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“Kimi ga yo” (often translated as “Reign of the Emperor“) is the national anthem of Japan. The lyrics of the anthem are based on a poem in the traditional Japanese waka style created during the Heian era. This the oldest text of the national anthem in the world (the music is much younger) and is the shortest national anthem in the world. In fact, “Kimi ga yo“ has been the anthem of Japan since the Meiji Restoration, but officially the Law on the national flag and anthem were adopted only in 1999. The text “Kimi ga yo“ first appears as an anonymous poem in the 10th-11th century collection Kokinwakashu. Later the poem was published in various anthologies before the Meiji era. In 1869, British military band conductor John Fenton proposed the creation of a national anthem for Japan and he himself wrote music for it based on the words of Oyama Iwao. This version of the anthem did not gain popularity and was not used after 1876. In 1880, a commission of the imperial court chose a new v
