

Here is some early concept art for _Kimi no Na wa_.

[![concept
art](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YUPMS.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YUPMS.jpg)

The working title is given in the top-left corner of this image. What was the
title?

(This question has been gleefully lifted [from
reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/KimiNoNaWa/comments/66e1fp/original_concept_art_of_your_name_by_makoto/dghxgkf/).)


CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-21T03:12:58.727
39977
2017-08-01T19:05:13.030
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question
your-name
What was the working title of Kimi no Na wa?


The title is 「夢と知りせば」 _Yume to shiriseba_ , which one might translate as "Had
I known it was a dream".

To appreciate the significance of this title, one should know that this is
part of a _tanka_ by [Ono no
Komachi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ono_no_Komachi), a Heian-era poet. In
Japanese, the text is:

> 思ひつつ  
>  寝ればや人の  
>  見えつらむ  
>  **夢と知りせば**  
>  覚めざらましを

There are many scholarly translations of this poem; here is [Donald Keene's
version](https://books.google.com/books?id=R7McAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT85&lpg=PT85&dq=%22had%20I%20known%20it%20was%20a%20dream%22&source=bl&ots=6q0VmMP942&sig=j00uWJ5vmDbohhNe2Sy0gUoVL1A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwikgOGiyLTTAhWM3YMKHZRiCgUQ6AEILDAC#v=onepage&q=%22had%20I%20known%20it%20was%20a%20dream%22&f=false):

> Thinking about him  
>  I slept, only to have him  
>  Appear before me―  
>  **Had I known it was a dream**  
>  I should never have wakened.

Shinkai mentions this poem as an inspiration in [this
interview](http://www.kiminona.com/interview/01shinkai.html):

> その未来の物語を小野小町の和歌『思ひつつ寝ればや人の見えつらむ
> 夢と知りせば覚めざらましを』（訳：あの人のことを思いながら眠りについたから夢に出てきたのであろうか。夢と知っていたなら目を覚まさなかったものを）を引っ掛かりとして、アニメーションのフィールドの中で描く事が出来ると思いました。

* * *

As a side note, the text beneath the working title reads ―男女とりかえばや物語 -
roughly, "boy and girl _Torikaebaya Monogatari_ ". The [_Torikaebaya
Monogatari_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torikaebaya_Monogatari) ("The
Changelings") is another Heian-era work, about a boy and girl who each behave
as members of the opposite gender. That's basically what _Kimi no Na wa_ is,
after all, except with full-on body-swapping.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-21T03:12:58.727
39978
2017-08-01T19:05:13.030
2017-08-01T19:05:13.030
1908
1908
39977
answer