Aogeba Tōtoshi

The melody is often said to be based on a traditional Scottish folk song of uncertain provenance (similar to "Hotaru no hikari" borrowing the melody of "Auld Lang Syne"); however, others insist that both lyrics and music were by Meiji-era educator Isawa Shūji (1851–1917).

Its first known appearance was in 1884, when Isawa added it to the Ministry of Education's published collection of songs for primary-school students.

After these protests died down, the further ebb of older notions resulted in the song, which used archaic grammar and vocabulary even for the 1880s, being largely abandoned by public schools (especially primary schools), in favor of alternative songs such as "Tabidachi no hi ni", "Okuru kotoba" by Kaientai, or "Sakura" by Naotarō Moriyama.

Even for those schools which continued to use this song, the second stanza, which contains the lyrics "mi o tate, na o age" (身を立て名を上げ, "stand tall, and make a name for yourself"), focusing on personal success, was felt at odds with the changing state of society and often omitted.

In the postwar period, children's author Tamao Fujita published a version with modernized lyrics, but it was unpopular among parents because it did not elicit tears the way the original song did.