UNIVERSITY
OF FLORIDA
LIBRARIES
In Memory of
Edwin C. Kirkland
^^'du^^ (, A^^K'/C/uvJ
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
LYRASIS IVIembers and Sloan Foundation
http://www.archive.org/details/japanesepeasants38embr
MEMOIRS OF THE
AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY
VOLUME 38
1943
Erminie W. Voegelin, Editor
Associate Editors
J. W. Ashton A. H. Gayton
Marius Barbeau George Herzog
Aurelio M. Espinosa Gladys A. Reichard
Archer Taylor
Stith Thompson
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Compiled and Annotated by
JOHN F. EMBREE
With the Assistance of
ELLA EMBREE and YUKUO UYEHARA
PHILADELPHIA
AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY
1944
COPYRIGHT 1944 BY THE AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY
All rights reserved
v.3€
Printed in the United States of America
THE WILLIAM BYRD PRESS, INC.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION i
CULTURAL CONTEXT OF THE SONGS I
FORM 5
CONTENT 8
SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9
BANQUET SONGS 12
KUMA ROKUCHOSHI I3
1-3 Kuma Rokuchoshi 13
4a The Country Headman I 15
4b The Country Headman II 16
5-7 You Are a Sharp Sword 17
OTHER ROKUCHOSHI l8
Hayashi Sung to the Tune of Rokuchoshi 18
8 I Beg Your Pardon, But— 18
9 Rain Had Not Been FalUng 18
10 Needles of the Green Pine 19
11 The Road To Meet the Lover 19
12 Opening the Door 19
13 In the Middle of the Night 20
14 Drinking with One's Lover 20
15 You Going Up 21
16 At Taragi's Bunzoji 21
17 If You Say It 22
i8a-b Your Maid Servant 22
19 Good Feeling 23
20 Facing the Shutter 23
21 When Delivery Is Easy 23
22a-e It Is Nothing 24
23 When He Does Not Know ' . . 24
24 Shall We Have a Drink ? 24
V
VI CONTENTS — CONTINUED
PAGE
Rokuchoshi Wakare 25
25 My Lover Is Leaving 25
26 On Parting from My Lover 25
27 I Am a Traveler 26
28 When the Parting Comes 26
29 You Are the Best 26
DOKKoisE 27
30-33 If Eggs Are Tended 27
34-35 Cold and Soba 28
36 The Painted Sake Cup 29
37 The Appetizer 29
38 With Face Covered 30
39 Country Wrestling 30
40 White Waves 30
41-42 As a Butterfly 31
43 Tied to a Cherry Tree . 31
OTHER BANQUET SONGS 32
44-46 Chiosan 32
47 When It Rains 33
48 In the Bowl of Water 33
49 After Drinking Wine . . . 34
50 Wine Drinking Drinking 34
51 By the Long Paddy Path , . 35
52 What Will You Do? 35
53 Though I Am Not Good 35
54-55 In the Mountains 36
56 You Are the Only Hero 36
57 The Ribs of the Umbrella 37
58a-b Flower-Like Sano 37
59a-j My Penis 38
HAMLET DANCE SONGS 40
6oa-h Niwaka 41
61 By That Side Lane 44
62 At the Ferry of Yamasaki 45
63 Genjomero 45
CONTENTS — CONTINUED Vll
PAGE
SEASONAL SONGS 46
64-67 Song of March Sixteenth 47
68-70 Weeding Song 49
71-74 Bon Song 50
75 Rejoice 5^
76-78 On the Eve of the Fifteenth 53
FOUNDATION POUNDING SONGS 54
79 A Good Day Is Here 55
80 The Plum Tree 5^
81 Jusuke and Oiro 57
82 Come Come Sparrow 60
83 During the Day 60
84 Kanshir5 Wants a Wife 61
85 The Difficuh Bride 65
CHILDREN'S GAME SONGS ^
BALL BOUNCING SONGS 67
86 Masachan and the PoHceman 67
87 Where Are You From? 68
88a-j Gomumari 68
89 Saig5 Takamori's Daughter 70
90 Bean Curd Is White 71
BEAN BAG AND SKIP ROPE SONGS 7I
91 Japan's Nogi 72
92 The Soldier's Girl 73
93 Cat, Cat 73
94 Father Is a Peony 74
OTHER GAME SONGS 74
95 While Plucking a Violet 74
96 Hanako's Tears 75
97 Gokuraku Ji 76
98 Cloth Spread Out 77
99 Young Lady in a Basket 77
100 Mizu-Guruma 78
loi Swallow Ken-Ken 78
Vlll CONTENTS — CONTINUED
PAGE
102 Takayama of Fukada 78
103 Fireflies 79
104 Tokyo I Saw 79
LULLABIES 80
105 Go To Sleep Torahachi 81
106 Turtle Dove 81
107 Little Boy 82
108 Little Boy's Nurse 82
MISCELLANEOUS SONGS AND SAYINGS ^ 83
109 The Sparrows Laugh . 83
no Cooking Rice 83
III Male and Female Butterfly 83
1 12-13 Riddle and Proverb 84
114 Spells for Foot Cramp 84
115 One Bottle of Infallible Remedy 84
116 Incantation 84
APPENDIX I 85
117-20 Four Supplementary Stanzas of Kuma Rokuchoshi ... 85
APPENDIX II 86
121-28 Sado Okesa 86
i29a-c Tsuki Wa Kasanaru . . 88
130-35 Kagoshima Ohara Bushi 89
WORKS REFERRED TO . 91
INDEX OF FIRST LINES OF SONGS 93
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
1. Hamlet women masquerading as men to greet a returned traveler . 4
2. A banquet on the Kuma river 4
3. The Samisen 14
4. Mrs. Kav^^anabe knows all the songs 14
5. Niwaka Dance — Initial Position 40
6. A Step in the Niwaka Dance 42
7. Niwaka Dance — The Man in the Foreground Keeps Time ... 42
8. Foundation Pounding (Dotsuki) 54
9. A Group of Women Bouncing a Man They Rushed between Spells
of Foundation Pounding 54
10. Ball Bouncing 78
11. Mizu-Guruma (Water Mill) 78
IX
INTRODUCTION
I. CULTURAL CONTEXT OF THE SONGS
Kuma county, the locale of the songs presented in this collection, is a rural dis-
trict in south central Kyushu Island, Japan, about two and one-half hours by rail
from Kumamoto City and thirty from Tokyo. The mountains which border the
county enclose a fertile basin through which flows the Kuma river, an ideal set-
ting for the traditional Japanese form of wet rice agriculture.
The people of Kuma live in villages, each made up of a number of hamlets or
small clusters of thatched cottages surrounded by paddy land or upland mul-
berry fields. As with other agricultural folk societies, periods of tedious farm
labor alternate with times of festival and sociability. During the spring months
everyone is busy with rice planting and transplanting, during the summer with
raising silk worms, and during the fall with harvest; but after each such period
of work, especially during the winter months after the crops are in, comes a
leisure period during which are held many banquets marked by drink and song
and dance.
Ordinary daily work is carried on by each household individually — the able-
bodied men and women working in the fields, grandparents doing lighter chores
around the house while their grandchildren lend a hand or play, as they sing
some tune in rhythm with their occupation. While this daily life may become at
times a tedious affair, it is rarely a grind, for there are frequent pauses to smoke
a miniature pipe or indulge in an in-between-meal snack enlivened by gossip
and rude jokes. Work follovv^s the sun and the seasons, not a time clock.
