Hmm…it recently occured to me, that a lot of people have stumbled upon my blog while searching for the song Obokuri Eemui / Obokuri Eeumi. Anyone who has seen the anime TV series, Samurai Champloo, would be familiar with this haunting and beautiful piece which was played in the 14th episode.

Obokuri Eemui / Obokuri Eeumi roughly translated to Obtain Bearing, is an Okinawan song by Ikue Asazaki. Her haunting voice, coupled with an awesome piano piece, easily make this one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. In fact, I had mentioned this in my very first blog entry…that it’s my dream to play Canon in D minor as well as Obokuri Eemui / Obokuri Eeumi on the piano in front of a live audience. If there were to be a term ‘Hauntingly beautiful’ in the dictionary, then this song certainly deserves a mention there.

Obokuri Eemui / Obokuri Eeumi can be found on Ikue’s 2002 album titled Utabautayun. I however, searched for it immediately after Episode 14 ( ) and found it on an mp3 rotation site, which is currently offline.

• Ok…I’m interested. Where can I download this song?

Chances are, you’ll find this song on most P2P networks under the name ‘Obokuri Eemui’ or ‘Obokuri Eeumi’ or ‘Obtain Bearing’.

If you don’t have any P2P softwares, then here’s a link I found.

If that link doesn’t work, then there’s another simple way to download it. Go to www.archive.org. On the top search bar, search for ‘Obtain Bearing’ in All Media Types. Then simply follow the first search result, and download the mp3.

• I’ve heard the song and totally loved it! But what does it mean?

Hmm…well…I found a rough translation for the song on the net (since I’m so obsessed with it). And it goes something like this :

In search of new lands, I build a new house
I thatch the house with reed stalks, gathered neatly in bundles
I thatch the house with reed stalks, gathered neatly in bundles
At the stone wall, let us celebrate the golden house, that was built by a hundred black kites.
At the stone wall, let us celebrate the golden house, that was built by a hundred black kites.
Let us celebrate the golden house, that was built by a hundred black kites.

The eighth month is fast approaching, and yet I have nothing to wear
I want to dress gaily, so brother, will you lend me just one sleeve?
I wish to dress my children and loved ones… in the one kimono that I own
As for me, I will wear vines… that I plucked deep in the mountains

The light of the full moon shines down,
illuminating the world with its divine light
When my lover sneaks in to visit me,
I wish that the clouds would hide that light just a little.

• Where can I find the sheet music for this song?

Thanks a ton to Solaras for finding the sheet music for this song. I’ll just quote the comment he/she left to this post -

“Sup all – i found the sheet music to this awesome and beautiful song.

http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~nal/obokuri_eeumi_v_0_1.pdf

As noted, the glissandos are not noted – These are the exact notes – i listened to the song over and over, comparing it to the sheet music and it matches.

However, you’ll probably have to put the expression into the song yourself, as most of the subtle changes in the song are not noted (volume, slight speed changes etc)

Im guessing anyone interested in playing this already knows the song like the back of their hand, so it should be no problem.

I didn’t make the transcription, you can thank “josh’s anime sheet music master index” for that!”

Once again…thanks a lot Solaras ! I know lots of people who’ve been searching for this, so hopefully this will help out!

Here’s the link once again :

obokuri_eeumi_v_0_1.pdf

You can find this file on my server too, here>> My Server Link to Sheet Music

Hope I was able to help you out.

Peace.