Akiko Shikata is a singer-songwriter, musician and soundtrack composer. A t… Read Full Bio ↴Akiko Shikata is a singer-songwriter, musician and soundtrack composer. A tricky artist to categorize, her works incorporate various genres such as neoclassical darkwave, world music, experimental, jazz, synthpop, new age, classical, ambient, and more ordinary Japanese pop, among many others. She launched her career in 2001, with the vocal EP Midori no mori de nemuru tori ("Sleeping Bird in the Green Forest"), which she made on her own using a synth and a laptop. In 2002, she released an instrumental album, Kurenawi, showing various influences such as Caribbean music, traditional Japanese folk and classical piano music. In 2003, she released her first full-length vocal album, Haikyo to Rakuen ("Ruins and Heaven"), showing influences from Old Europe, classical and ethnic music, in which she sang Italian poetry, but also Japanese lyrics and what is seemingly an invented language ("Iuripuka"). This album gained critical success in Japan through the indie music platform Muzie, where it stayed on top of the sales for two years.

Her latest release is the avant-garde album Ayashi (2018) which could be labeled as world fusion.

EXEC_PAJA/.#Misya extracting
志方あきこ Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

踊れや踊れや
黄泉路の宴妖の刻
我は舞巫女神の生贄
戯れよ捧げよ

いざ

今際の刻みを

舞にうつすが
我が定め

尽き満つれば
己が姿
仇なる業と共に闇の彼方へ

然らずは
我が躯と魂を召されよ
禊の詩を奉り祷る

天清浄地清浄内外清浄六根清浄
天津神国津神八百万の神
枉事罪穢祓ひ賜へ清め賜へと申し奉る

神楽の音色に
うつせみの名残に
酔い痴れ眠れ魑魅魍魎ども
岩戸に隠りて
常しへの夢
黄泉つ命に委ね給え

踊れや歌えや
黄泉路の宴艶なる宴
我は舞巫女我は奏でる
戯れよこの調べ

いざ

今際の刻みを
舞にうつすが
我が定め

尽き世の哀れを

詩に宿すが
我が定め

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to 志方あきこ's song EXEC_PAJA/.#Misya are about a dancer who is performing at a feast in the netherworld. The dancer identifies herself as a "miko" or a shrine maiden, who is offering herself as a sacrifice to the gods. The lyrics show how the dancer is enacting a role that has been assigned to her, and she is following her destiny as it has been predetermined. She dances to the music of the "kagura" or the music of the gods, and as she dances, she embraces her fate, which involves her disappearing into the netherworld along with the darkness and the sins that she has accumulated in her life.

The lyrics contain a lot of references to Japanese mythology and traditions. The "miko" is a figure in Japanese mythology who serves the gods, and she is often depicted as a young girl who performs dances and rituals at shrines. The "kagura" is a type of dance that is performed at Shinto ceremonies and is believed to have originated as a form of worship to the gods. The lyrics also make references to various gods and goddesses, such as the "Amaterasu" (the Sun Goddess) and the "Izanami" (the Goddess of Creation and Death).

Overall, the lyrics of EXEC_PAJA/.#Misya are about accepting one's fate and embracing the inevitability of death and the afterlife. The dancer in the song is offering herself as a sacrifice to the gods and is performing a ritual dance that will take her to the netherworld. The lyrics express a sense of resignation and acceptance, as the dancer acknowledges her role in the cycle of life and death.

Line by Line Meaning

踊れや踊れや
Dance, oh dance

黄泉路の宴妖の刻
It's a feast at Yomotsu Hirasaka, the realm of the underworld, where yokai frolic

我は舞巫女神の生贄
I am a miko dancer, an offering to the divine

戯れよ捧げよ
Play around and offer your prayers

いざ
Hark

今際の刻みを舞にうつすが我が定め
The moment of my demise approaches, and I must dance as it's my destiny

尽き満つれば己が姿仇なる業と共に闇の彼方へ
Once fulfilled, I'll become invisible and be taken to the dark beyond with the load of my grudge

然らずは我が躯と魂を召されよ禊の詩を奉り祷る
Do not hesitate, as my body and soul are called to recite the purifying poems

天清浄地清浄内外清浄六根清浄天津神国津神八百万の神枉事罪穢祓ひ賜へ清め賜へと申し奉る
Cleanse impurities from heaven, Earth, the body, the soul, and all eight million gods by referring to the Mikoto purification

神楽の音色にうつせみの名残に酔い痴れ眠れ魑魅魍魎ども岩戸に隠りて常しへの夢黄泉つ命に委ね給え
Through the melody of Shinto music and the echo of the uchisumami, let the bewitching spirits of demons lull you to sleep until you dream of eternal peace and rest in the afterlife

踊れや歌えや黄泉路の宴艶なる宴我は舞巫女我は奏でる戯れよこの調べ
Dance, sing, and enjoy the glamorous feast at Yomotsu Hirasaka while I, the miko dancer, play this tune for you to revel in

いざ今際の刻みを舞にうつすが我が定め尽き世の哀れを詩に宿すが我が定め
Hark, as I approach the very end, I'll dance and weave the world's misery into my poems, as it's my destiny

Writer(s): 志方あきこ, Leonn

Contributed by Alex S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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