Certain types of work are performed communally, as when a group of house-
holds exchange labor at the time of rice transplanting, or a man's neighborhood
group assists him in building a house. Public works such as making a bridge or
repairing a road are also carried out on a cooperative basis, the people working
in groups, thus relieving the arduousness of the task. There is an esprit de corps
among the workers which is maintained by the realization of the necessity of the
task, enhanced by good humored, rather broad banter and an occasional snatch
of song. Such cooperative labor is always followed by a drinking party at which
all the workers relax, exchange drinks with one another and cement their eco-
nomic interdependence with a warm social relationship. Social integration is re-
inforced with social euphoria.
In a peasant community such as a Japanese village the crises of life, the rites de
2 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
passage, are marked by special ceremonies and celebrations, the most important;
of which is the wedding banquet. Whereas community labor is a neighborhood
aflFair, a gathering of people on a geographic basis, the gathering of relatives for
a wedding or a funeral is a coming together of people as kin. In one situation
the solidarity of the local group is expressed, in the other the ties of kinship
strengthened.
Another event, something of a crisis in a peasant community, is departure on a
long journey, an event socially recognized by farewell banquets. These feasts are
big occasions, especially of recent years when the prospective traveler happens to
be a young conscript. The young man's family gives a large banquet for neigh-
bors and relatives, a banquet marked by much song and more wine, "to lighten
the traveller's footsteps."
The waxing and waning of the moon and the rhythmic round of seasons both
affect the social life of a Japanese folk community. This is reflected by the pre-
dominance of festivals on the fifteenth of the lunar month, that is, at the time of
the full moon, and by numerous festivals in spring and in autumn, at New Year^
and midsummer. Some of these festivals are celebrated on a small scale at the
neighborhood god house, others on a larger scale at the village temple or shrine
and all of them are, of course, occasions for song and dance and the exchange of
drinks. The periods of labor in the fields are thus both relieved and set off by
festivals of the full moon and by celebrations in honor of deities of rice, of
motherhood, and of medicine.^
The songs sung at banquets and festivals are true folksongs; they are anony-
mous, familiar to every one present and reflect in one way or another the social
values of the group. With the exception of some of the seasonal songs (Shonga,
No. 71, and Jugoya, No. 76) there is little discrimination in the choice of verses
to be sung at a given banquet — they may include Rokuchoshi (Nos. 1-4), a favor-
ite at all times, some verses from March i6th (No. 64), a song or two from
another region such as Sado Okesa (No. 121).
The popular songs are well known to everyone in the village and are learned
as part of the general folkways of the group by a growing child rather than
through any formal teaching. Children always linger about a house where a
banquet is in progress, so it is not difficult for them to acquire a knowledge of
the words and of the tunes. As far as performance goes, it is usually the full
adults of the group, that is those married and with children, who are the freest
performers, for it is not seemly for the youthful to indulge in such boisterous
pleasures. Furthermore, most dancing is solo, and serves as a means of self-
^ Each neighborhood or hamlet god house is the home of some popular deity such as
Kwannon (mercy), Yakushi (medicine), or Jizo (children and safety).
INTRODUCTION 3
expression and o£ attracting attention direct to oneself, a behaviour privilege
reserved to older people.
The songs are accompanied by the samisen,^ a stringed instrument played by
a woman, while the dances are performed by both men and women. The more
indecent dances involving suggestive forward and backward jerks of the hips
and an occasional loosening of the upper part of the kimono to expose the breast
are performed, for the most part, by older women.
These folksongs and dances bring out two interesting contrasts in Japanese
peasant life. One of these is the formality of the opening phases of a banquet
with elaborate seating arrangements in order of rank, age, and sex, neatly placed
trays containing food carefully arranged and of set quality and type according
to the occasion, a formal request to partake by the hostess, and perhaps a few
formal speeches in regard to a wedding or a departing soldier. Throughout this
opening formal period of the banquet everyone sits stiffly on his knees until
finally, formalities over, the host tells his guests to be at ease. This is the signal
for everyone to cross his legs in front of him, begin eating and exchanging
drinks. The conversation becomes general and loud, and the formal seating
arrangement is shattered as people go from place to place to exchange drinks,
or play Kuma-gen, a special finger game (played only by men). Soon some
woman brings out a samisen and the party is on. In general, the more important
the occasion, the stifTer the opening formalities of a banquet and the noisier and
bawdier the subsequent period of song and dance.
The other marked contrast in village life is the difference in behavior at a
party of a young girl and an older woman. While the women at a banquet be-
come literally the life of the party, young girls neither sing nor dance, but in-
stead demurely carry out their duties of serving the guests and pouring drinks.
They never drink themselves, neither do they smoke. This contrast between
young unmarried girls and old mothers of children, so marked at a banquet, is
but an accentuation of a general condition in village life where a woman begins
to smoke and drink only after the birth of a child, and where the older she be-
comes the freer she may be in her conversation. The extreme sexuality of some
women at banquets may be a reflection of severe repression or deprivation in
daily routine farm life.^
^ Called in the local dialect shami.
^ An interesting custom which may also be related to this behavior is that of women mas-
querading as men on certain occasions, the commonest being the return home of a soldier
or other traveller from afar. At this time a number of women from the traveller's hamlet
don some old clothes of their menfolk and join the welcoming group of villagers at the out-
§kirts of the village. In addition to the clothes, makeshift masks are worn to hide the iden-
4 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
The reader may be curious as to the extent to which popular urban songs have
encroached on the territory of the rural folksong, so far as small out-of-the-way
villages such as Suye, in Kuma county, are concerned. The answer to this is that
popular songs of the city are almost unkown in the village. One or two young
men who have been away from home for several years working in a city or
attending college may bring back one or two such songs, but they are rarely
taken up by anyone in the village. Another sort of song is that sung in geisha
houses, more along a classical sentimental line than a rustic outspoken one, and
some of these undoubtedly do diffuse to the village from time to time. Some vil-
lagers visit geisha houses from time to time and many of the girls in the houses
are from villages, so a certain amount of diffusion both ways is to be expected.
Songs 40 and 57 are probably examples of geisha songs which have become part
of the village repertoire, and on the other hand, any geisha, if necessary, can
always produce a coarse folksong.
It is perhaps worth noting that in Japanese immigrant communities in Amer-
ica, the folksong plays a very minor role. There are fewer occasions for banquets,
and members of the society come from various parts of Japan, and so do not
share a common body of folk tradition. Group solidarity based on a common
body of folklore and folksong is much weaker in an immigrant community than
in a Japanese village. Furthermore, the second generation, having acquired
American ways, looks down upon the ways of its parents as uncouth. These
younger people, more urbanized than their parents, are more likely to know the
latest popular swing tune than the words of a song from their parents' home
country.^
tity of the masqueraders who act the part of buffoons, imitating in an exaggerated manner
the gait and attitudes of men, making lewd passes at young girls and in general creating
hilarity among those present. Later the women return home to divest themselves of their
men's clothing and help serve at the welcoming banquet of the hamlet and join in the song
and dance. The disguise is so effective that men cannot, or at least claim they cannot, recog-
nize their own wives when they masquerade on such occasions. This lack of recognition may
of course be formal, a way of avoiding the embarrassment of recognizing a female relative
acting in such a manner. A less formalized transvesticism occurs frequently at banquets
where some woman may put on a few men's garments and sometimes even use a cushion
or the spout of a wine jug as a phallus as they perform some comic dance. (This behavior
of Kuma women parallels in some ways Naven behavior of the New Guinea latmul as de-
scribed by Gregory Bateson in his book Naven.)
