Music / hinayukki

hinayukki@sigotositeP, or hinayukki for short, is a Vocaloid composer and illustrator. She mainly uses KAITO and MEIKO in her music, and her expertise in using the latter's voicebank has earned her the unofficial title of "Legendary MEIKO Master".

Her songs tend to lean towards a traditional Japanese music style, and many of them revolve around themes of death, transience, and the fragility of life. Her music videos are rarely animated, which further emphasizes the simplistic beauty described in the lyrics.

Fun fact: her former alias, Shigotoshite-P (仕事してP), which means “Please do your work”, comes from her debut work "Niisan ga Original no Uta wo Utattekuremashita", which depicts her being scolded by Kaito for posting songs instead of doing her work.

List of notable works

1. Tsugai Kogarashi (Wintry Winds)
2. Higashi no Akatsuki, Nishi no Tasogare (The Dawn in the East, the Dusk in the West)
3. Yomi Zakura (Cherry Blossoms of the Underworld)
4. Tokiwasurebito (Time-Forgotten One)
5. Rinascita~Hajimari no Uta~ (Rebirth ~Song of Beginning~)
6. Floriography -Wasurenagusa- (Floriography -forget-me-not-)
7. Futatsu no Monogatari (A Story of Two)
8. Tabi no Hate, Sora no Doukoku (End of Journey, Lament of the Sky)
9. Dead Foresta ~Suiren no Mizuumi ni Shizumu~ (Dead Foresta ~Sinking into a Lake of Water Lilies~)
10. Dairin no Hana (Grandiose Flower)
11. Oni o Karu Mono (One Who Hunts Demons)

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hinayukki's songs contain examples of the following:

• Death Is a Sad Thing: The lyrics and melody of “Chiriyuki Mono” (Scattering Things) has a gloomy and sombre tone, and it is heavily implied that the narrator has lost a loved one, and is still unable to move past her sorrow, even though a long time has past since his passing. "Floriography" also deals with the death of a lost one, though the latter focuses more on the remembrance of the good things of the past, rather than mourning over the loss.
• Demon Slaying: "Oni o Karu Mono", or "One Who Hunt Demons", is a duet sung by a demon hunter and his demon quarry, which inevitably ends with the hunter slaying the demon.
• Flower Motifs: The Mono no Aware themes common in hinayukki's works are often depicted using flower imageries that reflects both the beauty and transience of life. This is most prominent in the song "Floriography", in which forget-me-nots starts blooming outside the singer's window, reminding her of her dead lover. She then sings about the sweet memories she used to share with that person, and vows never to forget those treasured past, even though the flowers themselves would soon wither.
• Foe Romance Subtext: "Oni o Karu Mono" tells the story of a demon hunter (Kaito) facing off against a demon (Meiko). Their battle is described as a "tryst" and a "dance", and both sings of their passion for the other as they try to murder each other. Here's the English translation of the chorus:
  With every meeting of the eyes, the heart
  Quivers with passion, like a flame
  I cut open these burning feelings
  Come, for a brief moment, and be dyed in red.
• Instrumentals: Aside from her Vocaloid songs, hinayukki also composes a lot of instrumental songs that celebrates the traditional Japanese music style.
• Mono no Aware: Death and transience is a prominent theme in almost all of hinayukki's works, which is usually intertwined with the assurance of the beauty and preciousness of life, precisely because of its brevity.
  • "Tsugai Kogarashi", hinayukki's most famous song, tells the story of the wind and the leaf fluttering together towards an uncertain future. They count each precious moment as they soar together, acknowledging the fargility of life, and that even the tiniest mistake could lead to death.
  • "Hana no Namida" compares life to a flower: beautiful but fleeting. The singers vow to spend the limited amount of time they have with their loved ones, and collect as many precious memories as possible, before they would wither like a flower themselves.
  • "Oni o Karu Mono" is about a human warrior hunting down a crimson demon. As they clash over a winter battlefield, the hunter sings of the passion he feels for the demon in the heat of the battle, all the while knowing that this intense feelings would end when one of them dies. The song ends with the hunter finally defeating and killing the demon and moves on with his life, but notes that the encounter had left a mark in his heart.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: “Dead Foresta” is probably hinayukki's most depressing work, having "futility" as its central message. It tells the story of a girl who can speak to the Gods. Asked for help by the miserable citizens of a dying town, she spends day and night praying to the Gods to deliver the people. However, nothing seems to change, and the desperate people propel themselves into a path of self-destruction by lying and stealing. The girl herself grows steadily more corrupt, and eventually drowns herself into the lake in despair. The following lines sum up the gloomy theme:
  Her singing voice, woven from within her enduring life,
  in the end isn't able to connect to even the faintest path.