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Song of Human Revolution
人间革命之歌 | 人間革命の歌
Ningen Kakumei no Uta

Scroll down or click link below for translations and backgrounds.

1. English Translation/Background

2. Chinese Translation/Background


​Video
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作詞: 山本伸一
作曲: 山本伸一

君も立て          我も立つ
広布の天地に      一人立て
正義と勇気の
旗高く            旗高く
創価桜の          道ひらけ

君も征け          我も征く
吹雪に胸はり      いざや征け
地よりか涌きたる
我なれば          我なれば
この世で果たさん 使命あり

君も見よ         我も見る
遥かな虹の       晴れやかな
陽出ずる世紀は
凛々しくも       凛々しくも
人間革命         光あれ
人間革命         光あれ
​
Lyrics : Shin'ichi Yamamoto
Music : Shin'ichi Yamamoto

Kimi mo tate               Ware mo tatsu
Kofu no tenchini         Hitori tate
Seigi to yuki no
Hata taka ku               Hata taka ku
Soka zakura no           Michi hirake

Kimi mo yuke             Ware mo yuku
Fubuki ni mune hari   Izaya yuke
Chiyori ka wakitaru
Ware nareba               Ware nareba
Kono yo de hatasan    Shimei ari

Kimi mo miyo             Ware mo miru
Haru kana niji no        Hareya kana
Hiizuru seiki wa
Riri shiku mo              Riri shiku mo
Ningen kakumei         Hikari are
Ningen kakumei         Hikari are
​

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English Translation

Lyrics : Shin'ichi Yamamoto
Music : Shin'ichi Yamamoto
​
Take your stand, and I will take mine, too
Each in our own realm of kosen-rufu,
     standing up alone.
Hold high the banner of truth and courage
Open the way for Soka to flourish

Forge ahead, and I will forge ahead, too
Pressing on through blizzards,
​     we boldly advance
Since we are truly Bodhisattvas of the Earth
Then we have a mission to fulfill in this world

Look ahead, and I will look ahead, too
Toward the distant rainbow, shining bright
The new century dawns with sun-like brilliance
Glowing with the light of human revolution

​

Background

Picture

Finishing the touches to
Song of Human Revolution
July 1976

The "Song of Human Revolution" was composed by President Ikeda in July 1976 amidst the heightened tensions faced by the Soka Gakkai while bracing the imminent onslaughts of the three powerful enemies.
 
Since 1975, certain mass media in Japan began directing their vicious attack on Soka Gakkai due to their misunderstanding of and prejudice against President Ikeda’s effort for peace. Simultaneously, scheming to drive a wedge between mentor and disciple of Soka Gakkai, Nichiren Shoshu Priesthood hurled unfounded criticism and defamations at the Gakkai members.
 
To battle against the devilish forces bearing their fangs at the Soka Gakkai, President Ikeda decided to compose the "Song of Human Revolution" at the end of June 1976. He aspired to create a song that instills undaunted courage and unyielding fighting spirit to the beloved members to overcome whatever adversity that may arise. It is ultimately by confronting these raging tempests in the journey of kosen-rufu can one activate the life-state of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth within oneself and achieve one’s human revolution. It will in turn lead to the establishment of human happiness on an individual basis and to the attainment of world peace on a grand scale.
 
Hence, from the moment he resolved to compose a new song, President Ikeda had decided it to be titled "Song of Human Revolution", a song of life that would inspire all to build a new humanistic culture and humanism. By 16th July, he completed the lyrics of the song in his extremely busy schedule. The initial draft comprised 3 verses, each with 5 lines in length. The next morning he further revised the lyrics and after his hectic day, he started composing the melody in the evening. Shortly after 11pm, his mind had conceptualised the general outline of the melody. 
 
In the afternoon of 18th July, President Ikeda worked on the melody with a young music teacher, Mr Sugino Yasuhiko at the piano. The song was not completed in time for the Headquarter Leaders Meeting. When he read the lyrics of "Song of Human Revolution" to the audience in the meeting, it exploded into an endless roar of cheers and applause. As the song was intended to be a masterpiece for eternity, President Ikeda did not compromise in the least to rush it out.
 
Right after the meeting, he assembled Sugino, 2 YWD members who are music graduates and the student division music committee representatives back to the main hall of level 3, Soka Culture Centre. He tried to write the melody while listening to the opinions of others but as time passed, it was still far from perfection. Realising that the 5 lines verse could be the main factor leading to the stalemate, he proposed it to be reduced to 4 lines verse and it was met with much delight and concordance from the team.
 
