My Showa Kayou 16　Song of Mothra

Japanese Title "Mothra no Uta"
They smoothly sang,
'Mothra ya Mothra.'
A mysterious chant that children love.

Children often have a fondness for chants that seem to carry no clear meaning. I was no different when I was little.

I grew up in a small ramen shop in the busy downtown area of a little town. Next door was a pachinko parlor, and just behind our shop stood the restroom of a movie theater. From the room on the second floor, I could see the roof of the restroom and a ventilation pipe spinning round and round.

If you walked a few doors down the main street, passing the butcher shop and laundry, and turned at the corner fishmonger, you'd reach the open space in front of the "Toho-kan" cinema. During summer vacations, we gathered there every morning for "Kanpo Radio Exercises."

Back then, the children's association was packed with kids—something hard to imagine today.

Mothers, too, had no time to reflect on whether things like the children's association were necessary or if early morning radio exercises were a good idea. Nor did they have the luxury to question if the latest film might be inappropriate for young minds. It was simply understood: "Go to the group walk to school" or "Go to the early morning exercises." And when a new Toei movie was showing, the older kids were responsible for taking the younger ones.

"Mothra," in retrospect, is a film that raises some interesting questions.

In the movie, a Japanese cargo ship gets stranded on Infant Island after a typhoon. Even though the island should be contaminated by nuclear tests conducted by the fictional country Rolisica, the crew shows no signs of radiation exposure. To add to the mystery, there are indigenous people living on the island, prompting a joint Japanese-Russian investigation.

In 1945, the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. By 1952, the U.S. occupation had ended, and in 1961, "Mothra" hit the screens.

The themes embedded in films like this—"Who is the real villain?" and "What are we protecting?"—held deep significance, especially for children.

The villain in "Mothra" is the fictional country Rolisica, responsible for the hydrogen bomb tests. When I asked my father, "Where is Rolisica?" he explained, "It's a combination of Russia and America." How clever, I thought—this subtle way the Japanese pointed out the superpowers!

Another villain is Clark Nelson, who captures the tiny fairies, played by The Peanuts, and exploits them in a show for profit.

The film condemns both the inhumane hydrogen bomb tests and the act of kidnapping the islanders to turn them into a spectacle. To a Japanese audience, such actions would be seen as the ultimate evil. My young mind, of course, didn’t comprehend the geopolitical nuances, but looking back, it's clear that Rolisica was a metaphor for both Russia and America.

Today, I have a deep respect for the filmmakers who dared to raise these important issues.

After watching the movie, I immediately began singing 🎵Mothra ya Mothra🎵, though for the parts I didn’t quite understand, I’d fill in with 🎵Mothra ra ra ra Mothra🎵 or something close enough. The melody stuck with me from the moment I saw the film, and before long, my friends and I compared notes and pieced together the full lyrics.

The music of Yuji Koseki was truly remarkable.

But what’s even more incredible than the melody are the lyrics. According to Wiki, there’s an interesting backstory behind them.

Apparently, a male Indonesian student at the University of Tokyo was asked to convey the meaning of the lyrics, and he translated them into Indonesian. Meanwhile, assistant directors supposedly crafted the original poem in French, then converted it to English phonetics before translating it into Esperanto, which was then sung and played in reverse to form the lyrics. (Laughs)

There are various theories, but here’s a rough Japanese translation of the lyrics:

Mothra, eternal life, Mothra
Answer the prayers of your sorrowful servants and rise once more
Mothra, with your mighty life force, protect us
Guard our peace, for peace is the path to eternal prosperity.

Wow! This theme still runs deep in Japanese subculture today, particularly in anime and games.

When my son was playing Final Fantasy X, I noticed a similar theme in the "Hymn of the Fayth." The Final Fantasy series is woven into my memories of raising children during the Heisei era.

🎵いえ　ゆい
　のぼ　めの
　れん　みり
　よじゅよご

🎵はさ
　てか
　なえ
　くたまえ

The meaning of the lyrics is said to be revealed when read vertically. It translates to:

"Pray, oh Yevon—dream, oh child of prayer—endlessly prosper."

I discovered this later on.

In films, anime, and games, you often find the wishes of a nation reflected within them. For the Japanese, these wishes are peace and prosperity, and the ongoing struggle to achieve them.

Tomorrow is August 15th, which I refer to as the Day of Ceasefire.

I cannot read or write in English.
This text has been translated by ChatGPT.
I haven't edited it, so there may be some strange parts.

【Reference Video】

便所煙突くるくると廻れ

【Japanese Version of the Article】