Tsuruhiko Yoden, the first graduate of Old Kochi High School, was a passionate poet who left many memorable anecdotes and dormitory songs in Kochi, but sadly passed away while studying law at Kyoto University.
Of all his songs, his most beloved, and the one which has become famous throughout Japan, is Gokibushi.
In the mid-autumn moonlight, the students at the Old Kochi High School (today's Kochi University) would gather around the bonfire, sing the song, and drink a barrel of sake, which would become an annual event that they would remember for the rest of their lives.
The "Shore of California" is an expression of the spirit of youth, and was very much in vogue at that time.
The Old Kochi High School was founded in 1922 and abolished in 1950.
Today the school is a kindergarten, primary, and junior high school attached to the Faculty of Education of Kochi University.
* Gokibushi is a boys' school dormitory song about what it means to be masculine.
1st:
If you pine after a girl, let the sight of a spouting whale relieve your feelings. Aren't you plucky! (The last line is a refrain.)
2nd:
Are you reminded of home, to see a shooting star above Katsurahama, Cause you're so young?
3rd:
The southern sea and the Province of Tosa, where revolution and freedom were born.
4th:
Don't argue over right and wrong, tactless fellow! Drink, sing and make merry!
5th:
Oh, a youth of noble spirit! Overflowing with vigor! The object of dark girls' yearning!
6th:
Let's not waste our three years at school. Let's dedicate our three years' accumalated power to the country!
7th:
Don't whine, you weakling! Roar in the twentieth century!
8th:
Not without a kind heart! For a plover chirping off Urado!
9th:
See the big waves lapping this beach strike the shore of California.
10th:
Perceive the high spirits of the Higher School students of Tosa, Where time is eternal and summer is everlasting.
