YuYuKo will EaT YoU

The song starts after the second picture.

Requested by: … (I forgot? – Maybe it was Belisaria?)

I’ve been hard on ENS lately, but I like this song. There’s been so few arranges of 古きユアンシェン that this one stands out even more.

The Japanese used here is idiosyncratic, I wouldn’t call it necessarily “old” grammar-wise, but in the way it’s structured and by a lot of the words used it’s got a very old feel to it.

Touhou’s 仙人 “sen’nin’” are pretty interesting. I’d like to see more songs about them. Ibara Kasen should get her own song too!

“I’m going to finish this song after spending loads of time on it and no one’s going to appreciate it, I can already tell….” (me muttering to myself halfway through the song). orz (~4 hours this time around…)

I had to double up most of the lines because they were long (even after me trying to keep them compressed!!!).

Notes:
[木の枝] “konote” – is pronounced the same as 此の手. It’s not much of a stretch, because 木の is commonly pronounced “kono” as in 木の葉 “konoha”. 枝 “eda” just becomes “te” as in “hand” – I’m sure it’s etymology is linked to it anyway as the だ in えだ is like た for which 手 is often used as. etc.

[憂つ] I’m sure if you know Japanese you see this and go what? Well, read this and you will be enlightened. // [JP-Language-Link]

[稚貝] “chigai” = “Young Shellfish”

[苫] “toma” is a a cover made out of rushes put over huts and small boats to keep out the rain.

[異世] “isei”, which I’ve translated as “others”, would normally be pronounced “kotoyo” or even “ise” but it’s pronounced “isei” like 異性 “the other sex”. This play on words has been made before (particularly with 異星) as in the other sex is as if from another world, another planet etc. If you think that that makes no sense at all, it’s also possible to attach the meaning in the difference between humans and “immortals” or even between the old and the young.

“….falling all around me” – the characters used for “falling” here are “descending/falling/corrupted unto death”

“Due to the others which can hardly string words together, the hemp threads along the edge soak and ripen.”

I take the whole line itself as because of this or that person (of the opposite sex) who is ignorant and unable to be immortal, the “edges” of the power that is keeping Kaku Seiga from dying “come alive” and thus deplete, because because they are alive, they age. In other words, love takes her (if only barely) from her path, toward life, but also to death.

[三筋] “misuji” – “three strings/threads” most likely refers to a shamisen 三味線 (instrument).

[仮縫い] “karinui” – meaning a sort of patch job, a “temporary stitching”, so in context a smile with not much effort put behind it for it to last.

[琴] “koto” is an old 13-stringed instrument which is larger and more complex than the shamisen, though 琴 can be used to mean any stringed instrument. At the place in the sentence where 琴 is used, usually 事 “koto”/”thing (concept)” would be there. I would normally think it might be an error, but with all the string and thread words being used, I really doubt it’s there by accident. In the translation I refered to the “showing of threads” as in the writing it’s kind of like “as a transparent koto”.

[帳] “tobari” – where [苫] “toma” was a sort of overhead rain curtain, “tobari” is a light curtain.

“In the enchanted eyes of the guards I become as a stone, the moment I cease the threads that weave my throne are severed.” – 仙人 “Sen’nin’” are plagued by Shinigami/Death Gods/Reapers who want to (properly) end their overlong lives. Through diligence, a sen’nin’ is able to keep from death.

–

時の檻
　Toki no Ori
　Cage of Time
古きユアンシェン｜東方神霊廟
Vocal: 葉月ゆら
Arranger: きりん
Lyric: くまりす
Circle: EastNewSound
Album: Dione Aggregation
Event: C81

木の枝に結びを運命と解き伏す
歩みに問う実を犠牲と往き添う

konote ni musubi wo sadame to tokifusu
ayumi ni tou mi wo gisei to yukisou

I unravel my ties and break them along with my fate.
The fruit that comes my way I send along as sacrifices.

頃合い読む目も稚貝のあや憂つ
組手に撃つ背と浅黄へ溶く頬

koroai yomu me mo chigai no aya utsu
kumite ni utsu se to asagi e toku hoo

Over the eyes that read only into now, on top of
　the truths and designs of the young,
I stand proud, my back feeding strength into my arms,
　my cheeks fading into a pale yellow.

苫へ寄り添う雫の檻に流れ墜ち往く永の都
文に悔い織る異世が所以に縁で熟れ産す麻の生糸

toma e yorisou shizuku no ori ni nagare ochiyuku naga no miyako
fumi ni kuioru isei ga yuen’ ni fuchi de uremusu asa no kiito

The eternal capital flows within this cage of droplets
　tracing the curtain above me, falling all around me.
Because of those who can hardly string words together,
　the hemp threads along the edge soak and ripen.

三筋の幾年仮縫い笑みとす
枯れ酔う華も途へ帳も透く琴

misuji no ikutose karinui emi to su
kareyou ka mo to e tobari mo suku koto

I take a few of these three-stringed years and
　stitch them together into a smile.
Even flowers wither in intoxication along the same road,
　they and the curtain transparent, showing their threads.

數え織る画を茨とも読む例え朽ち夜も与え花葉
近衛憑く目の巌と成そう絶てと綻ぶ針の筵

kazoe oru e wo ibara to mo yomu tatoe kuchi yo mo atae kayou
konoe tsuku me no iwao to nasou tate to hokorobu hari no mushiro

The images I weave together you might call thorned roses;
　though they may wither, each night brings more leaves and flowers.
In the enchanted eyes of the guards I become as a stone,
　the moment I cease the threads that weave my throne are severed.

苫へ寄り添う雫の檻に流れ墜ち往く永の都
文に悔い織る異世が所以に縁で熟れ産す麻の生糸

toma e yorisou shizuku no ori ni nagare ochiyuku naga no miyako
fumi ni kuioru isei ga yuen’ ni fuchi de uremusu asa no kiito

The eternal capital flows within this cage of droplets
　tracing the curtain above me, falling all around me.
Because of those who can hardly string words together,
　the hemp threads along the edge soak and ripen.

–