Sen'yū

{{Nihongo|"Sen'yū"|戦友||Comrades}} is a Japanese gunka released in 1905 following the Russo-Japanese War. The lyrics were written by Hisen Mashima, and the song was composed by Kazuoki Miyoshi. The first verse, along with that of {{Nihongo|"Fujin Jūgunka"|婦人従軍歌|}}, was used in the interlude of {{Interlanguage link|Hachirō Konoe|ja|近衛八郎}}'s song, "{{Interlanguage link|Aa Waga Sen'yū|ja|ああ我が戦友}}".{{Cite book|last=Sakuramoto|first=Tomio|date=2005-03-20|title=歌と戦争: みんなが軍歌をうたっていた|script-title=ja:Uta to sensō: Min'na ga gunka o utatte ita|trans-title=Songs and wars: everyone was singing songs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I8spAQAAIAAJ&q=%E5%A9%A6%E4%BA%BA%E5%BE%93%E8%BB%8D%E6%AD%8C|language=ja|publisher=アテネ書房|page=142|isbn=9784871522359}} The melody also served as the basis for {{Nihongo|"Daigaku no Uta"|大学の歌||Song of the University}}, which was written by Yukitoki Takigawa and published in Asahi Shimbun.{{Cite book|last=Karube|first=Tadashi|date=2008|title=Maruyama Masao: and the fate of liberalism in twentieth-century Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2-UwAQAAIAAJ&q=senyu+song|publisher=International House of Japan|page=48|isbn=9784924971240}}

The song describes the soldier's feelings about his partner who had fallen in battle while in Manchuria.{{Cite book|last=Ohnuki-Tierney|first=Emiko|date=2010-10-01|title=Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10krbGkGMyoC&pg=PA131|publisher=University of Chicago Press|page=131|isbn=9780226620688}} In the song, a soldier attempts to aid his fallen friend while ignoring strict military orders, but the friend tells him to continue the combat mission alone.{{Cite book|date=1984|title=兵役: 資料と研究, 第 4～7 号|script-title=ja:Heieki: Shiryō to kenkyū, dai 4 ~ 7-gō|trans-title=Military service: Materials and research, 4-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D2UzAQAAIAAJ&q=%E6%88%A6%E5%8F%8B+%E8%BB%8D%E6%AD%8C|language=ja|publisher=戦争体験を語り継ぐ会|page=116}}

Although the song has been criticised as "weak" at the time of its publication, it was sung by several army generals.{{Cite book|date=2005|title=満州楽土に消ゆ: 憲兵になった少年|script-title=ja:Manshū rakudo ni shō yu: Kenpei ni natta shōnen|trans-title=Disappearing in Manchuria: A boy who became a soldier|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0_XzoB5qs4C&pg=PA107 |language=ja|publisher=Kanagawa Shimbun|page=107|isbn=9784876453665}} It was also sung in schools across Japan, primarily in the east.{{Cite book|last1=Miyake|first1=Okiko|last2=Biesel|first2=Diane|date=1997-01-01|title=Children's Rights in the Multimedia Age: Proceedings of the Fourth Pacific Rim Conference on Children's Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kLdMAAAAYAAJ&q=senyu+song |publisher=Scarecrow Press|page=89|isbn=9780810832060}} Within ten years, however, enka-shi spread the song throughout the country. Following the Mukden Incident in 1931, the song regained popularity as it reminded the Japanese about defending their foothold in Manchuria.{{Cite book|last=Young|first=Louise|date=1999|title=Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T0T4yShFqZsC&pg=PA91 |publisher=University of California Press|page=91|isbn=9780520219342}} During World War II, the Japanese military banned the song on the grounds that it spread war-weariness.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/americansutrasto00will|url-access=registration|title=American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War|last=Williams|first=Duncan Ryuken|date=2019|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674986534|page=[https://archive.org/details/americansutrasto00will/page/347 347]|author-link=Duncan Ryūken Williams}}{{Cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%88%A6%E5%8F%8B-551409|title=戦友|website=Kotobank|language=ja|script-title=ja:Sen'yū|trans-title=Sen'yū|access-date=2019-05-12}}