Lyrics of the Japanese national anthem: All the words to Kimigayo – the shortest national anthem in the world

JAPAN got their World Cup season off to a flying start as they move closer to qualifying in the last 16.

A win against Costa Rica TODAY could all but secure a place in the knockout rounds.

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And that means we’ll be hearing the Japanese national anthem louder than ever this morning.

What are the lyrics of the national anthem of Japan?

The national anthem of Japan is called Kimigayo (Reign of His Imperial Majesty).

In Japanese, it consists of just five lines and 32 characters, making it the shortest national anthem in the world.

The song lyrics are as follows:

English

May your dominion be
On for a thousand, eight thousand generations
Up to the small pebbles
Grow into massive boulders
Lush with moss

Japanese

君が代は
千代に八千代に

細石の

巌と為りて

苔の生すまで

Japanese (Latin alphabet)

Kimigayo wa
Chiyo ni yachiyo ni
Sazare-ishi No
Iwao to narite
Made koke no musu

When was the Japanese national anthem written?

Kimigayo first appeared around the year 920 as an anonymous poem.

The first line initially read “waga kimi wa”, meaning “my lord”.

In 1869, Irish military band leader John William Fenton noticed that Japan had no national anthem and decided to write one.

However, its tune proved unpopular and was replaced by Kimigayo just eleven years later, with the new tune being based on traditional Japanese court music.