Title: hana ichi monme
Single: 「名前は、未だ無ひ。」 (track 003 – track 002 in first press)
Album: 15TH ANNIVERSARY BEST [花鳥ノ調] (track 002) self-cover
Composer: 沙我
Lyrics: 将
[花鳥ノ調] arrangement: 沙我
The very first edition of this song was released as a single on July 5th 2004, while ALICE NINE. still considered themselves a session band. It was re-released twice more over the course of that same year, and then rearranged and re-recorded many years later, to be released in spring of 2019 on their 15TH ANNIVERSARY BEST [kachou no shirabe] compilation album. Although in the first edition of the single, this song was track 2, they chose to make it track 3 on the two subsequent editions.
歌詞 》
華一匁
You can view a copy of the lyrics in their original Japanese online [ here ].
In the rearranged version, Show modified the lyrics in two of the lines. The changes are highlighted in blue below:
Verse 2
Orig.] 世界中の何かよりもルールが嫌いで
2019] 世界中の誰かよりもルールが嫌いで
Verse 5
Orig.] 僕らはどこまでも弱く…
2019] 僕らはどこまでも弱いんだ…
The lyrics also contain one phrase in the last line (below, in red) that is never actually sung.
Verse 6
僕に生きる意味を教えて…終。否、続。
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English Translation 》
1 Monme of Magnificence ¹
My five-year-old self’s dream was to be someone else
Cause I hate myself more than anyone else in the world
My fourteen-year-old self’s dream was to be an extraordinary figure ²
Orig.] Cause I hate rules more than anything else in the world
2019] Cause I hate rules more than anyone else in the world
Bird in the woven, woven cage, when, when will we meet? ³
“Who is it behind you?”
Always, I was looking out of a cage
A dream of being all on my own that went on forever, without end
Orig.] We’re weak in every way… ⁴
2019] Cause we’re weak in every way… ⁵
I’ll close my eyes again today, forever without ever becoming an adult, so
Teach me the meaning of life…the end. No, a sequel. ⁶
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NOTES / INTERPRETATION:
Important. Certain lines have been marked as “Orig.”, meaning that they were the originally published lyrics from 2004. Below them are lines marked “2019” to indicate changes in wording found in the lyrics from their 15TH ANNIVERSARY BEST [kachou no shirabe] album. Both are official.
oo1. A ‘monme’ is a very specific unit of measurement (3.75g), used for a now obsolete form of currency, which is referred to as a ‘mace’ in English. Several other countries used this same unit, under slightly different names, as currency as well. The kanji used for ‘monme’ (匁) seems to be one that is specific to Japan, and if you compared the weight of one 1 monme with the coins in circulation today, it might be equivalent to a 5-yen coin. So the title is really calling to mind a value of currency, not weight. The kanji used for ‘magnificence’ is interesting too (華). It means ‘flower’, but is mainly used in given names, or in words carrying meanings like ‘magnificent’, ‘gorgeous’, or ‘extravagant’. If you use that kanji, you’re thinking more about a flower in a metaphorical sense, or the properties of a flower. So the title is less straightforward than it seems at first. We could think of it as, “1 monme’s worth of flowers” (where the flowers are very tiny, or maybe dried)… but it would probably be more accurate to think of it as something like, “1 monme’s worth of magnificence” (which would make it quite self-deprecating, calling to mind the speaker’s dream of being someone extraordinary). Either way, 1 monme (or mace) is a very small amount, probably the smallest unit of currency at the time. To compare it to Canadian or American currency, it would be like saying “one penny’s worth of magnificence”. These days, we think of pennies as being nearly worthless. You can’t buy anything with just a penny.
oo2. More specifically, the word that I chose to translate as ‘extraordinary figure’ would be someone who went down in history, for good or bad, to be remembered after death.
