Song of Gaika

After the fall of the Qin Dynasty in China, Xiang Yu of Chu, who fought with Liu Bang of Han for supremacy over the world, was surrounded by the Han army at Gaixia (Lingbi County, Anhui Province) in 202 BC. He realized that his luck had run out and sang this song in his army. Thinking of his beloved horse Sui and his favorite concubine Yu Meijin, he sings of his sorrowful thoughts: "Strength is the mountain, spirit is the world. The time is not right, so the Sui will not die. What can we do if the Sui does not die? What can we do if the Sui does not die?" The original text is in a seven-character style based on a Chu folk song, as in "Rikibetsu yama xi qi ga i shi". In the ancient copy of the Records of the Grand Historian that has been handed down in Japan, the poem is said to be five stanzas long, one more stanza.

[Sato Tamotsu]

"On Xiang Yu's Gaixia Song" (included in the Complete Works of Kojiro Yoshikawa 6, 1968, Chikuma Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、秦(しん)の滅亡後、漢の劉邦(りゅうほう)と天下の覇権を争った楚(そ)の項羽(こうう)が、紀元前202年、垓下（安徽(あんき)省霊璧(れいへき)県）で漢軍に包囲され、天運の尽きたのを悟り軍中で歌った歌。愛馬の騅(すい)と寵姫(ちょうき)虞美人(ぐびじん)を思いつつ「力(ちから)は山を抜き気は世を蓋(おお)う／時(とき)利あらずして騅逝(すいゆ)かず／騅逝かざるは奈何(いかん)すべき／虞(ぐ)や虞や若(なんじ)を奈何せん」と悲痛の思いを歌う。原文は「力抜山兮気蓋世」のごとく、楚の民歌に基づく七言調。日本に伝わる古抄本『史記』には、もう1句多い5句の歌辞とするものがある。

［佐藤　保］

『「項羽の垓下歌について」（『吉川幸次郎全集6』所収・1968・筑摩書房）』

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