Three Kingdoms

A few days ago, a colleague of mine passed me some music CDs which are a collection of Japanese anime theme songs. One of them happened to be the ending song for the Three Kingdoms animation series. For the benefit of those who are not familar, this part of China's turbulent era was set in 220-280 AD, and it describes the struggle for power and dominance between three kingdoms: Wei, Shu and Wu. Besides the gallant warriors and brilliant strategists of that time, the loyalty that existed between ruling warlords and their subjects, and undying friendships between bosom friends, are most profoundly and evidently set forth.

The song entitled The Wind as told by the Flowers, sung by the renown Japanese artist Tanimura Shinji for his soothing voice, is most beautiful. I've translated the lyrics of the first stanza from Chinese (which was translated originally from Japanese), though it does not bring out the full intended meaning as much as I'd like (still, I've tried my best):

The wind is howling over the sorrows and sadness of this world;

Within the dark and silent embrace of the constellations

If we lay bare our hearts, fountains of boiling scarlet

Will flow together into that gigantic, churning torrent.

Life is like a dream, so illusive and unpredictable;

Life is like a dream, so living and real.

Ah...who can tell?

Ah...even the flowers that shall wither tomorrow doesn't know!

and the ending goes like this...

The country is doomed, the citadel's breached,

And the grass is withered; but the wind continues its howling.

Ah...nobody knows the form of the wind;

Ah...the flowers shall convey the form of the wind.

Somehow, it's not hard to sense the emotional upheavals experienced by these ancients as they engaged in life and death battles, and witnessed the changing scenes around their lives of which they had no control over. It is so well expressed by the wind, which has no form but is capable of great changes and impact; and only the flowers' petals, swirling under its influence, is able to give it a visible expression, which otherwise would remain unseen by the human eye.

Ps: This will be the next Japanese song I'll be learning. Ganbatte ne!