* See Embree, Acculturation among the Japanese of Kona, Hawaii.
Fig. I {top)
Hamlet women masquerading as men to greet a returned traveler.
Fig. 2 {bottom)
A banquet on the Kuma river.
(To celebrate the installation of a telephone in the village office.
The banqueters are village officials.)
INTRODUCTION
II. FORM
The chief formal characteristic of Japanese folksong, as also of the literary
poem, is an emphasis on syllables rather than meter. Practically all Japanese
poetry, including folksong, is arranged in a series of lines of five and seven sylla-
bles. Another important trait, brevity, is also characteristic of both the literary
and the folk poetry.
The standard literary forms of Japanese poetry are the tanka dating from the
seventh century at the latest as evidenced by the poems in the Manyoshu (Japan's
oldest anthology, early ninth century), and the haiku, a later development from
the tanka. A third type is the naga-uta. The tanka is a poem of thirty-one sylla-
bles arranged in a series of lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. The haiku or hokku is a
poem of seventeen syllables, 5-7-5. Practically all standard Japanese literary poetry
is composed in these two forms. The third form, less common, is the naga-uta
or "long" poem, consisting of an indefinite number of lines up to one hundred
or so in a series alternating between five and seven syllables with an extra seven-
syllable line at the end. A tanka by way of envoi may be added at the end of a
naga-uta.
The folksong is a quite distinct form from the much studied literary tanka
and haiku. Instead of thirty-one syllables the regular folksong or dodoitsu is com-
posed of twenty-six syllables arranged in a series of 7-7-7-5. At the end of the
dodoitsu there is usually a refrain of nonsense syllables serving as a chorus, e.g.,
the 'Yoiya sa' of rokuchoshi or 'Dokkoise no se' of dokkoise folksongs. The
dodoitsu form is the predominating type of song in this collection.
There is also a long form of folksong or ballad to accompany the work of
foundation pounding which may be in the alternating five- and seven-syllable
line form, but lacking the final extra seven-syllable hne of the literary naga-uta,
and without benefit of a tanka envoi, or it may be one long series of seven-sylla-
ble lines (e.g., Nos. 61, 79, 90).
In addition to the predominating dodoitsu or twenty-six-syllable songs and the
longer ballads there are a number of other special forms. One of these is a form
of 5-7-7-5 or twenty-five syllables (as in No. 54), another is 5-7-7-7-5 (Nos. 36, 48).
There are also occasional six-line, thirty-eight-syllable songs (7-7-7-5-7-5) as for
instance. Song 75; this is simply the dodoitsu form with an extra couplet added.
The Penis Song (No. 59) has a special (5-7-7-7) pattern.
A free irregular form of varying length, often more or less improvised and of
humorous content, is the hayashi, which may follow after one or more dodoitsu
in singing. Song 4 is a good example of the hayashi.
Children's game songs exhibit a number of special patterns unlike the dodoitsu
6 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
or the ballad, the length of the line being irregular to correspond to movements
in the game and full of onomatopoeic words and plays on sound to accompany
a pebble game or the bouncing of a ball (No. 91). A common form in children's
game songs is one in which the final syllables or final words of a line corre-
spond to the beginning syllable of the next line (Nos. 90, 91) ; another form of
song found in children's games combines counting with the content of the song
(No. 88), a form which also occurs in the Penis Song (No. 59).
Rhythm is as important to Japanese folk poetry as to most folksong. A regu-
larly repeated chorus such as 'Yoiya sa' is characteristic of all the songs in actual
singing, the refrain occurring after each "stanza" and in some songs after the
second as well as the fifth lines. Sometimes the last word of the second line is
itself repeated as a refrain as in Song i. A simple rhythm is found in the ballads
sung to accompany earth pounding (dotsuki) where lines of five and seven
syllables alternate regularly. In addition there are alternating pairs of refrain
which are sung as a chorus after every line; this imparts a regular rhythm in
time with the pounding regardless of whether the ballad is of the 7-7-7-7 or
7-5-7-5 syllable pattern. E.g., Song 79:
Kyo wa hi mo yoshi
yoi yoi
Kichijitsu gozaru
yoi yoiya nya
ara nya tose
Kichijitsu yoi hi ni
yoi yoi
Dotsuki nasaru
yoi yoiya nya
ara nya tose
etc.
As noted, the regular dodoitsu or twenty-six-syllable form is on a 7-7-7-5 sylla-
ble pattern, but occasionally a sort of symmetrical rhythm occurs as in the songs
of 5-7-7-5 or 5-7-7-7-5 (Nos. 54, 36) . Rhythm also occurs within the songs through
the regular repetition of certain words or phrases, e.g., Song 5.
Omaya meiken
Washa sabi gatana
gatana gatana to
Omaya kirete mo
Washa kirenu
yoiya sa koi sasa
INTRODUCTION 7
In this song in addition to the regular refrain of rokuchoshi (yoiya sa, koi sasa)
the last word of the second line is repeated to correspond to a refrain and within
the song itself Omaya and Washa alternate rhythmically.
Rhyme is not used in Japanese poetry either literary or folk, since the language
is basically a series of syllables all ending in vowels. An exception to this is a final
*n' which is derived from an archaic 'mu'. It always counts as a separate syllable
where it occurs and if it is followed by a 'b' or 'p', it becomes 'm'. In place of
rhyme other devices are used. Alliteration occurs as in Song 20:
Korobi kokureba
or Song 39:
Okitsu motsurctsu
More common is assonance, e.g., in Song 31 :
Mono mo Tyo de
or Song 34:
Kaya-yane arare
Internal repetitions and plays on sound are also frequent, as in Song 37 :
Sake no sa^ana
Udonu f^a soba ^a
Udonu soba yori
Ka^a no soba
or Song 50 :
Shochu wa nomi nomi
Mi wa hade\a demo
Geko no tatetaru
Kura wa na\a
Rhythm of the songs is emphasized or coordinated with various bodily move-
ments depending upon the occasion. In the banquet songs in addition to the
samisen music, .the participants clap their hands to emphasize the tim.e, in chil-
dren's games songs the rhythm corresponds to some movement such as the
bouncing of a ball, in the dotsuki, the rhythm of the song assists the pounders
to keep regular time in their work.
There are two notable characteristic literary forms in Japanese poetry, the pil-
low word and the pivot word. The pillow word is a formalized set phrase, like
the "rosy fingered dawn" of Homer, which often serves as the opening line of a
tanka. This is not common in the folksongs, though some examples do occur
such as comparing a girl to a flower in Song 41. The pivot word is a single
8 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
word used in one context with two or more meanings and is a valuable device
for imparting much meaning in few words. In the literary forms this is not used
in a humorous way, but in the folksong the pivot word often serves as a broad
sort of pun (e.g., 'koshimoto' in Song i8, 'irekuri' in Song 53).
Onomatopoeia is common, usually for humorous effect, as in the description
of a country headman's gait "shakkuri, shakkuri" (Song 4b).
