浜辺の歌 (Hamabe no Uta)

#2025-0917

On YouTube I came across a piano and violin duet with a melody that felt incredibly familiar, yet I couldn’t recall what song it was. What could it be? What piece of music was this? . . . The lyrical tune was so vivid in my memory, yet its title and lyrics were a complete blank in my mind. How frustrating it was!

Driven by curiosity, I searched online and compared different sources. At last, I found a small clue: the piece had originally come from a Japanese popular song. It is said that the composer’s first inspiration was a “love song.” Over time, however, it was covered in different languages—including Mandarin—and even had its lyrics rewritten based on Psalm 23, turning it into a well-known hymn sung widely in churches.

At the end of this note, you’ll find a handwritten copy of Song by the Seashore alongside a printout of The Lord God Is My Shepherd that I downloaded online. Place them side by side, and you can see how the melodies, though alike in sound, lead to very different meanings and settings.

在 YouTube 上面聽到一首鋼琴和小提琴協奏的，極為熟悉的旋律，卻想不起是什麼歌曲。究竟是什麼歌？什麼曲目呢？. . . 那抒情的旋律明明熟悉得很，其歌名及歌詞，在我心中，卻誠然一片空白。煞是苦惱啊！

好奇心驅使下，我努力上網搜尋、比對。終於獲得一丁點兒答案：這首曲子，源自日本的流行歌謠；據說，最初的創作動機及靈感是「情歌」；而最終，它被翻唱成不同的語言，包括華語；甚至被改了歌詞，以詩篇 23 篇為藍本，成為一首教會裡廣為傳唱的「聖詩」。

請參看文末所附的《海濱之歌》手抄本，並一份從網路下載的《主耶和華是我牧者》翻印本，兩相對照，欣賞其中的，看似音律雷同，實則義理迴異的「情景／情境」(scenes and/or situations)。

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附註 (Notes)：The Japanese title of the song is 浜辺の歌 (Hamabe no Uta) — literally “Song of the Shore” or “Song by the Seashore.” It was created by:

• Lyrics: Kokei Ujō (鹿島鳴秋, also known as 林古渓, 1873–1965)
• Music: Tamezō Narita (成田為三, 1893–1945)

It was first published in 1916, and has since become one of Japan’s beloved shōka (school songs) and is often performed in both classical and popular arrangements.

Here’s an English rendering of Hamabe no Uta (浜辺の歌), aiming to capture the imagery and mood rather than a strict word-for-word translation:

Song by the Seashore

At dawn I wandered the quiet shore,

Where waves rose high, then broke and fell;

Their murmurs drifted evermore,

A timeless song I knew so well.

The dreams of yesterday took flight,

Upon the tide they ebbed away;

Foam and shadow, fading light,

Lost to the sea at break of day.

At dusk I walked the shore again,

My heart weighed down, my voice grew weak;

I called the name of one long gone—

Only the wind replied from the deep.

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相關文章 (See also)：

1)  托塞利《小夜曲》聆聽札記     (2025)

2)  ［轉分享］歡喜來恰恰 + 夏威夷草裙舞     (2018)