Japanese video for “The Blessing” released
In 2020, a song called “The Blessing” swept the world. The lyrics of the song are based on Numbers 6:24-26 in which God blesses Aaron and his children through Moses.
On September 11, the official Japanese version of “The Blessing” was released. Around 170 people from 75 churches and ministry organizations took part in the project. We spoke to Yuko Nakaue (on staff at Hongōdai Christ Church), who began the project and is a member of the team for the Japanese version.
A missionary from Australia showed me the UK version and encouraged me to try it with Japanese churches. A few weeks later, a Canadian, who is a friend of the Australian missionary and had been involved in the creation of the Canadian version, contacted me to push for the creation of a Japanese version, with a promise to help me.
I felt convinced that this was the Lord urging me, so I prayed, “Lord, I don’t know what I can do to help, but I am willing to do anything to bring the churches of Japan together, even in a small way.” I then told Pastor Keishi Ikeda (Senior Pastor of Hongōdai Christ Church) that I wanted to help with the project. Pastor Ikeda had also been approached by the missionary. This is how the project came about.
Pastor Nobuyoshi Nagai of Tohoku Central Church also joined the project. At the end of May, Shalom Sillavan, who has worked as a producer of videos for Japan Hope and 7MEDIA, said that she had already begun preparation on making a Japanese version and asked about collaborating.
“Even though we had never met each other, through God’s mysterious guidance more people were gradually added to the team,” recalls Nakaue.
The lyrics had already been translated by Shalom and her mother Ioanna and had been edited by Pastor Nagai.
The karaoke version was created by Gordon Hyppolite, who plays multiple instruments and is a friend of Shalom.
In June, the project team invited various churches and missions across Japan to take part and the musical backing was sent to those who were interested. The recordings sent from the churches were then put together by Gordon and Shalom, and edited by YouTuber Samuel Kaylor.
After some time, the video was approved by copyright holder Elevation Worship and finally uploaded.
In the video, beautiful scenes of the four seasons of Japan are interspersed with views of the faces of the participants. It starts with winter to symbolize the spiritual state of Japan, then gradually goes through spring and summer which symbolize God’s hand at work. The end shows autumn, which symbolizes spiritual harvest. During instrumental intervals, traditional Japanese instruments such as the kokyū (a string instrument), koto (a type of zither), shinobue and hichiriki (types of flutes), shamisen (another string instrument), and taiko (drum) were played together with traditional dancing as a form of worship to Almighty God to symbolize spiritual breakthrough.
Just 10 days after the Japanese video was uploaded, it had reached over 20,000 views. The aim of the video was to help the body of Christ to be one. Nakaue hopes that this will be the first step towards that happening. https://youtu.be/b74EymT_0GA
From Christian Shimbun, October 11, 2020
Translated by Grace Koshino