The Rotary Club of District2780 Kanagawa Shonan, the first alumni club in Japan

Centennial Oath

Words: Naoyuki Takagi
Music: Hiroaki Tokunaga

Yes, I am only one and yet I am one
I cannot do everything but there's something I can
Whatever I can do I've got to do
By the grace of Mighty God I'll carry it out
Once I start to LEAD THE WAY with what I can do
Someone will LEND A HAND cause ROTARY SHARES
Together we can make come true, anything we wish
If it's true, if it's fair, good for every one
Hand in hand, let's walk on
There's no hurry but we should never stop
Let's act and SHOW WE CARE
Keeping SERVICE ABOVE SELF always on our minds
Someday peace will prevail upon this earth
Realizing at last Rotary's eternal dream.

Here is our club song, an oath all our members have taken.
Feel free to share it with us, by listening to it or singing it at your club meetings!
If you find our club song charming and inspiring, drop a happy buck, give to the Rotary Foundation, do whatever you can do to promote your Rotary causes.

• Centennial Oath (Recorded by Toko Harayama, Ambassadorial Scholarship Alumna)
• Centennial Oath Score

The original words were written in Japanese by Charter President Takagi, inspired by the following poem by Everett Hale, an American author.

I am only one, but I am one
I cannot do everything, but I can do something
What I can do I must do
By the grace of God I will do

When Takagi's Rotary mentor and counselor Bill Skinner was District Governor, Takagi was invited to their District Conference, where he heard the above poem quoted repeatedly by the President Representative. When our club was started, Takagi decided to work on its Japanese rendition so the charter members could share the essence of the Rotary spirit of "I will" without religious implications.

He asked charter member Hiroaki Tokunaga, who composes professionally, to write the music, and thus, our club song was born. It was charter secretary Hiroko Yunoki's idea to write its English version to welcome RIP Boyd with. Takagi initially thought it would be impossible because now he had to fit the words into music, but somehow it was managed with Tokunaga's cooperation to change the music here and there, so the English words would go well with the melody.