oo3. This line and the one that follows is from the Kagome Kagome children’s song, which is sung as part of a game (they’re written almost verbatim). One child sits in the middle with a blindfold (the ‘demon’), and the other children sing the song while moving around the ‘demon’. At the end of the song, they would stop, and the ‘demon’ would have to guess which child was standing at their back. The lyrics themselves, short as they are, have regional differences and many different interpretations! That being said, here I went with a fairly straightforward interpretation. I chose to use the word ‘cage’, though the word in original Japanese can also mean ‘basket’… in either case, these would be made of woven material.
oo4. In the second repetition of the chorus, instead of “yowaku” (weak) Show sings “tsuyoku” (strong).
oo5. In the second repetition of the chorus, instead of “yowainda” (weak) Show sings “tsuyoinda” (strong). The very slight difference in wording for this updated version really just adds a sense of emphasis or implication that is difficult to convey in English without making things clunky. So, ’cause’ was the winner.
oo6. The part in bold red at the end is written in the lyric booklet, but is not sung. Instead, Show makes vocalizations. As to what it might mean… my interpretation is fairly dark, and the fact that Show makes vocalizations instead of actually singing that part of the lyrics kind of supports it. I think ‘the end’ means that the speaker has died (literally, ‘the end’ of their life story). But then there is a correction (‘no, a sequel’), which I have taken to mean that the speaker dies hoping they’ll be reincarnated into a better life situation – the ‘sequel’ of their life story will be better. Darkly hopeful. The addition of these few words change the tone of the song a fair bit, so it’s interesting that they are left unsung – only someone reading the lyric booklet would get the full story, so to speak. It’s also interesting that the song itself, when you listen to it, is really upbeat, and that the children’s song lyrics in the middle of it gives it a backbone of naiveté… the emotional tone and contrast in the lyrics is almost disorienting. There is childlike contempt, an adult sense of bitterness, the implication of death at the end, and the darkly cheerful inclusion of two lines of a children’s song.
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The above was translated by me; for the original post and more notes, check [ PuncProsody ].
If you’d like to share the translation, please link to this page. Do not repost it. Thank you.
Other Fan Translations:
English: akatsuki .
Français: Nautiljon .
If you would like me to link to your translation, or know of another translation that has been made (in any language), please let me know and I’ll put up a link to it. The more the merrier.
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Behind the Scenes
In one of their earliest magazine interviews from while they were still a session band, they discussed a few details pertaining to the song:
Show: The moment I heard Hana Ichi Monme I really wanted to add the “Kagome Kagome” children’s song to it.
SHOXX 2004.08 vol 138
Saga: I was thinking that I wanted those sorts of lyrics for the song, so it’s really great that you did it. I played the bass while really thinking about elevating the singing, so I want you to listen to the singing first and foremost.
The かごめ かごめ (“Kagome Kagome“) children’s song has origins just as mysterious as its cryptic one verse of lyrics. You can read a short but interesting write-up in English about it [ here ].
In another early interview from when they were still a session band and hadn’t added the dot to their name, Show again commented on the writing of the song’s lyrics:
Show: When I got the song from Saga-kun and listened to it, the phrase whose impression stayed with me the most was the sound of the bass. And I tried writing lyrics my way, but I strongly believed that it was likely mine and Saga’s intent came to a mutual understanding.
hévn 2004.08 vol 13
Saga: That’s Show-kun’s wild fantasy (smile).
Years later, in 2018, Saga began rearranging the song for rerecording in anticipation of it being included on their 15th ANNIVERSARY BEST set of albums slated for release the following spring, in 2019.
Translation: Personally, the songs whose rerecording work I’m looking forward to are ‘hana ichi monme’ and ‘GRADATION’. They’re going to get ultra-cool. All songs other than those are work that’s a huge weight on my shoulders 😈
Translation: Through the production this time, I realized before the release that the level of appreciation for hana ichi monme as a song would rise the most. 🥃 TIME MACHINE, Le Grand Bleu: I think these two songs will take a particularly long time to get accustomed to.