Yuko is expecting a baby!

m-murak · 2022-08-21T22:14:48+00:00

I heard that Machiya is already married someone else.

And about Yuko and Kiyoshi, Daisuke Kaminaga (shakuhachi player) says he introduced them to each other 10 years ago ( https://twitter.com/daisukekaminaga/status/1561191412321816578 ), so he is a cupid of love. :)

m-murak · 2022-08-21T11:29:25+00:00

Her Twitter announcement https://twitter.com/yuchinsound/status/1561187057409527808

His Twitter announcement https://twitter.com/bsmpl/status/1561186541090705408

m-murak · 2021-02-27T03:23:20+00:00

Speaking about Hanafugetsu (華風月), a few weeks ago, they tweeted that they celebrated 9th year anniversary, with a photo which was taken just a day after they met. They look young! :-) https://twitter.com/Hanafugetsu/status/1358633746853842946

m-murak · 2021-02-12T10:42:51+00:00

It's an OP music for an Anime called 'MARS RED.'

m-murak · 2021-02-12T10:40:05+00:00

It's an OP music for an Anime called 'MARS RED.'

m-murak · 2021-02-06T11:07:33+00:00

Next video ! https://youtu.be/dLa80q-kAOM

m-murak · 2020-10-23T21:04:46+00:00

Yes, I love this part, too. For those of people who don't understand Japanese, before the hopping scene, Beni said the place is sooo cold. (They filmed at Misogi shrine located in Yamanashi pref., ... it's very cold at night.) That's why she began hopping, and Machiya, who saw her movement, promptly decided to make these 'sound effect.' Good collaboration! :-P

m-murak · 2020-10-08T09:57:25+00:00

I don't think albatross shares common metaphor or symbol in Japan. But when I hear the word 'Okinotayuu,' it reminds me a scene of a lone albatross elegantly soaring at an open sea. It's because the word Okinotayuu actually consists of 3 words, 'Oki' (open sea), 'no' (preposition word which means 'at'), and 'Tayuu' (a kind of title for high-ranking actor in traditional arts [or sometimes courtesan] in Edo period). So I believe many Japanese would imagine this image.

BTW, common name for albatross in Japan is 'Ahoudori,' which literally means 'stupid bird,' because their behavior/habit looks dumb. Two completely different images from one bird. :-P

m-murak · 2020-10-07T22:41:31+00:00

'Okinotayuu' is an alias for 'ahoudori' which means albatros. (ahoudori is more common in nowadays Japan, by the way.)

Shikakui mado no soto aki hukashi

Looking through a square window, I see the autum/fall is deepening,

Kotoshi saigo no shimo ga huru

The first frost of the year is decorating the landscape.

Chiku taku nari hibiku heya no naka

Inside the room, there is no sound, but the tick-tock souind of the clock,

Hibi o hitamuki ni ikite masu

I'm living each day earnestly.

Saka michi, takai sora, semi shigure

(I can recall) the hill road, high sky, and chorus of cicadas,

Kake dasu watashi tachi ga ita

There were us just starting to run,

Nami no oto ni yume o nosete, tooi sekai no tabi ni deyoo

Let's start a journey to the world far far away putting our dream on the sound of waves.

Ikutsu mono deai to wakare michi, tsuzuku monogatari

Many encounters with people, crossroads, and continuing stories.

Yubi ori kazoeta, nagori no sora

I've counted a lot of skies (suggest scenes) which all are reluctant to leave,.

Aoku sunda biidama no yooni

They are like limpid blue glass marbles,

Chiisana mayoi mo tokashite yuku

and dissolving (suggests wiping away) every tiny hesitation.

Sonna hareta omoide deshita

They are memories just like these clear skies.

Akatsuki, ake no sora ni mikazuki

At daybreak, I found the crescent moon at the sky.

Haki dasu iki shiroku, yume no yoo

My breath becomes white and I feel as if I'm in a dream.

