Haikara Hakuchi – Happy End | 1971 – Words in Japanese Song

はいからはくち [Haikara Hakuchi]
はっぴいえんど [Happī Endo]
Words : 松本隆 [MATSUMOTO Takashi]
Music : 大瀧詠一 [ŌTAKI Eiichi]

Continuing from last time, this post is again about Happy End. Today, I’ll talk a bit about the concept behind this band.
When introducing this band abroad, it’s common to write their name as “Happy End” in English. However, this is unfortunately a poor representation that ignores the band’s concept.

To digress a little, there was a debate in Japan at the time known as the “Japanese Rock Controversy.” Around 1970, it was commonly believed in the Japanese music scene that rock music (referring to serious rock, excluding popular trends like “Group Sounds”) should be sung in English. Happy End challenged this norm. While their sound was influenced by American bands like Buffalo Springfield, they aimed to create a uniquely Japanese rock by singing in Japanese. Their debut album completely settled the Japanese Rock Controversy with the conclusion that “the rock can be cool in Japanese.”

Let’s talk a bit about hiragana and katakana.
“あいうえお / aiueo” This is hiragana.
“アイウエオ / aiueo” This is katakana.
These two are essentially the Japanese alphabets. Unlike kanji, which was imported from China, these are unique Japanese characters. They consist of combinations of vowels and consonants, and there are 50 characters each. For more details, please refer to “AIUEO.”
These two characters represent the same sounds, similar to uppercase and lowercase letters in English, but they are used differently. Hiragana is generally used as the alphabet, while katakana is used for words imported from foreign languages. For example, “バナナ / banana”, “アメリカ / Amerika”, and “ロック / rokku”.

ハッピー [Happī] : happy
エンド [Endo] : end

Both “ハッピー / Happī” and “エンド / Endo” are words recognized in Japan, and the band name usually should be written as “ハッピーエンド.” However, it’s written in hiragana as “はっぴいえんど.” When we see words deliberately written in hiragana like this, our impressions may vary. One thought is that it looks extremely uncool. Another is that it might be meant for a four-year-old child. If not, it gives off a mysterious Japanese vibe. This is the gimmick Happy End employed.
This gimmick can also be seen in the title of their second album, “風街ろまん / Kazemachi Roman” with “ろまん” and in the song of this article, “はいからはくち / Haikara Hakuchi” with “はいから.”

はいから
haikara
はいから
haikara
はいから
haikara
はいから
haikara

ハイカラ　[Haikara] : high-collared fashion, trendy, pretentious

The origin of the word “ハイカラ / Haikara” is “High Collar,” referring to high-collared fashion. It implies being pretentious in a Western style, following trends, or having a taste for new things. It’s probably a slang term from about 100 years ago, so hardly anyone uses this word today.

ぼくははいから血塗れの空を
boku wa haikara chimamire no sora o
玩ぶきみと　こかこおらを飲んでいる
moteasobu kimi to kokakoora o nonderu

僕（ぼく） [boku] : I
血まみれ（ちまみれ） [chimamire] : blood-stained
空（そら） [sora] : sky
君（きみ） [kimi] : you
飲む（のむ） [nomu] : drink

(translation) “I am Haikara. I’m drinking Coca-Cola with you, who toys with the blood-stained sky.”

Foreigners might not understand what “こかこおら / kokakoora” means, but the same goes for Japanese people. If it were written in katakana as “コカ・コーラ,” everyone would recognize it as Coca-Cola. So, it could be said that the experience of interpreting these lyrics might be similar for both foreigners and Japanese people.

きみははいから裳裾をからげ
kimi wa haikara mosuso o karage
賑やかな都市を飾る　女郎花
nigiyakana toshi o kazaru ominaeshi

賑やか（にぎやか） [nigiyaka] : bustling
都市（とし） [toshi] : city

(translation) “You are Haikara. You tuck up your hem and are valerian, decorating the bustling city.”

ぼくは
boku wa
ぼくははいからはくち
boku wa haikara hakuchi

白痴（はくち） [hakuchi] : fool

(translation) “I am a Haikara fool.”

“白痴 / hakuchi” means fool, but words like “馬鹿 / baka” or “アホ / aho” are more common. In fact, “hakuchi” also has connotations of intellectual disability and is now considered a taboo word. Few people might even know this term today.
The phrase ” はいからはくち / haikarahakuchi” actually has a double meaning.

肺（はい） [hai] : lung
から [kara] : from
吐く（はく） [haku] : spit
血（ち） [chi] : blood

はいから / haikara // はくち / fool : Haikara fool
はい / hai // から / kara // はく / haku // ち / chi : Blood Spitting from the Lungs
Using kanji would make this double meaning less effective.
That said, it’s mainly just wordplay without any particularly deep meaning.

はいから
haikara
はいから
haikara
はいから
haikara
はいから
haikara

ぼくははいから血を吐きながら
boku wa haikara chi o hakinagara
きみののおにただ夕まぐれ
kimi no noo ni tada yūmagure

脳（のう） [nō] : brain

(translation) “I am Haikara. While spitting blood, I am just the evening twilight to your ‘No.'”

Realizing that “のお / no” means “No” is not easy. There seems to be a hidden double meaning, but let’s move on.

きみははいから唐紅の
kimi wa haikara karakurenai no
蜜柑色したひっぴーみたい
mikan iro shita hippī mitai

みかん [mikan] : mandarin orange
ヒッピー [hippī] : hippie

(translation) “You are Haikara, like a crimson hippie colored in mandarin orange.”

Hippie is a term associated with counterculture around the 1970s. Of course, it’s still a word used today.

ぼくは
boku wa
ぼくははいからはくち
boku wa haikara hakuchi
はいから
haikara
はいから
haikara
はいから
haikara
ら
ra
ら
ra

Despite using very old, difficult, and literary language, the lyrics are incredibly rock and crazy.
And as I mentioned before, it’s also interesting how the lyrics are written in a way that you wouldn’t notice unless you actually read the words. The mysterious Japanese vibe in the writing was quite intriguing.

The phrase “Haikara Is Beautiful,” spoken by Bannai Tarao (a pseudonym of Ōtaki), which comes in after the traditional Japanese percussion rhythm ends, is said to be a parody of the popular commercial phrase “Fujicolor is Beautiful” at the time. Fujicolor refers to Fujifilm ^wiki.