‘Suzume’ is the theme song of Makoto Shinkai’s latest film, Suzume no Tojimari (すずめの戸締まり— lit. ‘Suzume’s Door-locking’) which opens in Japanese theatres this Friday, 11 Nov 2022. However, the novelization (also written by Shinkai) has been out since 24 August: it tells the story of Suzume, a 17-year-old girl living in Kyushu, who crosses paths with Souta, a young man in search of a door. When she follows him, Suzume ends up opening a mysterious, free-standing door in the abandoned resort near her town, disturbing an animate keystone in the process. This sets off a chain of events that start the two on a journey across Japan to close the Doors of Calamity that have opened as a result.
The song marks the third collaboration between Shinkai and RADWIMPS, who also did music for Your Name (2016) and Weathering With You (2019), and features vocals by TikTok singer Toaka (十明). It was released on 30 September 2022.
るるるるるるるるるるるるるるるる x4
ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ru ru x4
la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la x4
루루루루루루루루루루루루루루루루 x4
君の中にある 赤と青き線
kimi no naka ni aru aka to aoki sen
The red and blue lines within you
네 안에 있는 빨강과 파랑 선
それらが結ばれるのは 心の臓
sorera ga musubareru no wa shin no zou
Where they are tied is the heart’s inner chamber
그것들이 맺어지는 것은 심의 장
風の中でも負けないような声で
kaze no naka demo makenai youna koe de
In the sort of voice that will not be overcome even in the wind
바람 속에서도 지지않는 듯한 목소리로
届ける言葉を今は育ててる
todokeru kotoba wo ima wa sodateteru
I am now cultivating words to send [you]
전해줄 말을 지금은 키우고 있어
時はまくらぎ 風はにきはだ
toki wa makuragi kaze wa nikihada
Time is a sleeper, the wind is tender flesh
시간은 침목 바람은 살갗
星はうぶすな 人はかげろう
hoshi wa ubusuna hito wa kagerou
The stars are [our] birthplace, people are ephemeral
별은 고향 사람은 아지랑이
なんで泣いてるのと聞かれ答える
nande naiteru no to kikare kotaeru
Being asked why I’m crying, I reply
왜 울고 있냐고 물어서 대답한다
涙なんかじゃ 僕ら出逢えたことの 意味にはまるで 追いつかない
namida nanka ja bokura deaeta koto no imi ni wa marude oitsukanai
With just something like tears, we’ll never come to the meaning of our having met
눈물 따위론 우리들이 만난 것의 의미를 전혀 따라 잡을 수 없어
この身一つじゃ 足りない叫び
kono mi hitotsu ja tarinai sakebi
A cry that is too much for this body alone
이 몸 하나로는 부족한 외침
君の手に触れた時にだけ震えた 心があったよ
kimi no te ni fureta toki ni dake furueta kokoro ga atta yo
There was a heart that trembled only when I touched your hand
너의 손에 닿았을 때만 떨리던 마음이 있었어
意味をいくつ超えれば 僕らは辿り つけるのかな
imi wo ikutsu koereba bokura wa tadoritsukeru no ka na
How many meanings must we transcend in order to arrive, I wonder?
의미를 몇 개 넘으면 우리들은 도달할 수 있을까
愚かさでいい 醜さでいい
orokasa de ii minikusa de ii
It’s fine if it’s foolishness, it’s fine if it’s unsightliness
어리석음도 괜찮아 추함도 괜찮아
正しさのその先で 君と手を取りたい
tadashisa no sono saki de kimi to te wo toritai
In that [place] beyond rightness, I want to hold hands with you
올바름 그 앞에서 너의 손을 잡고 싶어
思い出せない 大切な記憶
omoidasenai taisetsu na kioku
A precious memory [I] cannot recall
기억할 수 없는 소중한 기억
言葉にならない ここにある想い
kotoba ni naranai koko ni aru omoi
A feeling that is here which cannot be put into words
말로 표현할 수 없는 이 곳에 있는 감정
もしかしたら もしかしたら
moshikashitara moshikashitara
Perhaps, perhaps
어쩌면 어쩌면
それだけでこの心はできてる
sore dake de kono kokoro wa dekiteru
This heart is made up of only that
그것만으로 이 마음은 만들어진지도 몰라
もしかしたら もしかしたら
moshikashitara moshikashitara
Perhaps, perhaps
어쩌면 어쩌면
君に「気づいて」と今もその胸を 打ち鳴らす
kimi ni ‘kidzuite’ to ima mo sono mune wo uchinarasu
Even now, I pound at your chest, [begging] you to ‘realize’
너에게 ‘알아 달라’고 지금도 그 가슴을 쳐
なんで泣いてるのと聞かれ答える
nande naiteru no to kikare kotaeru
Being asked why I’m crying, I reply
왜 울고 있냐고 물어서 대답한다
涙なんかじゃ 僕ら出逢えたことの 意味にはまるで 追いつかない
namida nanka ja bokura deaeta koto no imi ni wa marude oitsukanai
With just something like tears, we’ll never come to the meaning of our having met
눈물 따위론 우리들이 만난 것의 의미를 전혀 따라 잡을 수 없어
この身一つじゃ足りない叫び
kono mi hitotsu ja tarinai sakebi
A cry that is too much for this body alone
이 몸 하나로는 부족한 외침
君の手に触れた時にだけ 震えた心があったよ
kimi no te ni fureta toki ni dake furueta kokoro ga atta yo
There was a heart that trembled only when I touched your hand
너의 손에 닿았을 때만 떨리던 마음이 있었어
意味をいくつ超えれば 僕らは辿りつけるのかな
imi wo ikutsu koereba bokura wa tadoritsukeru no ka na
How many meanings must we transcend before we can arrive, I wonder?