In general, each stanza, even of the same song, forms a separate thought and
is complete in itself, so that a song such as Kuma Rokuchoshi consists of a num-
ber of stanzas which, while all dealing with Kuma, could be and are arranged
in any order when sung. Thus, while words and tunes are standardized, arrange-
ment and choice of stanzas is up to the singer. There are a few exceptions to this,
as for instance the double stanzas of Shonga Odori (Nos. 73, 74) or the num-
bered series of stanzas in the Penis Song (No. 59) which are always sung in the
same order.
III. CONTENT
As to content, the two basic human needs of food and sex receive the most
constant attention. The references to ordinary foods and to the drinking of wine
are very frequent (e.g., Nos. 15, 50). The treatment of sex, though sometimes
sentimental (Nos. 10, 26) is more often frank and vulgar (Nos. 8, 20). The old
village custom of visiting a young lady in her room at night is reflected in Songs
12 and 38 and a broad humor, mostly sexual, is characteristic of many of the
songs. In addition there is frequent parody of the solemn or serious (Nos. 4, 109).
Simple descriptions of nature occur, as in Song 47, but there is a remarkable lack
of reference to the seasons, the words winter, summer, spring, and autumn being
almost completely absent. Together with this there is a general lack of any per-
sonification of the forces of nature. There are similes such as comparing a woman
to a flower but no metaphor unless one can consider secondary hidden meanings
read into a song as metaphor (No, 51).
Judging by the content, the songs for the most part date from the Yedo period
— eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. An occasional use of some place
name no longer existing or a thing no longer used, as the coin ryo in Song 62,
would indicate an age of one hundred years or so. No examples of ancient poetry
such as that found in the Manyoshu were discovered. While some of the dialect
used may appear to a Japanese reader as archaic, it is no different from the cur-
rent Kuma dialect of Japanese which contains many old speech forms no longer
current among the speakers of standard Japanese in Tokyo.
A striking feature of Japanese folksong is its similarity to Japanese literary
forms, a reflection perhaps that in many ways Japanese culture is firmly im-
INTRODUCTION 9
bedded in an old peasant ethos. While the regular folksong or dodoitsu has an
arrangement of syllables distinct from the literary forms of tanka and haiku, it
is basically similar in form to the literary type, being a brief series of syllables
arranged in a set pattern of fives and sevens. This is in contrast to the great dif-
ference in form of the English ballad and folksong on the one hand and literary
forms such as the sonnet and ode, on the other. In Japan not only are both folk
and literary poetry characterized by five- and seven-syllable unrhymed lines, each
poem being as a rule less than half a dozen Unes in length, but both employ
much the same devices of pivot words and assonance for their effects. There are
also certain similarities in content. Personification of nature is lacking and mean-
ings are suggested rather than named. One sharp contrast does exist, however,
as far as content is concerned : while the literary poetry is largely concerned with
sentimental suggestions of love and the changing seasons, much of the folk
poetry is concerned with the primary desires of food, drink, and sex. The court
poet and more recently the city litterateur have both looked upon the peasant as
a quaint individual of no great importance and have concerned themselves largely
with the expression of delicate introspections in a limited poetic form, never real-
izing that the fundamentals of their form derive from the broad and earthy songs
of the peasantry,^
IV. SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The literary forms of tanka and haiku have been well studied by Occidentals,
but almost no one has taken the pains to learn anything about the songs of the
folk. Two men who have made collections are Georges Bonneau and Lafcadio
Hearn. Bonneau, for many years a resident of Japan, has devoted much of his
time to a collection of dodoitsu from various parts of the country, and has pub-
lished his texts with French translations.^ Hearns's work was less methodical,
being incidental to his general writings about the country, and he frequently
gives English versions of the songs without any original Japanese text."^
^ More detail on the characteristics of Japanese poetry may be found in Primitive and
Mediaeval Japanese Texts by F. V. Dickens (text, translation and commentary on the
Manyoshu).
^ Georges Bonneau, L'expression poetique dans le folklore japonais, 3 vols. (Referred to
hereafter as Folklore japonais.) This work includes versions of Songs 41, 43, 65, 89, and 108
of Kuma. See also Bonneau's Anthologie de la poesie japonaise and his Le probleme de la
poesie japonaise.
"^ His translations and comments may be found in a number of different essays, the most
important of which are in the volumes Gleanings in Buddha Fields, In Ghostly Japan,
Shadowings, and A Japanese Miscellany. In 1914 most of these songs were brought together
in a single posthumous volume, Japanese Lyrics. Variations of Songs 7, 26, 33, 103, and 108
have been recorded in one or another of these works.
10 JAPANESE PEASANT. SONGS
The present collection of songs from the single county of Kuma in Kyushu
consists of over a hundred texts transcribed in the village of Suye w^ith a few^
(Nos. 79-85) from the adjacent village of Fukada. Only those songs actually sung
are recorded. Many others, also popular, have been omitted or relegated to the
Appendices, because not local to Kuma county. The present collection, then,
while probably not complete, at least presents a fair proportion of the popular
songs regarded by the people of Suye as local to the Kuma region. These of
course include a few which in actual fact are not local, but have been introduced
from other areas — and omit a few which might be regarded as local to Kuma by
people of another part of the county.*
The Japanese text of the songs is given in the local dialect, romanization fol-
lowing the traditional Hepburn system.^ The apostrophe is used to indicate
^ There are a few other sources for songs of Kuma. One of these is a set of three small
volumes, the Kuma County Readers, which deal with local history and geography for chil-
dren in the upper grades of the elementary schools of Kuma. They include a couple of
stanzas of Rokuchoshi (1-3) and one of the March Sixteenth songs (65). A better source is
a mimeographed booklet entitled The Folksongs of Kuma District which is a collection of
Kuma songs made by a school teacher, Ryutaro Tanabe, in 1932. Tanabe includes musical
notations, which unfortunately are not very accurate transcriptions of samisen music for the
piano. A few of the verses in his collection occur in this study (Nos. 64-5, 68-70, 76-7, 117-20).
On the other hand, he includes several not heard in Suye. Two other sources were also con-
sulted: Nippon Minyo Jinten by Y. Kodera, a collection of songs arranged by type and by
district. Kodera includes texts or references to Songs 64-5, 72, 75-7 of Kuma. Less useful is
Gesammelte Werke der Welt Musik (text in Japanese, despite the German tide) ; this vol-
ume, less reliable than Kodera, includes versions of Songs 61 and 82. Bonneau includes a
bibliography on Japanese folksongs in his Folklore japonais, but most of the titles included
were not available in Hawaii where most of the comparative work on this collection was
done. One song in this collection (103) occurs in Uyehara's Songs for Children Sung in
Japan. Still another series of texts is to be found in Das Geschlechtieben der Japaner by
T. Sato, H. Ihm and F. Kraus (2 vols.). Most of their texts, however, are from geisha songs,
i.e. urban literary rather than rural folk.
^ The Kuma dialect differs from the standard Japanese in a number of ways, the most
common of which are:
(i) u sound for o as unna for onna
(2) i sound for e as mai for mae
(3) b sound for m as keburi for kemuri
(4) dz sound for z as sakadzuki for sakazuki
(5) n often becomes r\ especially before g.
