しかん || Flaccid

しかん
shikan
Flaccid

Vocals: 鏡音リン (Kagamine Rin)
Lyrics: ヒッキーP (HikkieP)
Composed by: ヒッキーP (HikkieP)
Album: 明るい生き方教科書 (A Textbook for Living Cheerfully)
Event: The Voc@loid M@ster 9

Requested by: kii13
Watch the official video on NicoNico!

The title was the toughest thing to translate. We just have ‘shikan’ written in hiragana, and hardly any clues to help us make a decision. ‘Shikan’ means countless things, and out of all those things… I originally chose ‘leering’ (視姦), and then moved to ‘flaccidity’ (弛緩).

It feels like the speaker discovers a dead body, but doesn’t want to report it because they know how some tabloids like to say bad things about people after they die. Then, they see someone who’s just died and decide not to report it.

I’d love to hear more interpretations of the word しかん and how it fits into the last stanza! I mean, I changed my interpretation because somebody suggested 弛緩. It’s always worthwhile listening to other interpretations.

歌詞

誰かが死んだ。
知らない人達が笑った。
「死んでせいせいした」と吐き捨てた。

誰かが死んだ。
悲劇的な雑誌が笑った。
おごそかな誌面で、「ネタが尽きそうだ」と嘲った。

今日も立ち合った。
「死にました」なんて告げたくない、告げたくないのに
なぜ死んだんだ？
命だけ浮いたまま、彼はまた世間に殺されていく

今日も立ち合って、
私は今日も飯を食べる

立ち寄ったその日のラーメン屋は
とても肉の味がしたけど、
とても美味しかったんだ

私は、おいしかった。
それが幸せだったんだ。

横たわったその身体のしかんを見た気がして、
私はその部屋を後にした。

Romanisation

dareka ga shinda.
shiranai hito-tachi ga waratta.
“shinde seisei shita” to hakisuteta.

dareka ga shinda.
higeki-teki na zasshi ga waratta.
ogosoka na shimen de, “neta ga tsukisou da” to azaketta.

kyou mo tachiatta.
“shinimashita” nante tsugetakunai, tsugetakunai noni
naze shinda nda?
inochi dake uita mama, kare wa mata seken ni korosarete iku

kyou mo tachiatte,
watashi wa kyou mo meshi o taberu

tachiyotta sono hi no raamenya wa
totemo niku no aji ga shita kedo,
totemo oishikatta nda

watashi wa, oishikatta.
sore ga shiawase datta nda.

yokotawatta sono karada no shikan o mita ki ga shite,
watashi wa sono heya o ato ni shita.

Translation

Someone died.
People who didn’t know them sneered.
“They died and became pure.” They spat those words out.

Someone died.
The tragic magazines sneered.
Upon solemn pages, they jeered: “We’ve run out of material.”

I fought with them again today.
I don’t want to tell them that he died, I don’t want to at all.
Why did he die?
While only his life remains cut off, he will be killed by society once more.

I fight them again today
and I will eat my food again today.

I stopped by a ramen restaurant that day.
The food tasted strongly of meat
but it was really delicious.

I thought it was delicious.
It made me happy.

I felt like I saw that body, lying down, go flaccid
so I left that room behind.