Japan

Context

The shortest national anthem in the world, just 32 characters of Japanese drawn from a 10th-century Heian-era poem. Nobody knows who wrote the original verse. The melody was composed in 1880 by a court musician using ancient gagaku scales, giving it a sound unlike any other anthem on Earth.

Lyrics

Interesting facts

• • The lyrics are over 1,000 years old, taken from the Kokin Wakashu poetry anthology compiled around 905 AD
• • At just 11 measures of music, it takes roughly 50 seconds to perform, making it the world's shortest anthem
• • It was only formally designated as Japan's anthem in 1999, despite being used since the Meiji era