(6) There are also many local terms as well as pronunciations, e.g. manju means not
only dumpling but also vagina; batten in the general sense of 'but' is local to
Kyushu, zuto is a local term, etc.
(7) Occasional abbreviations such as watasi or wasi for watashi, shami for samisen, etc.
In the Hepburn system consonants are as in English, vowels as in Italian; j and g are both
hard as in English jug. A final 'n' counts as a separate syllable and a long vowel as two sylla-
bles. Thus the line, Koyu goen ga, in Song 6 is counted as seven syllables.
INTRODUCTION II
elided phonemes. Titles, unless otherwise noted, have been invented by the author
on the basis of either the content or the first line. No text is given in hiragana, the
Japanese syllabary, for two reasons: (a) the songs form part of an oral tradition,
hence may be transcribed as properly in romaji as in hiragana; and (b) in some
ways the syllabary is misleading. The word used to indicate the first person
singular in standard Japanese is 'watakushi' but in Kuma this word is often pro-
nounced 'watashi' or 'watasi' and it is impossible to indicate these two different
pronunciations in hiragana. Similar difficulties would attend the use in this
study of the new government-sponsored method of transcription of Japanese
syllables into roman letters.
The collection of texts was made in southern Japan in 1935-36.^^ In the village
of Suye most of the texts were transcribed by Ella Embree when first heard at
some gathering, then were at a later date checked for accuracy with the singer
or some other villager.^^ The singers themselves sometimes furnished an expla-
nation of a difficult line, while a college educated native of Suye, Mr. Keisuke
Aiko, and Mr. Toshio Sano, a graduate of the Tokyo Language School, assisted
in preparing the preliminary English translations. The final translations were
worked out in Hawaii with the assistance of Professor Yukuo Uyehara of the
Oriental Institute of the University of Hawaii.^^
University of Hawaii
July ig^i
^° The field work was financed by the Social Science Research Committee of the University
of Chicago. An ethnographic monograph based on the research, Suye Mura, A Japanese Vil-
lage, was published by the University of Chicago Press (1939). Some of the songs given below
first appeared in Suye Mura. The University of Chicago Press has kindly permitted the re-
printing of such texts here.
^^ An interesting characteristic of folk society, that everything must be in its proper social
context, was shown in the difl5culty informants found in remembering the words of songs
when alone and not singing. They felt, and said so, that they could not remember the songs
properly without samisen music, a group of friends, and a drink.
^^ Whenever any variation in text or translation of songs appearing both in Suye Mura,
A Japanese Village (see note 10) and in this collection appears, the text or translation given
in this collection may be regarded as the more accurate.
BANQUET SONGS
Songs of this group are popular verses sung at drinking parties, wedding ban-
quets and on occasions of farewell. Dances are usually performed to their accom-
paniment, while the people sitting about the room clap their hands in rhythm
with the playing of the samisen and join in the refrain as a chorus.
There are several characteristics of the banquet songs which may be noted here.
1. An introduction, usually the most formal part of the song and never impro-
vised, sung by the samisen player. This opening song is usually in the regular
twenty-six syllable dodoitsu form. Example: Song i.
2. A verse or two sung very rapidly which may be joined in by the others and
which is often improvised on the spur of the moment — a jibe at some one
present or a humorous comment on a local situation.
3. The hayashi, a verse spoken very quickly in a special rhythm and voice by the
samisen player and accompanied by occasional bangs on her instrument. The
hayashi is open to improvisation, is irregular in form and of no set length. It is
usually marked by humor and a strong local dialect. Koisa! koisa! koisa! is
often added after a particularly funny hayashi, especially if anyone is dancing.
Example: Song 4.
4. The refrain. This may be "yoiya sa" or some other meaningless phrase added
at the end of a song. Sometimes a loud "ha ha ha" is added to a hayashi in the
heat of excitement. All present join in the refrain.
5. The final vowels at the end of a phrase or line are frequently heavily accented
or lengthened and terminated by a glottal stop.
12
BANQUET SONGS I3
KUMA ROKUCHOSHI
Kuma Rokuchoshi is the most famous local song of Kuma county and no
party is complete without it. Judging by the universal knowledge of the song
throughout the district, it is probably rather old. Tanabe in his Folksongs of
Kuma estimates it to be not more than three hundred years old. It is so famous
indeed, that there is even a recording of it in a Japanese commercial series of
folksongs.^ This recorded version is somewhat different from that of Suye, and
it is sung in the high shrill voice of a geisha, worlds removed from the hearty
voice of the farmer's wife. In addition to the more or less standard verses there
are many others sung to the same tune, some of which are given in the next
section. The rokuchoshi type of song with a similar tune is also found in the
neighboring prefecture of Kagoshima, according to Kodera. The term roku-
choshi itself is rather widespread being found in other prefectures of Kyushu.
The term rokuchoshi means six-tone song. This may refer to the way in which
the samisen strings are adjusted for the melody, but no one in Suye is very cer-
tain of the derivation of the word nor is the folklorist Kodera. The Suye manu-
facturer of shochu, a rice liquor, has named his product Rokuchoshi Shochu,
thus reflecting the popularity of the song and at the same time enhancing the
sale and prestige of his product. The song as sung in the villages of Kuma serves
as a strong sentiment-arousing symbol of provincial unity.
The form of Kuma Rokuchoshi is the regular dodoitsu twenty-six syllables in
7-7-7-5 order except for the first stanza which has an irregularity in that the sec-
ond line has nine syllables instead of seven.
The three stanzas given as Songs i, 2, and 3 together with Song 4 form the
standard verses and hayashi of Kuma Rokuchoshi as sung in Suye. The text of
Song I is also given in the Kuma County Reader and in Kodera's collection.
Tanabe in his Folksongs of Kuma gives all the first three songs as well as four
others not heard in Suye. For the text of these four see Appendix I, Songs 117-20.
The commercial recording gives stanzas i and 3 as given here, but has a dif-
ferent text for stanza 2 as noted in Song 2, note 9. A version of the hayashi (Song
4) is given in the Kuma County Reader and on the commercial recording.
Kuma Rohuchoshi
I Kuma de ichiban ^ Kama's best ^
Aoi san no gomon ■* Aoi Shrine ^ gate
Gomon gomon to ^ Shrine gate O!
Mae wa hasuike "^ Lotus pond in front
Sakura baba And cherry tree riding ground ®
Yoiya sa, koi sasa! Yoiya sa, koi sasa!
^ Dai Nippon Gramaphone Company, Nishinomiya Taihei Record No. 4600.
14 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
2 Koko wa Nishimachi Here is Nishimachi
Koyureba Demachi Beyond lies Demachi
Demachi Demachi to Demachi Demachi O!
Demachi koyureba And beyond Demachi
Sakura baba The cherry tree riding ground
Yoiya sa, koi sasa!^ Yoiya sa, koi sasa!
3 Kuma to Satsuma no On Kuma and Satsuma's border ^^
Sakai no sakura Grows a cherry tree
Sakura sakura to A cherry a cherry O!
Eda wa Satsuma ni With branches in Satsuma
Ne wa Kuma ni And roots in Kuma
Yoiya sa, koi sasa! Yoiya sa, koi sasa!
^ Or: Kuma de meisho wa (Kuma's famous place).
^ Beauty spot, or view is understood.
* Or: Oharai san no gomon (honorable shrine gate).
