel
We must charge forth, determined to die.
Even amidst a rain of bullets,
The body of which there is no two of them, without a regret
Charges forward — myself, like the tempest's
Gusts that blow away from the white dew.
Should I meet my end, unburied
For loyalty's sake I will have died
If it be that I die to that effect,
Then to death I will not hold a grudge.
Those people who think they are as same as me
Do not tread back one step at the time.
Until that time that our enemy is destroyed
Charge, charge, together as one
Drawing our swords, glistening like a broken jewel
We must charge forth, determined to die.
Now and here, my body is dying
For the good of the emperor, the good of the empire
Discarded shall be our lives
Even if our corpses may rot.
For our loyalty and composure, our names
Esteemed among the later generations
Shall long be passed down by those who remained
As a warrior, you were born — a life without worth.
And let nobody call you an useless dog
Nor let them slander you as a coward.
Until that time that our enemy is destroyed
Charge, charge, together as one
Drawing our swords, glistening like a broken jewel
We must charge forth, determined to die.
Score
References
^Kotō, Masayoshi (1987). 西南戦争警視隊戦記 [The Seinan War Police Chronicles] (in Japanese). 産経新聞データシステム (Sankei Shimbun Data System). pp. 221–222.
^Kotō, Masayoshi (1987). 西南戦争警視隊戦記 [The Seinan War Police Chronicles] (in Japanese). 産経新聞データシステム (Sankei Shimbun Data System). pp. 221–222.
^ abcTakeshi Kodama. Popular Song of the Meiji Era: A Study of Hayariuta and the Nature of Their Popularity Based on Song Collections in the Kindai Digital Library, thesis for University of New England, 2010, pp. 92—94
^Shively, Donald H., ed. (1971). "IV. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and Its Cultural Effects on Japan". Tradition and Modernization in Japanese Culture. Princeton University Press. p. 134. ISBN 0-691-00020-4. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
^Takeshi Kodama. Popular Song of the Meiji Era: A Study of Hayariuta and the Nature of Their Popularity Based on Song Collections in the Kindai Digital Library thesis for University of New England, 2010, pp. 92—94
^ abcKurata, Yoshihiro. 民衆歌謡：近世末期から近代への流れ [Folk Songs: From the Late Early Modern Period to the Modern Era]. 岩波講座 日本の音楽・アジアの音楽 (Iwanami Lectures on Japanese and Asian Music) (in Japanese). Tokyo: Tokyo Shoseki. pp. 153–159. ISBN 4000103628.
^Ikuro, Anzai (April 2008). 10万人が殺された日 東京大空襲と北海道・東北の空襲 [The Day 100,000 People Were Killed: The Great Tokyo Air Raid and the Air Raids in Hokkaido and Tohoku] (in Japanese). New Japan Publishing. ISBN 9784406051330.
^ ab"Баттотай" [Battotai]. www.nihongunka.com (in Russian). Retrieved 2025-11-03.
