Utsukushiki sung to the tune of the Bluebells of Scotland. The words are in classical Japanese and would not have been readily comprehensible by young students. The song is about a the "beauty" of the singer's three children each taking up various  weapons and courageously going to serve their "lord" (kimi--the emperor) on the battlefield. A Meiji-state sanctioned form of beauty indeed!

(Nihon no uta, vol. 1 Meiji-Taishô [Nobarasha, 1998], p. 25)

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