蝉時雨の千年先も

ああ、君を見守っていよう
君は果てしない旅の中
ああ、その夢がかなうのなら
Even a thousand years after the chorus of cicadas
Ah, I shall watch over you
You’re on an endless journey
Ah, if your dream will come true

蝉時雨、向かい風転ぶ君は
人知れず泣いていたよ
石階段から見上げた
そらはいつまでも変わらない青
In the chorus of cicadas, you were secretly crying
As you stumbled against the oncoming wind
The sky I look up to from the stone steps
Is a blue that will never change

手を伸ばすの
届かないと知っても尚
焦がれる気持ちだけが
この夏に鳴り響いてた
Even though I know it won’t reach
I still stretch out my hand
Only feelings of yearning
Were ringing out in this summer

蝉時雨の千年先も
ああ、君を見守っていよう
君がやがて灰になり舞い
新たな殻になる日も
Even a thousand years after the chorus of cicadas
Ah, I shall watch over you
Even on the day when you eventually become ash and get spread by the wind
And become a new shell

蝉時雨に追い風 声はやがて
ぽつりぽつり途切れ、離れ
君はもう大人になり
やがて痛みにも慣れてゆくの
In the chorus of cicadas, blown by the tail wind
Their voices eventually become fragmented and distant
You have already become an adult
And will eventually grow accustomed even to pain

待ち焦がれてる
君を運ぶ夏風
数センチの背と引き換えに
君が捨てていった羽
I’m eagerly awaiting the summer wind
That will carry you
You threw away your wings
In exchange for a few centimeters in height

蝉時雨の千年先も
ああ、僕はここにいるでしょう
君を作る小さな傷を
大切に指でなぞるの
Even a thousand years after the chorus of cicadas
Ah, I will probably still be here
I treasure the small wounds that make you
As I trace them with my finger

蝉時雨の千年先も
ああ、君を見守っていよう
君は果てしない旅の中
ああ、その夢が叶うなら
叶う時まで
Even a thousand years after the chorus of cicadas
Ah, I shall watch over you
You are on an endless journey
Ah, if your dream will come true
Until it comes true

蝉時雨の千年先も

My interpretation:

The singer/fox deity

The singer is a fox deity who is watching over someone. She pledges to watch over her for a
thousand years to come. She will even watch over her remains as their are spread and she is
reincarnated. (I will refer to one being watched over as “the subject”)

Cicadas and the sky

The chorus of cicadas, besides evoking images of the summer season in Japan, symbolizes
something ephemeral and transient, and it also represents the cycle of life and reincarnation.
This ties into the concept of 無常 (mujou), the idea that nothing is permanent in this world. In
contrast, the blue color of the sky is something that is permanent and will last forever, along
with the stone steps that will probably be there for a thousand years to come.

The wind
The wind plays an important role in the cicadas lives. First they struggle against it and
sometimes fall down because of it. At times the wind is at their back, carrying them away. They
go where it goes. When they die, the wind spreads their remains to become new life. The
subject is likened to a cicada being blown by the wind.

The cicadas and humanity

(Note that cicadas in Japan have a life cycle of 1 year and re-emerge from the ground every
summer)
The cicadas symbolize the ephemerality of life, the cycle of life, and reincarnation, but the
message they teach can also apply to human life. The difficulties they face with the wind are
akin to the difficulties we face in our lives, and the coming and going of the cicadas is akin to
the coming and going of people. Just as cicadas shed their old shell and grow new wings as they
grow older, we grow as people, constantly changing who we are. In death, our remains re-enter
the cycle of life just as the cicadas’ do. And just as new cicadas emerge every summer, will be
reincarnated in a new body/shell when our next “summer” comes.

Wounds
Wounds are what define our experiences and how we have grown as people. They are special
and are different for every person.

The journey and the dream

The reason the subject’s journey is described as being endless is because she will continue
being reincarnated. The subject’s dream is something that will take a long time to come true.
What exactly this is is left to interpretation. Until this dream comes true, the fox deity will
continue watching over her.