Far over the Kaiu Kabe calls,
To all of crab clan souls,
We must away, ere break of day,
To seek our pale enchanted jade.

The Shugenja made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells,
In Kaiu keep, where smithy's sleep,
In constructed halls beneath the fells.

For our land and emperor lord
For one gleaming Kaiu sword,
They shaped and wrought, and light they caught,
To hide in jade on blade of sword.

On silver blade they strung
The flowering stars, on sword they hung
The oni ire, more fierce than fire
They meshed the light of moon and sun.

Far over the Kaiu Kabe calls,
To all of crab clan souls,
We must away, ere break of day
To claim our long-forgotten Jade.

Shapes they forged there for themselves,
And call of earth, where no man delves
There lay they long, and many a song
Was sung unheard by men.

The matsu were roaring on the heights,
The wind was moaning in the night,
The fire was red, it flaming spread,
The trees like torches blazed with light.

The bells were ringing in the dale,
And men looked up with faces pale.
The Oni ire, more fierce than fire,
Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The mountain smoked beneath the moon.
The crab, they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled the hall to dying fall
Beneath their feet, beneath the moon.

Far over the Kaiu Kabe grim,
To Kaiu keep and walls dim,
We must away, ere break of day,
To win our freedom from him!

The wind was on the withered heath,
But in the forest stirred no leaf:
There shadows lay be night or day,
And dark things silent crept beneath.

The wind came down from mountains cold,
And like a tide it roared and rolled.
The branches groaned, the forest moaned,
And leaves were laid upon the mould.

The wind went on from West to East;
All movement in the forest ceased.
But shrill and harsh across the marsh,
Its whistling voices were released.

The grasses hissed, their tassels bent,
The reeds were rattling--on it went.
O'er shaken pool under heavens cool,
Where racing clouds were torn and rent.

It passed the Lonely Mountain bare,
And swept above the oni's lair:
There black and dark lay boulders stark,
And flying smoke was in the air.

It left the world and took its flight
Over the wide seas of the night.
The moon set sale upon the gale,
And stars were fanned to leaping light.

Under the Mountain dark and tall,
The Tono has come unto his hall!
His foe is dead, the Worm of Dread,
And ever so his foes shall fall!

The sword is sharp, the spear is long,
The arrow swift, the Gate is strong.
The heart is bold that looks on bold;
The crab no more shall suffer wrong.

The Shugenja made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells,
In Kaiu keep, where smithy's sleep,
In constructed halls beneath the fells.

On silver blade they strung
The flowering stars, on sword they hung
The oni ire, on twisted wire
They meshed the light of moon and sun.

The mountain once more is freed!
O! Wandering folk, the summons heed!
Come haste! Come haste! Across the waste!
The Tono of freind and kin has need.

Now call we over the mountains cold,
'Come back unto the caverns old!'
Here at the gates the tono awaits,
His hands are rich with blood of old.

The Tono has come unto his hall
Under the Mountain dark and tall.
The Oni of Dread is slain and dead,
And ever so our foes shall fall!

Farewell we call to hearth and hall!
Though wind may blow and rain may fall,
We must away, ere break of day
Far over the wood and mountain tall.

To Tengoku, where Kami yet dwell
In glades beneath the misty fell.
Through moor and waste we ride in haste,
And whither then we cannot tell.

With foes ahead, behind us dread,
Beneath the sky shall be our bed,
Until at last our toil be passed,
Our journey done, our errand sped.

We must away! We must away!
We ride before the break of day!