의미를 몇 개 넘으면 우리들은 도달할 수 있을까
愚かさでいい 醜さでいい
orokasa de ii minikusa de ii
It’s fine if it’s foolishness, it’s fine if it’s unsightliness
어리석음도 괜찮아 추함도 괜찮아
正しさのその先で 君と生きてきたい
tadashisa no sono saki de kimi to ikitekitai
In that [place] beyond rightness I want to go on living with you
올바름 그 앞에서 너와 살아 가고 싶어
Notes on the translation:
- The ‘red and blue lines’ (赤と青き線) mentioned in L2 are an allusion to the red (& blue) threads of fate. The lyricist has opted for the adjectival form ‘aoki’ (青き) for blue, rather than the more standard ‘aoi’ (青い), giving it a faintly poetic sound.
- The anatomical word for ‘heart’ in Japanese is ‘shinzou’ (心臓), but again they’ve made it sound a bit more poetic here (L3) by drawing it out into ‘shin-no-zou’ (心の臓), which works out to something like ‘the bowels of the heart’ where ‘bowel’ = the deep or innermost part; (arch.) the emotions, esp. of pity or sympathy, feelings of pity or compassion. In the interest of lyricism, I’ve gone with ‘the heart’s inner chamber.’
- The phrase ‘will not be overcome’ in L4 is literally ‘not lose’ (負けない).
- The ‘sleeper’ (枕木) in L6 is actually not ‘someone who is asleep,’ but rather a railway sleeper, whose function is to hold the rails in proper gauge and transfer the loads received from the track to the ballast.
- L6 uses the archaic word ‘nikihada’ (にきはだ・和肌・和膚・柔膚) for ‘tender flesh.’ In the post-Heian era this became ‘nigihada’ (にぎはだ) but the term commonly used today is ‘yawahada’ (柔肌), i.e. ‘soft skin.’ Again, this choice gives the lyrics a more poetic sound.
- The word ‘ubusuna’ (うぶすな・産土) in L7 means ‘the land where a person was born’ but, in some cases, can be a shortening of ‘ubusunagami’ (産土神), i.e. the tutelary deity or enshrined god (kami) of the temple or shrine closest to where one was born or has ancestral ties.
- Also in L7, the word ‘kagerou’ (かげろう) is written in phonetic hiragana, which avoids specifying whether the lyricist means ‘kagerou’ (陽炎), i.e. laurence, heat haze or ‘kagerou’ (蜉蝣), i.e. mayfly. I settled on the translation ‘ephemeral,’ which might arguably apply to both.
- The phrase ‘with just something like tears’ (涙なんかじゃ) in L9 & L22 is awkward to translate. The suffix ‘~nanka’ operates much like the Korean ‘~ddaui’ (따위); it serves to dismiss, disparage, or belittle whatever precedes it — the implication being that tears alone are insufficient.
- In L9 & L22 the phrase ‘marude oituskanai’ (まるで 追いつかない) could be translated one of two ways, since ‘marude’ can either mean ‘quite, entirely, completely, altogether’ or ‘just as if, so to speak, as it were’ and the verb ‘oitsuku’ (追いつく) literally means ‘to catch up with’ but here means something like ‘come to, reach, grasp.’ Hence, the phrase can either mean ‘we’ll never come to the meaning of our having met’ or ‘it’s as though we can’t come to the meaning of our having met.’ Given the preceding phrase, I’ve opted for the former.
- L10 & L23 are, more literally, ‘A cry for which this one body is insufficient.’
- The word ‘toki’ (時) in L11 & L24 literally means ‘time’ but could alternately be translated as ‘times’ or even ‘moment[s]’ since Japanese often elides pluralizations. So the lyric could alternately be, ‘There was a heart that trembled only in the moment when I touched your hand.’
- In L16, the word ‘omoi’ (feeling[s]) is written with the kanji (想) instead of the alternate (思), which was likely a deliberate choice on the lyricist’s part. Japanese doesn’t differentiate between the concepts of ‘heart’ and ‘mind’ (心 — ‘kokoro’), but the kanji (想) is used to refer to emotion specifically, while (思) is used in reference to both thoughts and feelings.
- L20 is terrible to translate, both because it’s somewhat ambiguous and because it leaves part of the phrase unsaid in a way that English can’t replicate. For one thing, it has the word ‘realise’ offset in brackets and followed by the quotative ‘to’ (と), without actually providing the verb. I opted for [begging], but this could alternately be ‘telling/asking/beseeching’ etc. So the first half of the lyric literally reads, ‘To you “realize” [quotative]’ ...leaving the rest unstated.
- The second half of L20 literally translates to ‘now, as well, [someone] pounds that chest.’ Here, ‘that’ (その) is being used to mean ‘your’ and ‘uchinarasu’ (打ち鳴らす) is a compound verb meaning ‘to strike something and cause it to give off sound’ (such as a bell, drum, etc.), but the phrasing leaves room for interpretation. An alternate translation of this line might be ‘Now, again, I strike a chord in your heart [wanting] you to “notice”.’
All source materials belong to the parties to which they are licensed. All translations are our own.