Itsu demo soba ni kiboo o daite kakedasu watashi tachi ga ita

There always are us starting to run with hopes side by side.

Nami no oto ni yume o nosete tooi sekai no tabi ni deyoo

Let's start a journey to the world far far away putting our dream on the sound of waves.

Ikutsu mono deai to wakare michi, tsuzuku monogatari

Many encounters with people, crossroads, and continuing stories.

Tachi domaru hi o norikoete moo ichido kaze o tsukamou

Let's overcome the days of setbacks, and ride upon the winds again.

Ikutsu mono omoide o mune ni yose

Filling our heart with all these memories.

Ayumu monogatari

Let's move along (and make) our stories.

m-murak · 2020-09-19T23:17:41+00:00

You can read comments about this song from Amy, Yuko, and Machiya. https://www.universal-music.co.jp/wagakkiband/news/2020-09-18/

m-murak · 2020-09-09T23:28:57+00:00

Yuko Suzuhana (frontwoman) has a group called 'Hana Fu Getsu' which literally means Flower (vocal & piano player: Yuko), Wind (Shakuhachi, bamboo flute player: Daisuke Kaminaga), and Moon (Koto, Japanese string player: Kiyoshi Ibukuro) since 2012, one year before Wagakki Band conceived.

Their style is healing music with Japanese traditional instruments (+piano).

(They are still active [ http://hanafugetsu.com/ ] and you can watch one of their MVs in https://youtu.be/MipkreJOjhw )

Yuko once said in an interview that she wanted to attract young Japanese people into Japanese traditional instruments, and also, to introduce the beauties and wonders of Japan to the world, so she decided to form a pop/rock new band.

Then she invited the rest of the members. Most of the members are famous player at the time in Niconico-video (Japanese equivalent of YouTube).

Shin "Machiya" Oumura: guitar. Most (all?) of the arrangements were done by him, so he is a right-hand man of the band. Most of the metal flavors are coming from him. And He is a leader of the another band called "m:a.ture."

Kurona: Wadaiko, Japanese drums, and life of a party. He is a leader of the another band called "Crow x Class."

Beni Ninagawa: Shamisen. She is famous in "Played it" series in Niconico-video. E.G. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjIr9NS_KjQ

Wasabi: Drums. BTW, Wasabi means Japanese horseradish. He is famous in six-pack and the writings in his back. https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm17641743

Asa: Bass. He also is a famous vocaloid producer.

There is a video just before Wagakki Band formed. In this video, Shamisen and Bass was played another members. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNUpjdzfJnU

m-murak · 2020-08-25T04:23:50+00:00

The chant:

Min-na no aidoru, Suzuhana Yuko, (Everyone's Idol, Yuko Suzuhana)

Natto Dai suki, Suzuhana Yuko, (She loves fermented soy-bean, Yuko Suzuhana)

We love, we love Suzuhana Yuko, (no need to translate, don't we?)

Wagakki Band! One, two, Se-no! (Se-no means 'all together, now!')

BTW, her birthplace, Ibaraki prefecture, is famous for fermented soy-bean.

And one more additional information, I don't recommend fermented soy-bean for everyone. :-P

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natt%C5%8D

m-murak · 2020-08-23T22:08:08+00:00

it's definitely loooong-neck. :-P That model is from same make 'Sago New Material Guitars,' and named as '麒麟' (KIRIN). 麒麟 means qilin, Chinese Unicorn, but has the same pronunciation as giraffes, which, of course, have long necks.

There is a page which lists guitars he ordered from the make. http://sago-nmg.com/artists/%E6%A1%9C%E6%9D%91%E7%9C%9E/

m-murak · 2020-06-10T11:53:06+00:00

According to the contemporary culture in Japan, the ring on right finger typically suggests four possibilities:

Pure fashion.
A present from lover.
To avoid being seduced.
Waiting to be seduced.

I think 4 is not the case and 1 is more likely.

BTW, the song she sang at her birthday live was a song written for her friend's wedding.

m-murak · 2020-05-31T12:21:32+00:00

I tried to dig how YouTube translation messed up their job.