^ Aoi Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Hitoyoshi, the old capital and castle town of Kuma. A
large festival is held at the shrine every autumn to which people come from all over the
county.
^ Instead of repeating the last word of the second line of each stanza, some singers double
the first word or phrase of the third line. Thus in stanza i instead of tripling 'gomon', the
next phrase 'mae wa' is doubled (in stanza 2 'Demachi', in stanza 3 'Eda wa'). The first two
lines and the fourth and fifth lines of these stanzas were given as single lines by Mr. Aiko
in Suye — a division of songs into two parts or "hemisdtches" often practiced by the Japanese
in transcribing folksongs.
^ Or: hasyukei.
^ The sentiments expressed in this opening song are typical of many provincial songs, for
instance, Iso bushi, a song not local to, but popular in Suye Mura, runs:
Iso de meisho wa Iso's beauty spot
Oharai sama yo Is the Shinto shrine.
Matsu ga miemasu Pine trees seen
Hono bono to Dimly
Saishone miemasu In the mist, seen
Hono bono to Dimly.
® The recorded version sung by a Hitoyoshi geisha gives a different song as the second
stanza which is:
Koko no Hitoyoshi Here is Hitoyoshi:
Yu no deru tokoro Place of hotsprings,
Koro
Sagara otome no Of Sagara maidens,
Yuki no hada Of snow white skin.
Yoiya sa
Sagara is the name of the former ruling feudal lord of Kuma, and the name is, in this song,
also applied to the girls of Hitoyoshi, the old castle town.
^° Satsuma is the old name for Kagoshima prefecture, immediately south of Kuma.
fe
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BANQUET SONGS
15
The Country Headman — I
Kuma Rokuchoshi hayashi
This song is the hayashi o£ the regular Kuma Rokuchoshi. There are numer-
ous minor variations the most commonly heard of which are given here as Songs
4a and 4b, The hayashi is a free form unlike the regular 7-7-7-5 syllable series of
dodoitsu. There are however certain rhythms of sound and length (e.g. ina-
wasete, karuwasete) and five syllable lines to end sections (e.g., Ushiro mae . . .
Hoe-mawaru). Like most hayashi this one has a humorous content.
Hitoyoshi is the capital of Kuma, a commercial center of countless one- and
two-storey shops, a few geisha houses, a third rate hot springs and the ruins of
the castle of Sagara, the feudal lord or daimyo of Kuma, Today with a popula-
tion of around 20,000 it is by far the largest and most impressive town in the
region. A village headman is usually of some old land-owning family of high
prestige within his own small community, but in visiting a big town and putting
on airs, yet withal impressed, he cuts a figure open to the ridicule heaped upon
him in this song.
4a Inaka shoya don no
Hitoyoshi kei miyare
Asa no asa no
Asa no hakama wo
Ushiro nago
Mai wo hikite
Ushiro mae
Hikkaragete ^^
Gombo zuto yara
Yamaimo zuto yara
Inawasete
Karuwasete
Sagara joka wo
Achya bikkuri
Kochya bikkuri ^'*
Shasha meku tokoro wo
Ara ma shoshyuna ^^
Torage ^^ no inu ga
Sh5ya don ^'^
Shoya don
Sh5ya don
Uchikamo shite ^®
Hoe-mawaru
Yoiya sa!
A country headman
Hitoyoshi came to see.
With hemp skirt
His hemp skirt
Long behind
Pulled up in front
Behind, before
Hiked up.
What with gobo^^ in straw
What with mountain potatoes
Hanging over his shoulder
Slung on his back —
Sagara castle town ^^
Gazing there
Gazing here
Strutting along
Oh my! what a sight!
Ferocious dogs
The headman
The headman
The headman
About to bite
Are barking all around
Yoiya sa!
From hiku and karageru — to pull up or tuck up.
i6
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
The Country Headman — U
(A variation of 4a)
Kuma Rokuchoshi hayashi
4b Inaka shoya dono
Joka kembutsu
Miyare yoisa
Asa asa asa no
Hakama o
Ushiro dako
Mae hikkaragete
Gombo zuto yara
Yamaimo zuto yara
Shakkuri shakkuri
Shasha meku tokoro 6
Ara ma shoshina
Tor age ^^ no inu ga
Shoya don
Shoya don
Shoya don
Uchikamo sh'te
Hoe-mawaru
Yoiya sa, koi sasa!
A country headman
In the castle town sightseeing.
Look, look
At the hemp, the hempen
Skirt
High in back
Tucked up in front
Gob5 ^^ in straw wrapping
Mountain potato ditto
Shakkuri shakkuri! ^
Strutting along
Oh my! what a sight!
Ferocious dogs
The headman
The headman
The headman
About to bite
Are barking all around
Yoiya sa, koi sasa!
^^ Burdock root, a common vegetable in rural Japan. Gobo is standard Japanese, gombo,
Kuma dialect.
^^ 'He views' is understood.
^* The recording of a geisha singing this song adds after this line: Bikkuri, shakkuri. These
lines have a humorous effect in Japanese, adding to the parody of the self-important visitor
gaping at the sights of Hitoyoshi.
^^ Or: shoshina.
^® As sung in Suye the word torage is usually rendered Taragi, the name of a town near
the village. What Taragi dogs would be doing in the castle town of Hitoyoshi ten miles or
more away worries no one. This is a good example in Japanese of the same linguistic process
that in English made Johnny cake out of journey cake.
^^ Shortened form of shoya dono. The 'n' is lengthened in singing.
^^ Or: yute, or: chute.
^® See song 4a, note 12.
-° Humorous onomatopoeia to describe the headman's gait.
-^ See song 4a, note 16.
BANQUET SONGS
17
You Are a Sharp Sword
Kuma Rokuchoshi
These three songs are sung in Suye as an integral part of Rokuchoshi, usually
following right after Songs i to 3. This second trio is probably not local to Kuma
because some of them are found quite independently in other parts of Kyushu.
The verses are not included as part of Rokuchoshi by Tanabe in Folk Songs of
Kuma. Lafcadio Hearn has a translation but no text of Song 7 in his essay "Out
of the Street" in the volume Gleanings in Buddha Fields. In Kuma the verses
are sung, of course, to the tune of Rokuchoshi. In form. Songs 5-7 are regular
7-7-7-5 dodoitsu.
Omaya meiken
Washa sabi gatana
Gatana gatana to ^^
Omaya kirete mo
Washa kirenu
Yoiya sa koi sasa!
Koyu goen ga
Moichido araba
Araba, araba to
Kami no mamori ka
Arigataya
Yoiya sa koi sasa!
Omaya hyaku made
Washa kujuku made
Made made to
Kami ni shiraga no
Haeru made
Yoiya sa, koi sasa!
Thou art a sharp sword
I a rusty sword.
A sword, a sword;
You may cut ^^
I never.
Such a relationship
Another if there be.
If there be, if there be;
To the protection of the gods
Let us give thanks.
Till you reach a hundred
And I ninety nine,^'*
Should reach, should reach;
Until our hair
Turns white.
^^ See Song i, note 6.
-^ That is, terminate; 'our love' is understood.
^* Uyehara interprets this to mean that I will die while still your beloved and so will miss
no one when I die. This song also reflects the general Japanese ideal of a loving couple grow-
ing old together. The song is well known in other parts of Kyushu, and Hearn collected it
as noted above; it is regarded in Suye as a local Kuma song.
