Koto ha, To: Shiro o Matoeba

Jul 12, 2025

“Koto ha, To” is a three-member musical project made up of vocalist Ayako Tsuchiya, pianist Kozue Tsukayama, and bassist Yuki Ito. Their album is titled Shiro o Matoeba and was released in 2017.

To begin, a quick overview of the Japanese words in the band name and album title gives a nice first impression of the phrases, poetically vague as they may be. A translation of their band name (ことは、と in Japanese) would be something like “The Thing Is, …” or “About That, …”, and the album title (白をまとえば) something like When/If I Wear White.

Shiro o Matoeba includes eight beautifully delicate songs, all originals with music written by the three musicians individually. All lyrics were written by vocalist Tsuchiya and are sung in Japanese, except for the two tracks #5 “Vocalise” and #6 “Flower” which Tsuchiya sings in wordless vocalization using her voice as an instrument along with the piano and bass.

The album sequencing is also artful, as the opening and closing tracks (#1 “Shiro o Matoeba” and #8 “Dialog”) act as the album’s prologue and epilogue with storytelling timing and decorative musical structures folded like origami. Along the same lines, track #4 “Maware” (まわれ, turn) features a spoken-word recitation over musical loops and appears in the middle of the album as an intermission of poetry and music.

Bracketed by these three pieces, the rest of the songs find the three musicians playing in a more straightforward and jazzy style. #2 “Selene’s Dance” is a highlight with its romantic and mysterious atmosphere depicting the drama of Selene. This Greek goddess of the moon had her lover Endymion placed in eternal sleep, and eternal youth, out of love, and visited him each night. Compellingly, the tune initially seems to share certain characteristics with other great songs—Radiohead’s “Exit Music (For a Film)” and Chopin’s “Prelude, Op. 28, No. 4”—but “Selene’s Dance” moves along at a brisk pace with the spice of 5/4 time and additional well-placed beats of punctuation.

Other songs are just as evocative and moving. Track #3 “Higenashi” (ひなげし, poppy) is a pretty waltz with a fragile lightness obscuring a weighty past love as Tsuchiya’s high-reaching vocals express a vulnerable sweetness brilliantly. #5 “Vocalize” is a crafted jazz sculpture with an almost operatic melody and space for bass and piano jazz improvisations. #6 “Flower” opens into a slowly sad, Latin mood with pop lovesong fringes. #7 “Muchu Sampo” (夢中散歩, wandering in a dream) is another odd-meter addiction where striking chords angle over plumb bass notes with coordinated accents over shifting sands.

Speaking of odd-meter, the use of non-4/4 time signatures on Shiro o Matoeba adds to the overall allure of the Koto ha, To’s music. Additional measures, mixed meters, and asymmetrical phrases are carefully inserted in the written scores in several places. Along with the charm of the three dramatic rubato and stop-start pieces, over half of the songs feature non-4/4/ meters (3/4, 5/4, and 7/4) with extra measures or beats used subtly to adorn specific points in the delivery.

Lyrics

(Lyrics transcribed from the liner notes, with English translations by me)

1. 白をまとえば when i wear white

Lyrics: Ayako Tsuchiya Music: Kozue Tsukayama

白をまとえば            when i wear white

苛立つ風は優しく         gentle, restless wind
冷たい水は甘温く         sweetly mild, cool water

流した涙は              flowing tears
さらさらと              smoothly
さらさらと              smoothly
わたしに自然に融けてゆく  melt naturally into me

さびしく人をもとむ日も    on days i’m lonely, desiring another

白をまとえば            when i wear white

白をまとえば            when i wear white

震えた樹々に隠れて       hide in the trembling trees
血汐は緩く湧き上る       blood slowly rises

抱えた痛みは            carried pain
ひたひたと              slowly
ひたひたと              slowly
わたしに自然に融けてゆく  melts naturally into me
はげしく日とを想う日も    on days i think intensely of the past
白をまとえば            when i wear white

2. Selene’s dance

Lyrics: Ayako Tsuchiya Music: Yuki Ito

なぞる指でそっと閉じる瞼  fingers trace and gently close eyes
濡れた口に甘い媚薬を     sweet aphrodisiac on moistened mouth

しどけない貴方にかけた魔法で by a spell cast on innocent you
綺麗なまま永遠に         remain beautiful forever
解けることなく           never lifted
夢をみせ続けてあげる      i’ll keep you dreaming

眩しい光に身を委ねて     yield to the dazzling light
溶けてゆくよに愛を誓って、と melting away, pledging love -
虚ろな瞳に願ってみても   try to beg of vacant eyes
無駄ね                 it’s hopeless

朝が来る頃に            when morning comes
銀の船は呼ぶ            the silver vessel calls

また夜を待つだけ        just wait for night again

冷たい胸に燃えた火花     burnt spark in my cold heart
望みは一つ今日も誓って？  one wish, promise me again today?