But deciding on which line to omit was a great struggle as each word carried profound significance. After deep consideration, it was decided on the second line of every verse. However, every second line contained an important word "comrade" that carried deep significance and went in tandem with a play named Doshi no Hitobito (Comrades), set in the 17th century Japan where the Satsuma warriors betrayed their comrade’s trust by killing them to trade off their movement’s survival. Despite every sound reason they can use to justify their eventual success in revolution, the sellout of comrade tarnished the very ideals they claimed to uphold.
 
Since President Makiguchi’s time, there have been members who, motivated by short-term self-interest, personal comfort, self-preservation or fear of persecution, betrayed their comrades and even their mentors. President Ikeda wished to use these phrases to call out to the members that under no circumstances they shall let these betrayers defeat them. Since the first line of each verse shares the same profound significance of "comrades", he proceeded to cut it to 4 lines verse.
 
Prior to the recording of the song sung by members of the Fuji Student Chorus in the late afternoon, he changed the phrase "Pressing on through blizzards, we advance never fearing" to "…, we boldly advance". After dinner with overseas members, President Ikeda played the tape repeatedly and even invited leaders who were still present at the headquarters to voice their views. As they felt the rhythm in the middle was a little boring, he again invited Sugino and others over for further revision.
 
Basing on the belief that peace and compassion begins with the courage to uphold the truth of Buddhism, the 1st verse, 3rd line "peace and compassion" was changed to "truth and courage"; the 3rd verse, 2nd line "sky" to “rainbow”.
 
Following that, President Ikeda wanted to make the melody rise gradually in the 3rd line of each verse. As he tried humming it, Sugino revised the score and sang the new version while playing the piano. “All right, that’s it!” Finally the song was completed at 8.40pm on 18th July 1976. The new song, sung by the music teacher with piano accompaniment, was recorded on tape. The newly edited lyrics and melody were published on Seikyo Shimbun the following day.
 
After 9pm, President Ikeda telephoned the executive leaders in various regions and prefectures, “I composed ‘Song of Human Revolution’. I made it to encourage everyone. It’s the heartfelt cry of my inner being. I’ll play it for you now.” He then placed the mouthpiece of the phone in front of the cassette player and played the tape. At first, he used one phone, but later he used three at a time. The next day, the song had its inaugural performance in Kansai.
 
In composing "Song of Human Revolution", President Ikeda took the greatest pains trying to find a way to express and communicate President Toda’s profound spiritual awakening in prison of his identity as a Bodhisattva of the Earth. It was based upon this awakening that Toda rose up alone and dedicated his life to kosen-rufu.
 
Such is the earnestness of President Ikeda in fine-tuning the song till the very last minute before it was finally released for recording. The masterpiece of "Song of Human Revolution" spread very quickly and soon members throughout Japan and even around the world were singing it.
 
To commemorate President Ikeda's 49th birthday on 2nd Jan 1977, a stone monument inscribed with "Song of Human Revolution" was built and unveiled at the old Soka Gakkai Headquarters. The monument was contributed by members, desiring to show their determination to fulfill their mission as Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Following the lyrics engraved on the monument, President Ikeda added, “Dedicated to my mentor, Josei Toda. By his disciple, Daisaku Ikeda.”


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中文翻译

作词: 山本伸一
作曲: 山本伸一

你也奋起    我也
奋起
在广布天地  一人立起
正义与勇敢的旗帜
高高飘扬    高高飘扬
开拓创价    樱花路
 
你也前行    我也前行
迎着暴风雪  奋勇前行
因真正的地涌菩萨
就是我      就是我
今世使命    须完成

你也瞭望    我也瞭望
辽远彩虹    的亮丽
旭日喷薄的世纪
雄赳赳      
雄赳赳
人间革命    光灿烂

​

背景

Picture

池田会长与户田会长

《人间革命之歌》是池田先生1976年7月编写的。当时的创价学会,正面临三类强敌的侵袭, 局势非常严峻。察觉到环绕学会的险恶动向, 池田先生决定创作新学会歌。

自1975年以来,日本的部分大众媒体以恶劣的手段,对学会展开恶毒攻击及批判。他们对池田先生争取和平的努力产生误解和偏见。与此同时, 宗门的僧侣们开始在学会员面前大肆进行无缘无故的非难与中伤, 目的是为了离间池田先生与会员们。

​为了对抗恶势力入侵的爪牙,池田先生决定在1976年6月尾编写《人间革命之歌》。他立志要打造一首无畏惧任何大难的灵魂之歌,一首使人涌起希望, 鼓起勇气的人类赞歌。 在广宣流布的道路上对抗种种挑战的精神, 能涌现我们人身根源性的意义 — 这就是自己生来具有为人们幸福做贡献的使命,并付诸实践。这是人生最高价值的泉源。这不但能造就个人的幸福,也能达致全世界的和平。
 
