"Battōtai" (抜刀隊, Drawn-Sword Regiment) is a Japanese gunka composed by Charles Leroux with lyrics by Toyama Masakazu in 1877. Upon the request of the Japanese government, Leroux adapted it along with another gunka, "Fusōka" (Song of Fusang), into the military march Rikugun bunretsu kōshinkyoku in 1912.
The song references the Battōtai who fought in the Battle of Tabaruzaka during the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion. Because of supply problems and heavy rains, the Satsuma rebels were forced to engage with the Imperial Japanese Army in hand-to-hand combat. They inflicted heavy casualties against Imperial forces, who were mostly conscripts with no experience in wielding swords. Lieutenant General Yamagata Aritomo selected and deployed men from the surrounding area who were proficient with swords. He named this unit Battōtai or "Drawn-Sword regiment."[1]
Charles Leroux, a bandmaster and composer born in Paris, arrived in Japan in 1876 as part of a French military advisory group. He composed his "Battōtai" in 1877, while serving as bandmaster of the Imperial Japanese Army Band. The song was first publicly performed the same year at a concert hosted by the Greater Japan Music Society at the Rokumeikan. It was considered the first Western-style military song in Japan and the first to become popular across the country, although it was initially believed to be difficult to sing for Japanese unaccustomed to modulation.[2]
Battōtai is included in the first volume of poetry compilation Shintai Shishiyou, thanks to the common effort of Tokyo University's professors Masakazu Toyama, Ryoji Yatabe, and Tetsujirō Inoue, 10 years into Meiji's rule, in 1878; the poem posted below was contained in said compilation.
