One of my Twitter mutuals, @4T1Lo3Seagle, found this “audio” clip on Youtube.
Officially in NHK’s video archive, there is only one episode left for this Taiga Drama–episode 50, the final chapter on the battle of Kawanakajima. But it seems somehow this uploader has the video or at least audio recordings of other episodes and made this audio clip to extract the highlights.
It may not be easy to follow what they say if you are not a native speaker of Japanese, but just listening to the music pieces written by Mr. TOMITA Isao for this drama, I’m sure you will find it amazing. Not only the opening theme but also other pieces are so beautiful, classy, elegant but yet with good flow and interesting change of tempos.
As @4T1Lo3Seagle mentioned, if there had been a soundtrack available for the “Ten to Chi to” Taiga Drama series, editing the music clips might have been easier for Yuzu.
At around 46:40, Lord Kenshin’s speech to his men before the battle of Kawanakajima starts.
Listen! The fate of Masatora*1 solely lies in this battle. Strike at the heart of the enemy as one. Our only target is the enemy’s general, TAKEDA Shingen! Avoid useless battles as much as possible. If anybody stands in your way, slash him with the sword, or pierce him with the spear! When your sword has broken, or you have consumed all the arrows, bite off the throat of your enemy! That’s the war. Think that this battle is the very first step to establish order in the Capital of Kyoto! This is the time to demonstrate the spirit and ability of Samurai in Echigo. Go, proceed towards the target!
<Original Japanese>
聞け！この政虎が一世の運否、ひとえに今日の戦にあり。討って一丸となって敵の中枢を突け。目指すは敵将武田信玄ただ一人！無駄な戦闘は極力避けよ。行く手を阻むものあらば斬り捨てよ。突き捨てよ！刀折れ矢が突きた時は喉笛を食いちぎれ。これが戦だ。京都の都に秩序を打ち立てる第一歩の戦と思え。越後武士の本領これに在り。いざ目して*2行け！」
Translator’s note:
- Masatora is the name of Kenshin at the time of 4th battle of Kawanakajima. Several months before the battle, he became the head of Uesugi family and inherited the position of Kanto Kanrei (関東管領, or a shogunal deputy of the Kanto region). On this opportunity he changed his name from NAGAO Kagetora to UESUGI Masatora.
- I (@evergreenjade) transcribed “Iza-Mokushite-Ike” as “いざ目して行け” and translated it into “Go, proceed towards the target!”. However there could be another intepretation. @4T1Lo3Seagle transcribed it as “いざ黙して行け” and in this case, the translation will be “Go, go in silence”. Both could be possible — since there are so many honomyms in the Japanese language, this kind of situation sometimes happens. If “Iza-Mokushite-Ike” is supposed to resonate with “Our only target is the enemy’s general, TAKEDA Shingen!”, the former interpretation works fine. If “Iza-Mokushite-Ike” is associated with “Samurai in Echigo”, the latter interpretaiton is possible. Or could be both. The Japanese people love this kind of dual meaning, pun or play on words. Since this is not taken from the novel, but scinerio writer’s original text, there is no means to confirm what was the intention of the writer.
And then the opening theme comes in. What an impressive drama making!
First published:
2021-01-13
Edited: 2021-01-14
(minor correction and addition of translator’s notes)