从他立志创作这首新歌的那一刻起,池田会长已决定将它命名为《人间革命之歌》,一首能激励各自建立新人文文化和人文精神的生命之歌。在 7月16日,他在繁忙的日程中, 完成了这首歌的歌词。起初的版本是由3节组成,每一节有5句。隔天早晨,他再修改了歌词。在忙碌的一天后,他开始在夜晚琢磨曲子。脑海里形成曲子的形象时已过了夜里11点。
 
7月18日下午,池田先生与一位年轻的音乐老师杉野泰彦,一起为这首新歌谱曲。然而, 这首歌没及时在总部干事会议前完成。在会议上, 当池田先生朗读《人间革命之歌》的歌词时,震耳欲聋的掌声持续不断。他要创作一首世人能永远唱下去的好歌,所以不能有一点敷衍。
 
会议后,池田先生马上回创价文化中心3楼的礼堂, 继续投入为《人间革命之歌》作曲。除了泰彦,他还召集两位音乐系毕业的女子部,以及学生部音乐委员会的代表一起参与。他一边编写旋律,一边听从他人的意见。但随着时间流逝,曲子总不能让人满意。池田先生意识到每段5行可能是导致僵局的主要因素,所以他建议将5行减少到4行。这建议得到大家一致性的赞同与喜悦。
 
但决定删除哪一行将会是另一个艰难的抉择。这是因为歌词里的每个字都具有深远的意义。经过深思熟虑后,池田先生决定删除在每一段的第2行。遗憾的是, 每第2行都包括了 “同志” 这个深具意义的词。这也是与池田会长提到的17世纪日本剧作《同志的人们》相呼应。这剧作里的萨摩战士为了取得革命的胜利而背叛了同志给予的信任。战士们为了自身的存亡,而将他们处死。看似这背信忘义的举动是一种为了成事革命的合理代价, 这种对于同志间的出卖却恰好违背了同志们初衷的崇高理念。
 
从牧口先生时代就有人为眼前的利害,安逸,保身或畏惧迫害而背叛同志, 甚至背叛师匠。池田先生想用歌词激励会员们,在任何情况下都不能让这些叛徒打败他们。由于每一节第一句也包含和 “同志” 一样的深远意义,他毅然将歌词减到4行。
 
在录制富士学生合唱团为这首歌演唱之际,池田先生将歌词中 “岂惧暴风雨” 改为 “迎着暴风雪” 。在与海外会员共进晚餐后,池田先生又重复播放录音,他还邀请仍然逗留在总部的干事,一同表达他们对歌曲的意见。在座一些干事认为中间部分的节奏有点沉闷,因此池田先生再次邀请泰彦等人作进一步的修改。
 
秉持和平、慈悲是从坚决贯彻佛教正义的勇气开始,池田先生决定修改第一段第3行歌词 — "和平与慈悲的旗帜高高飘扬" 改为 "正义与勇气的旗帜高高飘扬" ; 第3段第2行 “辽远天空的亮丽” 的 “天空” 改为 “彩虹” 。
 
此外,池田先生想把第3行的旋律逐渐高扬。他试图哼着曲调,泰彦在乐谱上修改。“好了,就这样吧!” 最终这首歌在1976年7月18日8时40分完成。新的版本在音乐教师的演唱及钢琴伴奏下, 录制在磁带上。新编写的歌词和旋律在次日首度公开, 刊登于圣教新闻。

晚上9点之后,池田先生打了电话给各分部的高级干事,说到:“我创作了一首《人间革命之歌》, 要让大家鼓起勇气,这是我生命的呐喊。现在放给你听。” 然后,他将电话筒放在录音机前,开始播放磁带。起初只用一台电话,后来同时用三台。第二天,这首歌在关西首次演奏。

池田先生在创作《人间革命之歌》时,煞费苦心的是想如何表现,传达户田城圣在狱中悟达的 “我乃地涌菩萨” 的灵魂呐喊。由于狱中的悟达, 户田决心把毕生献给广宣流布, 独自挺身而起。

池田会长展现了他对这首歌的细腻及语重心长。他重复的修改这首歌曲,直到最后一分钟才发表。《人间革命之歌》传唱度非常快,它很迅速的在日本甚至全世界会员之间传唱开来。

为了纪念池田先生在1977年1月2日的49岁生辰,池田先生门下在旧创价学会总部建立了一个刻有《人间革命之歌》的纪念碑。弟子籍此纪念碑展现他们对于地涌菩萨使命的决心。池田会长继为刻在石碑上的歌词旁, 加上 “献给恩师 户田城圣先生 弟子 池田大作” 。


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