Kimi ga Yo

English-language translations of
Kimi ga Yo (His Imperial Majesty's Reign) (1880)
Lyrics by Anonymous; Melody by Yoshiisa Oku and Akimori Hayashi, supervised by Hiromori Hayashi (original melody by John William Fenton)

Kimi ga Yo (君が代, "May your reign last forever") is Japan's national anthem, and is also one of the world's shortest national anthems in current use. The lyrics are based on a waka poem written in the Heian period (794-1185), sung to a melody written in the later Meiji era (1868–1945). The current melody was chosen in 1880, replacing an unpopular melody composed eleven years earlier.Warning: template has been deprecated.— Excerpted from Kimigayo on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

1930 recording (1m 30s, 1.4 MB, help | file info or download)

English-language translations of Kimi ga Yo include:

Kimigayo, translation by Florence Attenborough
Kimi ga Yo, translation by Basil Hall Chamberlain (lyrics only)
Kimi ga Yo, translation by Wikisource (lyrics only)
Appendix 1 of Law Regarding the National Flag and National Anthem (original Japanese text)