軍歌：父よあなたは強かった (Father you were strong)

Описание: With English subtitles.
This is the original Video by its actual maker, me.
Corrections to translation added via subtitle function

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I believe this was my first attempt at a gunka video, over a decade ago, so please excuse the editing and small translation mistakes (since corrected).

Historical Document ahoy
I used to be very interested in the Second Sino-Japanese war, so this shows it I guess:
A good example of what type of music regularly played on the radio in militarist Japan. The song stresses the virtues of duty and sacrifice of the Japanese soldier for the sake of the country. As always: a historical document, not for politics or incitement. I find it also an example of traditional Japanese music (it belongs to a genre of its own, known as 'Gunka' or military music).
Yes, I translated the song by hand and compiled the footage to go along with it. Why did I go to the trouble? Interest and vanity. And to see what I can do.

Japanese is a very ambiguous language and there happens to be a lot of symbolism in the song, so my translation might seem vague in parts. There are enough metaphors here、 one predictably drawing on the Samurai belief that, like the Sakura, a true warrior achieves perfection on the battlefield, then withers and dies.
Often my translation is literal, then sometimes more open (my Japanese is only self-taught); therefore I hope the holders of PhDs in Japanese won't nit-pick too much.

CORRECTION: A long while after first creating this, and thanks to the since available subtitle function I was able to add a correction to a bad translation error. Kudan is a place name, referring to the district in Tokyo where the Yasukuni shrine is located and the verse refers to the blooming of cherry blossoms there in honour of fallen soldiers (the souls of the fallen were believed to return to the homeland, to Yasukuni after they died). Apologies for this.