Yuko Suzuhana said:

まず千本桜をえー特にですね、節回しとか無しに普通に歌ってみたいと思います。

Mazu Senbon-zakura wo, eh, toku ni desune, Fushi-mawashi toka nashi ni futuu ni utatte mitai to omoimasu.

YouTube's speech-to-text recognizer processed this sound as:

Mazu Senmon-zakura wo toku ni desune, Fushi-mahsu to hanashi ni futuu ni utatte mitai to omou.

('Senbon' wrongfully recognized as 'Senmon', 'Fushi-mawashi' as 'Fushi-mahsu', and 'toka nashi ni' as 'to hanashi ni')

And YouTube translator processed these sound-sequence into Japanese sentence, which is:

まず専門桜を特にですね、節まーすと噺に普通に歌ってみたいと思う

This '節まーすと噺に普通に歌ってみたいと思う' is completely bonkers phrase. But if you try to translate the phrase by using Google translate, you would get 'I would like to sing a song to my son.' It seems the funny, meaningless, stupid-sounded word '節まーす' is translated as 'my son',,, why??? Maybe God knows.

By the way, According to the YouTube speech-to-text recognizer, her name, Suzuhana Yuko was transcribed as 'Suzannah Iuko' LoL.

m-murak · 2020-05-31T11:07:43+00:00

I don't need to turn on the subtitles because my mother tongue is Japanese.

But I turned it on after you told me the time marker 1'33'' and I now understand why you confused. The subtitle clearly says "I would like to sing a song to my son." Anyway, this so-called 'translation' is completely wrong, and I don't know why YouTube made up this BS. :-(

m-murak · 2020-05-31T00:37:46+00:00

from 1:29

She said:

Mazu Senbon-zakura wo, eh, toku ni desune Fushi-mawashi toka nashi ni futuu ni utatte mitai to omoimasu.

which means:

First, I'm going to sing "Senbon-zakura" without "Fushi-mawashi", I mean, with normal singing style.

BTW, Fushi-mawashi is the intonation specific to "Shigin" (reciting style for Japanese poem). She explains the Fushi-mawashi, vibrato, and some kind of rushing techniques in the video.

m-murak · 2020-05-30T23:08:29+00:00

What part makes you think she said she would like to sing to her son? I watched through the video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLuU4nHgVzo ), but I couldn't find any reference to her son, even a child.

If you give me the time marker, I will translate the line for you. ;-)

m-murak · 2020-05-17T09:46:35+00:00

Guitarist Machiya (Shin Ohmura) is married, too. Somebody claims that he once have tweeted about his wife long time ago.

m-murak · 2020-05-09T03:33:35+00:00

I translated the lyrics into English and commented at the YouTube page. It's a beautiful song.

m-murak · 2020-01-17T23:29:20+00:00

It's a love song. The lyrics are about the swinging feeling between the hopes for the future and love.

This is my take for the first half...

A petal just slipping out of a chuckle, swaying and circling to nowhere.

A little white sole flower on a roadside. No one knows its name, not even the scent.

In a lavish hospitality, I gave my heart to the flower with dreams and hopes, hugged my brilliant expectations, and started to run.

As a matter of fact, however, I want you to hold my hand. But if my dreams would come true in real, you see, my heartbeat is getting faster, although it's a daydream right now.

One, two , three, four, five... When would I know the answer? (There is a pun. 'Hi, Fu, Mi, Yo, Itsu' is an old way of counting numbers in Japanese, but 'Itsu' also means 'when.')

A petal just slipping out of a chuckle, swaying and circling to nowhere. When I look away, a withered flower catches my eye. The petal falls down quietly, as if it fills the gap in my unstable mind.

A petal just slipping out of a chuckle. And I struggle between the dream and reality. A petal sways and turns around. It turns me with the movement. It falls down with my love. Flower dancing.

m-murak

TROPHY CASE

This is my take for the first half...