Kasane / Kiryu [R]

Kanji: rocklyric
Romaji: my ears did well
Translation: myself

Lyrics & music: Sakai Mitsuki






累 [Kasane]
Kasane*



Look... Barely visible tongue spreads its wings from an opened (1) mouth
Rubbing together while exposing one's greeds      Singing the song of lies under the name of love
A female (2) thread entangles as she beckons with her [palm of] hand
Covering oneself with saliva to conceal the lingering scent
Dripping like crying small red fruit burst open (3)
When blending greeds into nectar, "pink (4) kaleidoscope" make-up
When flowers bud, the spring (5) blows its dead sprouts
Proudly blooming, a living corpse
Deeply desired to soothe night neurosis (6), my name is "Kasane"
Life is short, hence it's brilliant     Tasting the flavor of corruption
Dancing and having sex with the purple smoke of [opium] poppies (7)     A dream pushed into despair
Moonless (8) dawn     With "That's enough for tonight"...
Look... The slight voice coming from the groaning throat is soaked in white
Rubbing together while showing off rain     Singing the song of lies under the name of love
Let's turn meaningless romance into love     Passing the thread through the needle's eye
Exploring and fumbling felt inside, to win one's heart and get one's teeth into it
Life is short, hence it's miserable     Tasting the flavor of corruption
Dead fish floats to and fro on the wavering water's surface
Life is short, hence it's flowing of tears     Tasting the flavor of corruption
Irregularly distorted applause     This place is surely life I dreamt of
Life is short, hence it's brilliant     Tasting the flavor of corruption
Dancing and having sex with the purple smoke of [opium] poppies     A dream pushed into despair
Moonless dawn     "That's enough for tonight"
Moonless (9) dusk (10)     With "Tonight starts right now"...


Footnotes:

*see: discussion

1. Actually: loose
2. As in female animal
3. A reference to 赤い実弾けた [akai mi hajiketa]; it's a phrase to describe something one experiences for the first time, i.e. love, but the experience is often not easy to handle
4. For some reason, the color pink is associated with erotic things whatsoever in Japan
5. I reckon, it's a reference to a phrase 春をひさぐ [haru wo hisagu] - to sell one's spring being a metaphor to prostitution
6. 疳の虫 [kan no mushi] refers to the neurosis of infants characterized by inter alia crying at night, convulsions and nervousness; probably comes from Chinese medicine though the character 疳 can mean rickets in Chinese actually 
7. This illegal poppy stands for consolation, laziness or apathy in hanakotoba (Japanese language of flowers)
8. Actually moonless night
9. See: (8)
10. Kinda wordplay: archaic 彼は誰 [kawadare] - dawn or dusk replaced by 誰彼 [darekare] - anybody, many people, but actually sung as [tasogare] - twilight, dusk (黄昏)

Discussion:

You know what, 累 [kasane] is an actual Japanese female given name. Hence, I decided not to translate the title as I usually do. But this is not the only reason out there. The given kanji 累 harbors a lot of meanings actually: join, accumulate, gather, trouble or even evil influence and is usually read as [rui].

But what is this song all about? A prostitute, that is! Again, our main protagonist is a prostitute, much like in Yotaka I translated a year ago (please, read the discussion for it for better understanding). Yet, in Kasane's case, she may be one of those higher ranked courtesans.

Our protagonist may be a courtesan, however she's that unfortunate one that fell in love with her customer. Experienced love makes her life sad and miserable, since love was like a forbidden fruit for prostitutes (unless some generous and kind man bought her from the brothel).

At least, that's what I think about the lyrics. I didn't anticipate that Mitsuki would actually write such song.