歌詞：Miyuki Nakajima: "Chijou no Hoshi"

A thing that's great about living now is that you can discover a Nakajima song on your phone, listen to it, and look up all the words you don't know by the time you get home. This one, "Chijou no Hoshi", is much more dramatic than the others I've heard. The title is lit. "Stars Above the Ground", but—because where else would they be?—it may be a colloquial expression. Apparently it's translated as "Unsung Heroes"; the video certainly supports that, essentially a string of images of ordinary folk, with Nakajima先生 interspersed in bubble-world. Wikipedia says it was composed for a TV program, was released in July 2000, hit #1 in Japan, and became the longest-running Oricon Japanese single (since 1968).



中島みゆき：地上の星
nakajima miyuki: chijou no hoshi
Miyuki NAKAJIMA: ?"Unsung Heroes"

風の中のすばる
kaze no naka no subaru
Pleiades among the winds
[Funny that the Subaru corporate logo has six stars rather than seven.]

砂の中の銀河
suna no naka no ginga
Milky Way amid the dust
[All these の constructions are bothering me because I'm seeing them translated as, eg, "In the dust of the Milky Way"—but I don't see why "suna の naka の ginga", sand's center's Milky Way, should read as "ginga の naka の suna", Milky Way's center's sand. I see that I'll probably have to switch them all around, but right now I don't get why.]

みんな何処へ行った　見送られることもなく
minna doko e itta miokurareru koto mo naku
where have they all gone, with no one saying goodbye?
[見送る is "to see someone off", or to say farewell. I'm not getting the られる construction with 送る.]

草原のペガサス
sougen no pegasasu
Pegasus of the grassland/plain

街角のヴィーナス
machikado no vi-nasu
Venus of the street corner

みんな何処へ行った　見守られることもなく
minna doko e itta mimamorareru koto mo naku
where has everyone gone, with no one to look out for them?

地上にある星を誰も覚えていない
chijou ni aru hoshi o daremo oboeteinai
the stars that are above the ground, no one remembers them.

人は空ばかり見てる
hito ha sora bakari mite(i)ru
people see only the sky.

つばめよ高い空から教えてよ　地上の星を
tsubame yo takai sora kara oshiete yo chijou no hoshi o
sparrow, high in the sky, tell me where they are.

つばめよ地上の星は今　何処にあるのだろう
tsubame yo chijou no hoshi ha ima doko ni aru no darou
sparrow, those stars, where can they be?

崖の上のジュピター
gake no ue no jupita-
Jupiter above the cliffs

水底のシリウス
unasoko no shiriusu
Sirius on the sea-floor

みんな何処へ行った　見守られることもなく
minna doko e itta mimamorareru koto mo naku
where have they all gone, with no one to look after them?

名立たるものを追って　輝くものを追って
nadataru mono o otte kagayaku mono o otte
chasing famous things, chasing glittery things,

人は氷ばかり掴む
hito ha koori bakari tsukamu
people catch only ice.

つばめよ高い空から教えてよ　地上の星を
tsubame yo takai sora kara oshiete yo chijou no hoshi o
swallow, high in the sky, show me those stars

つばめよ地上の星は今　何処にあるのだろう
tsubame yo, chijou no hoshi ha ima doko ni aru no darou
swallow, where can those stars be now?

名立たるものを追って　輝くものを追って
nadataru mono o otte kagayaku mono o otte
chasing famous things, chasing glittery things,

人は氷ばかり掴む
hito ha koori bakari tsukamu
people catch only ice.

風の中のすばる
kaze no naka no subaru
Pleiades in the winds,

砂の中の銀河
suna no naka no ginga
Milky Way in the sand—

みんな何処へ行った　見送られることもなく
minna doko e itta miokurareru koto mo naku
where have they all gone, with no goodbyes?

つばめよ高い空から教えてよ　地上の星を
tsubame yo takai sora kara oshiete yo chijou no hoshi o
swallow, high in the sky, point me to them

つばめよ地上の星は今　何処にあるのだろう
tsubame yo chijou no hoshi ha ima doko ni aru no darou
swallow, where can these stars have gone?

It is a real kick to be able to watch this video and understand her. I'm loving this song.

Note that Nakajima seems to actually sing を as wo. Is this a common idiosyncrasy of pronunciation in singing, like singing ん as ng?

BONUS: The word for "refrain" seems to be 繰り返し kurikaeshi, the same word Nakajima uses in "Jidai" to say that time is cyclical. 「喜び悲しみ繰り返し」