Work / monument · song

Hotaru no Hikari

1881 (Meiji 14) · 1st century · Also known as 蛍の光

"Hotaru no Hikari" ("Glow of a firefly") is a Japanese song that sets new and entirely different words by Chikai Inagaki to the tune of the Scottish folk song "Auld Lang Syne". It was first published in 1881 (Meiji 14) in a collection of songs for elementary school pupils. Putting new words to an existing tune without changing the music much is known as contrafactum.

Songs in history

Hotaru no Hikari1881

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Hotaru no Hikari. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/hotaru-no-hikari
MLA
“Hotaru no Hikari.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/hotaru-no-hikari. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Hotaru no Hikari.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/hotaru-no-hikari.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Hotaru no Hikari’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/hotaru-no-hikari (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