Umi Yukaba

"Umi Yukaba" (海行かば) is a Japanese song whose lyrics are based on a chōka poem by Ōtomo no Yakamochi in the Man'yōshū (poem 4094), an eighth century anthology of Japanese poetry, set to music by Kiyoshi Nobutoki.

The distant ancestors of the Ōtomo clan were known as masters of the royal Kume guard.

After Japan surrendered in 1945, "Umi Yukaba" and other gunka were banned by the Allied occupation forces.

[2] Prior to Nobutoki’s composition, the poem had been set to music in the trio section of the Gunkan kōshinkyoku.

[3] 海行かば / 水漬く屍 / 山行かば / 草生す屍 / 大君の / 辺にこそ死なめ / かえりみはせじ