The song "Yuyake-koyake" was written by Uko Noguchi (1897-1972). He was a school teacher lived in Kamiongata town, Hachioji city. He started writing stories and songs for children while he was teaching at school because he believed they would be good for children's education. The song "Yuyake-koyake" is one of his works and widely known today. Therefore "Yuyake-koyake Fureai-no-sato Park"was established right beside his house as a memorial park for this song.
He was teaching at a school in the center of Tokyo, thus he had a long commute everyday and watched sunsets on the way to home. Apparently he got the idea for this song from the beautiful sunsets viewed from Hachioji city.
"Yuyake" is a Japanese word meaning "a sunset glow", but "Koyake" was a word created by Uko Noguchi. From the Chinese characters used for the word, "Koyake", we can guess it would mean "a small glow", so the title can be "A Sunset Glow, And A Small Glow" as a direct translation.
A rough translation of the song is...
♪A sunset glow and a small glow, it'll be dark soon.
A temple bell on the mountain is ringing to tell the time.
Now let's hold hands and go back home.
Look at the sky, crows are also flying back to their nest with us.
The sunset photos were taken from Hachioji city, so they may be similar to the views Uko Noguchi saw on his way to home. You can listen to the song (in Japanese) from here (link to Youtube).
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