穏やかに空は限りの時を告げるの calm sky marks the time’s end

香り染み付けて          soaked-in scent
髪引かれながら          as hair is pulled

また夜を待つだけ        just waiting for night again

3. ひげなし

Lyrics: Ayako Tsuchiya Music: Yuki Ito

頬を撫でた　五月の風    a may wind caressed my cheeks
青い匂いが　抑えにきた  scent of youth came to restrain me

可愛い夢　並べれたね    we arranged cute dreams, didn’t we
叶いもしないこと       things that could never come true

隠してたのは           what i was hiding
知ってたから           because i knew
胸に咲いた　花は見せなかった unrevealed flowers bloomed in my heart

目と目が合う　君が笑う   our eyes meet, you smile
丘を駆け上がれば　街は遠くへ run up the hill and the town fades away

陽の光に　紛れ込んで     mixed in the sunlight
もろい幻　拾った        i grasped a delicate vision

指先から　流れてゆく    slipping from my fingertips
君の優しいとこ         your gentle side

懐かしいね、と         ‘i miss you’
寂しかった、と         ‘i felt lonely’
ポケットの中でぎゅっと伝えた i let you know, tight in my pocket

目と目が合う　君が笑う   our eyes meet, you smile
丘を駆け上がれば　街は遠くへ run up the hill and the town fades away

4. まわれ

Lyrics: Ayako Tsuchiya Music: Yuki Ito

握りしめていたははずの熱は  heat i should have tightly held
トウニ、ワタシカラハナレ   ‘long ago, left me’
貴女の方へ、漂っていた     towards you, it drifted
鈍い瞬き                 a dull blink
乾いて刻む、針の音         a dry scratch, sound of a needle
ゆっくり母音を　置くように  as if slowly placing vowels
大事に胸を　打つように     like beating the chest with care
まわれまわれ　世界よまわれ  spin, spin, o world, spin!
ワタシと貴方を            you and i
置いてゆけ               leave it behind

5. Vocalise

Music: Kozue Tsukayama

6. Flower

Music: Yuki Ito

7. 夢中散歩 (Muchu Sampo, wandering in a dream)

Lyrics, Music: Ayako Tsuchiya

星　導かれるように降って      falling stars as if being guided
そって　ここにいるよと伝えた   gently i told you i’m here

子供の頃の春のままの僕に      as i was in the spring of youth
冷たい君の手が触れた         touched by your cold hand

Rhythm　鼓動を倍に感じて     rhythm, feel the heartbeat double
長い　髪なびかせて　宙を舞い   long hair flutters dance in air

ガラスのような君と　二人で     together with you, like glass
夢は　続く　続く             the dream continues continues

涙で潤む　瞳の奥の           deep within tear-filled eyes
その台詞が好きさ             i love those words

「可哀想ね」                ‘poor thing’

（飽きることなく）           (never gets old)

笑った　記憶もやがて消え去る   even memories of laughs will fade
何も出来ない僕を許して？      will you forgive me who could do nothing?

哀しい顔して　切なく魅せれば   with a sad look you painfully display
夢は　続く　続く             the dream continues continues

「可哀想ね」                ‘poor thing’

8. Dialog

Lyrics: Ayako Tsuchiya Music: Kozue Tsukayama

穏やかにみえる　静かな空に in the calm quiet sky
ふと　寄る　影           unexpected, a shadow approaches

うしろで　みつけた       found behind me

輝く　太陽を            the shining sun

痛みに似ている　憧れにいつも like pain, a yearning, always
追いかけられ             pursuing me

疲れた　わたしは         i’m tired

光が　恋しくて           i miss the light

まっすぐ　うしろに　進んだ i moved straight back

そーっと                 softly

また　曇り空が出て     again, the cloudly sky appears
気まぐれに　わたしに   on a whim, to me
木洩れ陽を　みせるの   showing sunlight through the trees

影を追いかけ             chasing shadows
なぞる　白！             tracing white!

無理に描いた　穏やかな空に the calm sky, impossible to draw

消えた　太陽             the vanished sun