U boj, u boj

"U boj, u boj" (Croatian for "To battle, to battle") is a <a href="/facts/Croatia/MSS0yyvw">Croatian</a> patriotic song. It was written by <a href="/facts/Franjo_Markovi%C4%87/N7rDwaPX">Franjo Marković</a> and composed by <a href="/facts/Ivan_Zajc/WIvQFcRP">Ivan Zajc</a> in 1866, who later incorporated it as an <a href="/facts/Aria/qrrLEAqm">aria</a> into his <a href="/facts/Opera/eLeXDdsP">opera</a> <a href="/facts/Nikola_%C5%A0ubi%C4%87_Zrinski_(opera)/WPBKSNsu">Nikola Šubić Zrinski</a> (1876) where it is sung by a male <a href="/facts/Choir/kzLHDhPh">choir</a>. It is a retelling of the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Szigetv%C3%A1r/uqq5buTW">Battle of Szigetvár</a> of 1566, in which <a href="/facts/Nikola_IV_Zrinski/Jg3jmeDz">Nikola IV Zrinski</a>, <a href="/facts/Ban_of_Croatia/PFMWtTMu">Ban of Croatia</a> and captain of the assembled Croatian and Hungarian forces, took a heroic last stand against overwhelming <a href="/facts/Ottoman_Empire/6QvfTRsg">Ottoman</a> forces, led personally by <a href="/facts/Suleiman_the_Magnificent/AQKbFdJu">Suleiman the Magnificent</a>. Though the fortress fell, the defenders inflicted grievous injuries on the assaulting forces, all but crippling the victors' ability to progress past the Croatian-Hungarian border, and causing the death of the sultan himself.
The choir version of the song enjoys a wide popularity in Japan where for a long time it was thought to be a Czech folk song. After the end of <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a>, the American ship Heffron, evacuating Czech and Slovak soldiers from Siberia, among whom this Croat song was widely popular during the war, was damaged by a storm and was forced to settle in the <a href="/facts/Kobe/BRn7TPho">Kobe</a> harbour for 2 months for repair. During that period, the soldiers passed on the tune to the members of the oldest and the most renowned Japanese male choir of the <a href="/facts/Kwansei_Gakuin_University/cvhdL01x">Kwansei Gakuin University</a>, established in 1899. Their repertoire hosts the song (which is learned not in Japanese, but in genuine Croatian) to this day, ending with it each of their public performances.

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U boj, u boj