Chiisana Futari no Kakurenbo

Somehow I found this CD brand new at the South Shinjuku Tower Records in 2007. For the rest of my trip, I listened to it every night before going to sleep. This song pretty quickly became one of my favorite songs of all time; I hope I have done it justice.

English

A Little Hide-and-Seek for Two

Bothered by the fingernail I cut too close,
I’m acting vague, but
I’m really listening to you, it’s just that a door just opened

Smoke one of these, and tell me about long, long ago
With our minds blank white inside
The two of us can sometimes, like this,
Talk as if it were nothing
In a quiet place
Air, without a single cloud and no lies, surrounds that place
And then a door is opened
Pretty soon, something bigger than our eyes, our ears, or our mouths,
Starts moving, and the conversation continues

Bothered by my cuticle coming loose,
I’m looking down
You leave me to watch the place, now hide-and-seek in another dimension

Like having another house in the mountains,
Like suddenly wanting to go on a trip

Everybody’s heart
Has many rooms
I believe that, and bit by bit,
The maze is spreading out

Come deeper,
Throw out all that tedious stuff
If you do,
You can come to where everyone is waiting

By knowing you, I know myself
by knowing me, you know yourself, so…

I wonder if I may touch what’s deep inside of words
It’s hard to hold on to
Hide-and-seek for two
A little hide-and-seek for two…

Japanese

ちいさなふたりのかくれんぼ

ふかづめ気にしたりして
曖昧なそぶりだけど
ちゃんとはなしきいてるよ 今 扉が開いただけ

これ一本吸ったら昔々のこときかせてよねぇ
頭ん中真っ白にしてさ
２人はたまにこんな風に
何でもないようにはなしをする
静かな場所で
一点の曇りもない嘘もない空気が辺りを包む
すると扉は開かれる
そのうち目より耳より口よりも
大きなもの動く 会話はつづいてく

ささくれ気にしたりして
うつむいてるわたしに
留守番させといてさぁ 異次元でかくれんぼ

山にもうひとつおうちがあるように
急に旅に出たくなるように

だれだってこころに
たくさんの部屋をもってて
それを信じてる　すこしづつ迷路は広がって

深いところへおいでよ
めんどくさいこと捨てて
そうすればまた
みんなの待つ場所にも出てゆけるね

あなたを知ってわたしを知る
わたしを知ってあなたを知るんだから

ことばの奥にあるもの ふれてもいいのかな
なかなかつかまえられない
ふたりのかくれんぼ
ちいさなふたりのかくれんぼ

Karaoke

chiisana futari no kakurenbo

fukadzume ki ni shitari shite
aimai na soburi dakedo
chanto hanashi kiiteru yo ima tobira ga hiraita dake

kore ippon suttara mukashimukashi no koto kikasete yo nee
atama n naka masshiro ni shite sa
futari wa tama ni konna fuu ni
nandemo nai you ni hanashi wo suru
shizuka na basho de
itten no kumori no nai uso mo nai kuuki ga atari wo tsutsumu
suru to tobira wa hirakareru
sono uchi me yori mimi yori kuchi yori mo
ookina mono ugoku kaiwa ni tsudzuiteku

sasakure ki ni shitari shite
utsumuiteru watashi ni
rusuban sasetoite saa ijigen de kakurenbo

yama ni mou hitotsu ouchi ga aru you ni
kyuu ni tabi ni detaku naru you ni

dare datte kokoro ni
takusan no heya wo mottete
sore wo shinjiteru, sukoshidzutsu meiro wa hirogatte

fukai tokoro e oide yo
mendokusai koto sutete
sou sureba mata
minna no matsu basho ni mo dete yukeru ne

anata wo shitte watashi wo shiru
watashi wo shitte anata wo shirundakara

kotoba no oku ni aru mono furete mo ii no ka na
nakanaka tsukamaerarenai
futari no kakurenbo
chiisana futari no kakurenbo