Wasureji no Konotoha is a theme song of Grimms Notes.

Grimms Notes is a game for mobile phone (Became anime later), released by Square Enix in 2016.

The song was made by 未来古代楽団 and sung originally by Kiwako Ashimine (Instagram Link)

I was attracted by the beautiful melody and lyrics.

If you are a leaner of Japanese, you can find many beautiful Japanese in this song.

Here I’ll introduce you the meaning of this Wasureji no Konotoha.

Meaning of Wasureji no Konotoha

Wasureji no Konotoha is written as “忘れじの言の葉” (わすれじのことのは).

忘れる means “Forget”.

But what you can see here is 忘れじ.
This is a classical Japanese.

The character “じ” has the meaning of negation in classical Japanese.

The word 忘れじ is formed by adding the negative auxiliary verb “じ” to the word “忘れる”.

In other words, it means “it will not be forgotten”.

“言の葉(ことのは)” is also a classic Japanese word.
We usually say “言葉(ことば)” today.

We can see it is consists of “言” and “葉”.

言 is used in 言語 (Language) and 言う(Speak).
葉 means “Foliage”.

The word “言の葉” originally referred to language and waka poems.

It is said that the first appearance of the word was in the Kokin Wakashu (a collection of ancient and modern Japanese poetry) from the Heian period.

It may have been compared to the many layers of leaves on a tree and called “言の葉”.

It is thought that the word 言の葉 was used in waka poems and then became the word 言葉 which we use today.

So 忘れじの言の葉 means words and thoughts in them that will never be forgotten.

Meaning of Lyrics of Wasureji no Konotoha

Many classic Japanese words are used un this song that it is difficult to understand the meaning clearly even to Japanese like me.

Still, I found that the lyrics are very beautiful.

You can see the whole lyrics from the follwing links.

English Lyrics of Wasureji no Kotonoha

Japanese Lyrics of Wasureji no Kotonoha

For example, 泡沫(うたかた), is something fleeting, something that disappears quickly.
The world itself is already beautiful as it is.

旅人(たびびと) is “Traveler” and 迷い込む(まよいこむ) is “Astray”.
御伽(おとぎ) is from 御伽話(おとぎばなし), which means “Fairy Tale”.
深い(ふかい) means “Deep” and “霧(きり)” means “Fog”.

We can imagine characters of the game astray into a deep forest shrouded in fog.

求め探して彷徨って(もとめさがしてさまよって) means “You look for and roam for”.
やがて謳われて(やがてうたわれて) means “Be sung with time”.

幾千(いくせん) 幾万(いくまん) 幾億(いくおく) means “Thousands and millions and billions”.
旋律(せんりつ) means “Melody”.

I think this part sings characters destiny and our lives.

We keep looking for, roaming for something in this world and someday we all leave and be sung as a past history.
Then, billions of lives become one big melody.

いつか失い(いつかうしない) means “Someday when we lose~”.

奪われて消える定め(うばわれてきえるさだめ) means “A destiny having stolen and disappear”.

忘れられる事無き物語(わすれられることなきものがたり) means A story that will never be forgotten.

So even if people die, their lives were certainly there, that’s a story which will never be forgotten.

Story never die even if we die physically.

Why English Title “Forgotten Words”?

As I explained 忘れじの言の葉 means “Words that will never be forgotten”.

But English title is “Forgotten Words”.

Yes, opposite meaning.

There are 2 possible cases.

First one is just a mistranslation.
Second one is a free translation.

Although I know the rough story of the game, I haven’t played it.
But if I played it, there was also a possibility of I felt “Forgotten Words” fitted well rather than “Words that will never be forgotten”.

Certainly, “Forgotten Words” also conveys a feeling that the words were special but never exist anymore.
Plus, it is a simple, clear and easy to memorize or remember.

If this was a free translation, I like this way of translation as well.

Summary

Beautiful music and lyrics, I felt.

I think the song became more famous than the game itself.

Especially, after being covered by DAZBEE.

Listening Japanese music is a good way to learn Japanese and you can also learn the culture and spirits from it.

I hope this beautiful song can be delivered across borders.

Tags: English, Forgotten Words, Japanese, Meaning, Wasureji no Kotonoha Author : Hiroshi80