Sakura Sakura
The Japanese cherry-blossom song as Tokyo's music school first printed it in 1888, for 2 to 4 singers: the tune in its own five-note scale over soft held notes on "oo", like a koto's open strings, with no Western chords. Slow and calm, sung in Japanese (the words are shown in romaji).
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The parts
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The first verse
Words: traditional JapaneseTune: traditional Japanese (printed 1888)
sa ku ra sa ku raya yo i no so ra wami wa ta su ka gi rika su mi ka ku mo kani o i zo i zu rui za ya i za yami ni yu ka n
About Sakura Sakura
Sakura Sakura, the Japanese song of cherry blossom, has its earliest known printing in 1888, by Tokyo's music school, in a collection of music for the koto, a long zither, with the tune written in Western notes. It uses only five notes, the in scale of Japanese koto music, and ends on a note that sounds open rather than finished. Our arrangement is read from that 1888 printing, the Sōkyokushū, and moved a minor third up to sit in a beginner's range. It is sung in Japanese, with the words shown in romaji, slow and calm, for 2 to 4 singers: the tune over soft held notes on "oo", like a koto's open strings, with no Western chords.
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