「軍歌」Miyasan, Miyasan 「宮さん宮さん」

Otherwise known as Ton'yare Bushi 「トンヤレ節」, is a military song written by or attributed to Count Shinagawa Yajirō, a samurai from the Chōshū Domain. During the beginning of the Meiji period, it was famously sung by Imperial troops during the Boshin War facing the forces loyal to the former apparatus of the Tokugawa shogunate. It is one of the first instances of modern Japanese military music (gunka, 軍歌) that is still extant. To explain some of the stanzas: 1. The person being referred to as "Miyasan" is the historical figure of Prince Arisugawa Taruhito, who belonged to the Arisugawa-no-miya shinnōke, a branch of the Japanese Imperial family. He was assigned to lead the forces of the Imperial Court by the Meiji Emperor under the post of the "Governor of the Eastern Expedition" (東征大総督, Tōsei Daisotoku.) The term "chōteki" refers to an "enemy of the court." The "Nishikinomihata," otherwise known as the "Imperial Brocade Banner," was a standard that symbolized the Japanese Emperor, and by extension his cause. Its most famous usage was at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi (鳥羽伏見の戦い), in which the soldiers of the Satchōdō raised them on the field, thus using their presence as a psychological weapon as anyone who fired upon the Satchōdō would by extension be an enemy of the Emperor. 2. The term “Mikado" refers to the Emperor. It translates to “honorable gate,” as it initially referred to the gates of the Imperial Palace in Kyōtō. This then bled into the term being associated with the Emperor. The "Satchōdō" (薩長同, Satsuma-Chōshū Alliance) was a military alliance primarily between southwestern Japanese feudal polities who supported the overthrow ofthe Tokugawa shogunate. Consisting primarily of the Satsuma and Chōshū domains, alongside Tosa, Saga, and Hiroshima to name a few others, their forces and contributions were pivotal for the outcome of the Boshin War and the eventual industrialization of Japan during the Meiji period. 3. The term "Azuma" refers to the East of Japan, otherwise Kamakura and Edo. Translation and editing by me.