Originally performed by Yamaguchi Yoshiko (aka Li Xianglan or Ri Kouran) in the 1941 film Suzhou Nights (蘇州の夜), the song “Suzhou Nocturne”, though beautiful, has an inescapably nasty history. Yamaguchi, born in China to Japanese parents, became a star of Manchukuo Film Association ‘national policy film’ productions – not strictly propaganda films but nevertheless carrying distinctly political elements, usually promoting in some way the idea of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Suzhou Nights is no exception. The film depicts a romance between a Japanese doctor (Sano Shuuji), intent on fulfilling his ‘service to the Empire’, and the head of an orphanage (Yamaguchi) with anti-Japanese sentiments. He eventually dives into the river to save a child from her orphanage, proving to her that he is earnest (and implicitly, that the Japanese imperial mission is). As they fall in love, their conversations take a tediously politically-charged turn: “We have so much to be thankful to the Japanese for… to the doctors and to the soldiers.” “Oh, that’s all right. It’s enough if you understand our true intentions.”
It became a popular song, despite apparently overwhelming public sentiment against the film. “Suzhou Nocturne” was also performed by Bai Hong in 1944 in Mandarin.
Following the end of the war, Yamaguchi was put on trial as a traitor to China, facing the death penalty, until it was revealed she was a Japanese citizen. “Suzhou Nocturne” was consequently banned, not so much for its content but for the historical context and the ideology of the film, and it remained so until at least 1999, according to Kyodo news agency. But it remains a well-known song in Japan to this day, with modern renditions from singers such as Nikaido Kazumi and ASKA from pop duo Chage and Aska.
蘇州夜曲 Soshuu yakyoku (Suzhou Nocturne)
Music: Hattori Ryōichi
Lyrics: Saijo Yaso
C Dm Em Am
kimi ga mi mune ni dakarete kiku wa
君がみ胸に 抱かれて聞くは
Dm Am Dm G
yume no funa uta tori no uta
夢の船歌 鳥の歌
F C Am
mizu no Soshuu no hanachiru haru o
水の蘇州の 花散る春を
F C Dm Em G
oshimu ka yanagi ga susuri naku
惜しむか 柳がすすり泣く
C Dm Em Am
hana o ukabete nagareru mizu no
花を浮かべて 流れる水の
Dm Am Dm G
asu no yukue wa shirane domo
明日の行方は 知らねども
F C Am
koyoi utsushita futari no sugata
こよい映した ふたりのすがた
F C Dm Em G
kiete kureru na itsu made mo
消えてくれるな いつまでも
C Dm Em Am
kami ni kazarou ka kuchizuke shiyou ka
髪に飾ろうか くちづけしようか
Dm Am Dm G
kimi ga taorishi momo no hana
君が手折りし 桃の花
F C Am
namida gumu you na oboro no tsuki ni
涙ぐむような おぼろの月に
F C Dm Em G
kane ga narimasu kan zan ji
鐘が鳴ります 寒山寺
Translation:
Cradled to your chest, I can hear
the song of the ship from my dreams, the song of the birds
Will you long for spring with its scattered blossoms
in watery Suzhou? The willow weeps
Though we know not where the flower
floating in the flowing water will head tomorrow,
our reflection tonight will never, ever disappear
Shall I put it in my hair? Shall I press it to my lips?
The peach blossom you broke off to give to me
In the moonlight, hazy as though with tears
the bell rings at Kanzanji
all wrongs reversed 