Translation: myself; also, big kudos to my friend for letting me know my thoughts on the song aren't totally far-fetched
Lyrics: Sakai Mitsuki
Music: Kujou Takemasa
Sacrifice's seat
Behold Here's the sacrifice's seat
Disgrace Take a seat
Rattling, rattling... Shaking
Gasping and moaning in agony, makes the tongue writhe in pain
Dripping, dripping.... It drips...
"Up"
"Down"
"In front of"
"Behind"
Appreciate Here's the sacrifice's seat
Forbidden colors (1) Strip them off
Dripping, dripping... Overflowing
Drinking it up, vomiting and drowning, makes one crawl while throwing curses
Dripping, dripping... One's sensual intoxication
Swirling "mania and depression"
Passionately loyal mangy cur
Taken to extremes "joy and depression"
Passionately loyal mangy cur
Remember being flattered with upturned eyes... Look
Dark iris and the white sclera would flip when noticed
Remember being flattered with an excited face... Look
When noticed, dangling tongue dripping wet
Witching hours (2) Here's the sacrifice's seat
Bind tightly Immobile
Creaking, creaking... Twisting
Sinking to the bottom of the white sea, broken down into tiny pieces
Dripping, dripping... Smeared in impure scum
The opposite of mania Aching depression
Reality Blindfolded mangy cur
The opposite of joy Aching depression
Dream, blindfolded mangy cur
Remember being flattered with running tongue all over one's face... look
When noticed, strangling shackles
Remember being flattered with lowered head... look
When noticed, an unknown disguise would show up
Footnotes:
Discussion:
Disclaimer: I generally suck at describing historical events. Especially when they're taken out of context.
Oh boy, politics.
Japan we know today is a constitutional monarchy, where the emperor is more like the representative of the country rather than an actual authority. Actually, nothing has changed since... uhm, Kofun period which was very, very long ago (III-VI century). Technically, there was always someone who wanted to rule the country behind the emperor's back or they used that fading emperor's "authority" for their own wicked good. In fact, emperors rarely felt like ruling or were mentally and/or physically impaired.
It was the most prominent during the Heian period (794 - 1185/1192) when the powerful Fujiwara clan was going for their absolute regime over Japan. Well, they indeed got what they wanted. thanks to their elaborate political maneuvers and basically making the emperors their puppets. Since familial status essentially determined your fate back then, they had been deliberately intermarrying ladies de domo Fujiwara with the emperors and as descendants of the imperial family, they were able to govern Japan from the most honored seats.
The Fujiwara didn't know the word "enemy" either. Instead, the term "rival" was relatively closer to their hearts. They craved for supremacy, so having rivals outside of their mighty clan was a big no-no. They crushed one after another with mastermind-like intricacy.
The story of Sugawara Michizane, posthumously known as Tenjin - Shintoist god of fine arts and calligraphy is a good example of the rivalry game, the Fujiwara played. Michizane, a top notch scholar, was the emperor's favorite counselor and one of the highest rank ministers despite his not so noble ancestry. Of course, the Fujiwara didn't like it, so they spread a lie of Michizane plotting a treason against the imperial family, even though he was loyal and devoted to the country. As a result, the counselor, degraded to an ex-minister, was sentenced to exile and died later on, probably starved to death. After his death, he was said to haunt the Capital as one of the most vengeful ghosts known to Japanese history, born from deeply held resentment and loneliness. To soothe Michizane's posthumous grudges, the Court brought back his titles and ranks and made a god out of him.
I think, the song might be somewhat inspired by the story of Sugawara Michizane or at least based on the situation in the Heian era government. Mitsuki used many ambiguous words, so the interpretation might've as well taken a totally different direction. I hope this interpretation is at least remotely close to the truth.
Footnotes:
- Restrictions on the use of colors by ranks of Heian period courtiers
- Around 2 o'clock in the morning
Discussion:
Oh boy, politics.
Japan we know today is a constitutional monarchy, where the emperor is more like the representative of the country rather than an actual authority. Actually, nothing has changed since... uhm, Kofun period which was very, very long ago (III-VI century). Technically, there was always someone who wanted to rule the country behind the emperor's back or they used that fading emperor's "authority" for their own wicked good. In fact, emperors rarely felt like ruling or were mentally and/or physically impaired.
It was the most prominent during the Heian period (794 - 1185/1192) when the powerful Fujiwara clan was going for their absolute regime over Japan. Well, they indeed got what they wanted. thanks to their elaborate political maneuvers and basically making the emperors their puppets. Since familial status essentially determined your fate back then, they had been deliberately intermarrying ladies de domo Fujiwara with the emperors and as descendants of the imperial family, they were able to govern Japan from the most honored seats.
The Fujiwara didn't know the word "enemy" either. Instead, the term "rival" was relatively closer to their hearts. They craved for supremacy, so having rivals outside of their mighty clan was a big no-no. They crushed one after another with mastermind-like intricacy.
The story of Sugawara Michizane, posthumously known as Tenjin - Shintoist god of fine arts and calligraphy is a good example of the rivalry game, the Fujiwara played. Michizane, a top notch scholar, was the emperor's favorite counselor and one of the highest rank ministers despite his not so noble ancestry. Of course, the Fujiwara didn't like it, so they spread a lie of Michizane plotting a treason against the imperial family, even though he was loyal and devoted to the country. As a result, the counselor, degraded to an ex-minister, was sentenced to exile and died later on, probably starved to death. After his death, he was said to haunt the Capital as one of the most vengeful ghosts known to Japanese history, born from deeply held resentment and loneliness. To soothe Michizane's posthumous grudges, the Court brought back his titles and ranks and made a god out of him.
I think, the song might be somewhat inspired by the story of Sugawara Michizane or at least based on the situation in the Heian era government. Mitsuki used many ambiguous words, so the interpretation might've as well taken a totally different direction. I hope this interpretation is at least remotely close to the truth.
