His Imperial Majesty's Reign

The lyrics are an anonymous waka, published circa the mid-late 900s, in the Kokin Wakashuu. In 1869 (the early stages of the Meiji Restoration), Iwao Ohyama—an artillery captain who was well versed in Japanese and Chinese literature—selected it to be the lyrics of the national anthem of Japan. The process had been started by British Army bandmaster John William Fenton, who pushed "God Save the King" as the model to which the words and music should be like. The final version, in use since 1880, has music by Yoshiisa Oku and Akimori Hayashi (林 広季), influenced by Japanese court music and Western hymns, with elements of the discarded first melody by Fenton, arranged for western harmonies by Franz Eckert.

As with many pre-existing national cultural pieces, the fascist movement that governed the country in the early decades of the Showa era appropriated the song for its own ends, often in schools, as an element of kokutai. During General Headquarters rule, some restrictions in the use of "His Imperial Majesty's Reign" as the national anthem came in place, and various alternatives were used or proposed. After the occupation ended in 1952, government promotion of "His Imperial Majesty's Reign" returned. Much controversy surrounds it, with opposition from teachers and non-right-wing politicians; the lyrics' praise of the emperor is inappropriate for a democratic nation and the connotations with the World War II era are strong. Many students are apathetic towards the song: its significance and connection to wartime history is not taught in school, and the archaic vocabulary can be hard to parse. "His Imperial Majesty's Reign" was legally codified as the national anthem in 1999, leading to multiple legal battles against teachers who flaunt instructions during school ceremonies in the following decades.

Jun Togawa concerts from The Dying Year of the Showa Era Tour of early 1990 used a techno rearrangement of the song—likely by Susumu Hirasawa (who accompanied her alongside his solo backing band keyboardists (Hikaru Kotobuki and Kitune Akimoto)—as walk on music, accompanied by footage of streets and newsreels from the early Showa era projected on the back of the stage. It is unknown if the rendition featured lyrics.

"His Imperial Majesty's Reign" is Hirasawa's favorite song of all time, due to its usage of the Japanese language and how it influences the rhythm; he's also drawn to its unresolved ending. To him, that compositional style underpines the brilliance of early Showa era songs, like 1959's "Mountain Suspension Bridge (山の吊橋) by Hachiro Kasuga; a "perfect" tradition whose collapse in the following decades he laments. "His Imperial Majesty's Reign" is the root of his interest in big drum sounds, and in 1993 he thought that all his solo work contained its same kind of heroism and strength.