1 8 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
OTHER ROKUCHOSHI
The verses of this group are local songs of Kuma county of the same forms
and sung to the same tune as stanzas i to 7. Due to the predominance of Roku-
chdshi as the local song, many independent verses are molded to this dominant
song pattern of Kuma.
Hayashi Sung to the Tune of Rokuchoshi
The hayashi in this group are for the most part highly obscene, if not on the
surface, then in double entendre. The more women at a banquet the more likely
these verses are to be sung, to the accompaniment of equally obscene dances. The
place of a banquet is no hindrance, some of the freest having been sung at a
meeting of a Woman's Kwannon Society at the little Zen temple of Suye (e.g.,
Nos. 15 and 20).
/ Beg your Far don, But —
A ditty such as this is much enjoyed when the drinking is well under way.
The rather broad outspoken humor of this song is characteristic of many songs
and jokes at drinking parties in rural Japan. Note the alternating assonance of
a and o. 'Batten' is a characteristic of Kyushu speech; 'bobo' is also a localism.
The form of the song is regular 7-7-7-5 dodoitsu.
8 Yuchya s'man batten I beg your pardon, but —
Uchi no kaka unago My old lady is a woman.
Kesa mo hagama de This morning in a basin
Bobo ^ aruta She washed her c — t.
Rain Mad Not Been Falling
This stanza is simply a jocular, not very coherent, reason for the muddiness of
the Yamada river. This river, so far as I know, is not in Kuma.
9 Ame wa furanedo ya Rain has not been falling
Yamada go ga niguru But Yamada river is dirty.
Yamada onnago no Yamada women's
Heko no shuru Skirts' juice.^^
Yoiya sa
2^ A vulgar folk term. Cf. use of 'bobo' as a verb in Song 78.
^^ The meaning here is that because the women have been washing their clothes in the
river it is muddy. See however Song 131. Like Song 131 the first lines have eight instead of
the regular seven syllables of dodoitsu.
BANQUET SONGS I9
Needles of the Green Pine
This song, with ils poetic sentiment is in marked contrast to the broad humor
of the previous two, reminding one more of the Rokuchoshi verse (3) about
the cherry tree growing on the border of Kuma and Satsuma. Some of the
farewell songs of the next section (e.g. Nos. 26 and 28) are of this type also —
reflecting a romantic sentimentalism about love in contrast to a bawdy apprecia-
tion of its humor. The form of this song is 7-7-7-5 dodoitsu with an extra word —
karete — inserted and repeated after the second line (cf. the form of Songs 1-3).
10 Aoi matsuba no Needles of the green pine
Shute uriya are When dying —
Karete karete Even in falling
Karete ochiru mo Fall down
F'taridzure In couples.
Yoiya sa!
The Road to Meet the Lover
Dragons and water are associated in Japanese folklore. There may be a hidden
meaning in this verse, but the writer is not aware of it. The form is regular
7-7-7-5 dodoitsu.
11 Sama ni kayo michya The road to meet the lover:
Kudashino no todoro By thundering rapids.
Shita nya ja ga sumu Underneath lives a dragon
Buku ga tatsu And bubbles rise.
Yoiya sa!
Opening the Door
This song is to be interpreted as an arrangement by a young woman for a visit
from her lover. Shoji means literally a kind of sliding screen, but it serves in this
context as a door to the house. The form is somewhat irregular, the second line
having nine instead of the usual seven syllables (cf. Song i for a similar form
and Song 38 for one of similar content).
12 Shoji hikiake Opening the door,
Konnyaku imo nageta Throwing konnyaku,^^
Konya kuru tono Coming tonight —
Shirase daro It must be the sign.
Yoiya sa!
^'^A root tuber; the various imo, yama imo or mountain potato (a kind of long root,
Dioscorea japonicd), kara imo or sweet potato and konnyaku imo serve as phallic symbols
in Kuma.
20
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
In the Middle of the Night
This song is rather sad; a woman, lying awake, hears a group of men, prob-
ably drunk, wandering down the road and one of them she recognizes as her
lover. Or, more likely, she is waiting for her husband to return and is fearful that
he may be very drunk.
13 Sho no yonaka ni
Futa koe mi koe
Ato no hito koya ^^
Ki ni kakaru
Yoiya sa
In the middle of the night
Two or three voices —
The last voice
Worries me.
Drinking with One's Lover
This song describes the scene of two lovers getting together and exchanging
cups of wine. When drinking in company it is both polite and social to exchange
cups of wine as one drinks. The description of the exchange here suggests a
double entendre of a man and a maid making love.
. This is a hayashi in characteristic free form with lines of varying numbers of
syllables but with certain regular repetitions of sound and length (cf. Song 4).
14
Ippai totta
Oshochu wo
Kuro jokkya^
Nawashite
Shiro jokkya ^
Nawashite
Sama to futaide
Yattai 30
Tottai
Suru tokkya
Kokoro wo
Dosh'ta monkya
Ha ha ha!
A full cup taken
Of wine.
Into the black jug
Pour it,
Into the white jug
Pour it.
With one's lover.
When
Giving,
Taking —
The heart
How does it feel ?
-® From Koe wa?
^^ Or: chokkya, for choku, a small wine cup used in Kuma.
2° Or: ottai.
BANQUET SONGS 21
You Going Up
This is a characteristic homely song descriptive of a countryman going caUing
with a few rude gifts. Both plum and scaUion are commonly served with tea
to casual visitors in the Kuma region. There is probably a double entendre here
of the sex act with the man bearing certain gifts to the woman; see note 32. The
form is a short hayashi.
15 Onushya kami age You going up
Hotsuri hotsuri ^^ Slowly, slowly
Noburan sei Going up;
Miyagya takanbach! Gifts of bamboo hat,
'Mebushi ^- rakkyo Pickled plum and scallion
S'kakete mottoru Carrying.
At Taragi's Bunzdji
This song involves a play on kedo 'but,' and ke 'hair,' in this context, pubic
hair. Thus the last three lines might be interpreted to mean that the hair is not
there, i.e., does not matter when "it" (copulation) is just right. Another inter-
pretation is that when the orgasm is reached pubic hair does not matter or inter-
fere. In Japanese jokes about sex the pubic hair, especially that of a woman,
receives a good deal of attention, mostly as an interference with the joys of love.
The last line is sometimes used as a refrain to other songs.
Taragi and Yunomae are country towns in Kuma; Bunzoji and Nekohatsii
names of taverns or geisha houses.
The form is hayashi of irregular syllabication.
16 Taragi no Bunzoji At Taragi's Bunzoji,
Yunomae no At Yunomae's
Nekohatsu don ^^ Nekohatsu —
Ke mo nan mo makonda Hair and everything wrapped around.
Choda yoka tokya When it is just right
Ke do koija gozansan ^^ Hair does not matter .^^
^^ Strong emphasis is put on the o and t of this word to emphasize dance movements as
when, for instance, on one occasion this song was sung at a women's party to accompany a
dance where one woman followed another making abrupt movements with her hips as if
copulating from behind — hotsuri, hotsuri 'slowly, slowly' — enough to shake the house with
laughter in any party in Suye.
^^ For: umeboshi, pickled plum; as noted in the foreword 'u' is often used in the Kuma
dialect tor the 'o' of standard Japanese. ^^ Or: san.
^* A variant of the last three lines, sometimes sung by themselves is:
Chodo yoka tokkya
Ke mo nan mo mekkonda
Ke do koija gozansan
^^ This line also means, literally, 'But it is not love'.
22
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
// Yon Say It
This is an extremely colloquial text almost impossible to translate. It gains
most of its point from the pivot word soko in the two meanings of 'it' and
'bottom.' The idea of unbearableness refers to the "unbearable" intensity of
orgasm. The form is a hayashi; it is surprisingly regular.
17 Soko yuchya tamaran
Soka ^^ nokose
Soko ga nakereba
Miza^''^ tamaran
If you say it, it's unbearable
So leave it out.
Without bottom
It cannot hold water .^^
Your Maidservant
In this song there is a play on the word koshimoto which means both maid
and base of the hips. Dances performed by women to the accompaniment of this
song have, of course, sudden forward hip movements at appropriate points. In
form it is a short hayashi of irregular syllabication.
Omai san no koshimoto
Shansu ni misetara
Nusan ga ^^ tamaran
Nushu tamaranu
Your maidservant,^^
If you show her ^ to Shansu
He couldn't stand it,
He couldn't bear it.
1 8b Omai san ga koshimoto
Nusan ga^^ tamaran
Mish ^^ tamaranda
Watasi ga mite sayo ^^
Mish ^^ tamaranda
Your maidservant —
He couldn't stand it.
Unbearable to see
Even if I look.
Unbearable to see.
^® For: soko wa.
^'' For: mizu wa. The contractions soka and miza add rhythm to the song.
^* Or: If you don't have that place (i.e., the right place)
It is meaningless.
^^ The line's other meaning: Your waist.
40 Or: it.
4^ Pronounced ijga in singing.
*2 From the verb miru 'to see'.
*^ Or: saye.
BANQUET SONGS 23
Good Feeling
This is another almost untranslatable song, but everyone who sings it knows
what it is meant to express — sexual intercourse. "Keep it up until I also have that
good feeling which makes me bite my lower lip and go hyon hyon." The form
is hayashi of irregular syllabication.
19 Un ga yoshya Good feeling — ^^
Ore maja I even
Ikizusuri Breathe heavily
Sh'ta tsuba kuwaite And, biting lower lip,
Ikya "*■* hyon hyon Go hyon hyon.
Ha ha ha!
Facing the Shutter
This is said to be a hayashi but it follows the regular 7-7-7-5 dodoitsu form
with ha ha ha filling out the last line. The content is typical of hayashi however.
20 Toita ni '^^ mukuryu "^^ Facing the shutter
Korobi ^^ kokureba We stumble and fall.
Muzorashi sama A pitiful sight
Jagahahaha! But, ha ha ha!
When Delivery Is Easy
The samisen player is a woman, and she leads most of the singing at a ban-
quet. The constant bearing of children is a trial she knows only too well, and
such a verse as this one is a definite sarcasm. The form is a brief hayashi.
21 San ga yasuka tokya *^ When delivery is easy
Komochi yasuka bai Childbirth is easy too.
** From iki wa 'breathing'.
*^ Or: I am fortunate (to have such a sensation).
*« Or: Doita ni.
■*^ Or: mukuru.
48 Or: Koyobi.
*^ For: toki wa.
24
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
It Is Nothing
The following verses are brief hayashi all more or less variants of the same
phrases or ideas. "Sh'ta kota gozansan" is added to the end of many songs and
may refer, according to Suye women, either to the vagina or to intercourse —
"there is no intercourse, nothing is happening below." Sometimes it is quite
meaningless in the context of the song to which it is attached, but it always
causes much laughter when suno;.
22a Ima wa ima wa ima wa
Ogoran ^° bai ka
Sh'ta kota gozansan
22b Yuch3fa kuichya
Kuiya na
Sh'ta kota gozansan ^"
■22.Q. Yutte wa kureru na
Sh'ta kota gozansan
22d Chodo yokkya tokkya
Sh'ta kota gozansan^^
22e Chodo yoka
Kokoro attari
Chin chin
Now, now, now!
Why are you angry ?
I have done nothing.^-*-
Don't talk please !
Don't talk!
We did nothing.
Don't talk please!
We did nothing.
When just right —
We did nothing.
Just right —
I've a mind
To copulate.
A short hayashi: —
23 Shiraren tokya
Goraren tai
When He Does Not Know
When he does not know
He will not be angry.
A short hayashi:—
24 Nomuka baika
Dosuru gaika ^^
Shall We Have a DrinJ(?
Shall we have a drink.?
How about it.'*
^° From okoru, 'to be angry' — the k has become g as sometimes occurs in the Kuma dialect
^^ I.e., I have not had intercourse with anyone.
^^ Mr. Aiko did not know this verse but gave instead a similar one: No. 22c.
^^ A woman dancing to this may fold a cushion and hold it before her as a penis. It is a
popular Rokuchoshi refrain.
^* For: kaita.
BANQUET SONGS 25
Rokuchoshi Wakare
Farewell songs sung to the tune of Rokuch5shi. When someone is leaving the
party or at farewell banquets in honor of a departing soldier or traveler, one or
another of these songs may be sung. The thoughts expressed in these songs are
of a sentimental nature quite different from the hayashi of the previous section,
being more like Japanese literary poetry. The form of the wakare songs is regu-
lar 7-7-7-5 dodoitsu.
My hover Is heaving
A farewell song in regular dodoitsu form.
25 Sama wa hattekyaru My lover is leaving,
Wakare no tsurasa The parting is sad.
Naga no osewa ni For a long time
Narimash'ta He has been kind.
On Parting from My hover
This song is probably not local to Kuma as Lafcadio Hearn has a similar verse
recorded in his essay "Out of the Street" in the volume Gleanings in Buddha
Fields, but unfortunately he does not give the Japanese text.^^
The song is in regular dodoitsu form.
26 Sama ^^ to wakarete On parting from my lover
Matsubara yukeba I go through the pine grove.
Matsu no tsuyu yara Whether dew on the trees
Namida yara ^^ Or my tears — .^^
^^ His song, presumably collected in Matsue, Shimane prefecture, is as follows:
Parted from you, my beloved, I go alone to the pine-field;
There is dew of night on the leaves; there is also dew of tears.
Another English text is given by Osman Edwards on page 133 of his Japanese Plays and
Playfellows.
"6 Or: Kimi.
^^ Some versions add two more lines:
Dosh'te omae san ni Why with thee
Sawaru ka bai To be together.
("Is it not possible.''" is understood.)
^^ "I cannot tell" is understood.
26 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
I Am a Traveler
A short wakare of irregular form. Not necessarily sung to Rokuchoshi tune.
27 Wasi ga tabi no sh'to de I am a traveler,
Kawaigatte okure Please cherish me.
When the Parting Comes
This is a wakare, not necessarily associated with Rokuchoshi. The text was
never properly checked with the singer and appears to be somewhat at fault, at
least in the final two lines. The form is irregular.
28 Wakare jato natte When the parting comes
Saso sekaguru ^^ Let us drink abundantly.
Kore ga dotchi ka What is this?
Sake yara Is it sake?
Namida yara Is it tears?
No wa hatake za yo Even the upland fields
Nagari ga Are flooded.
You Are the Best
This song may or may not be a Rokuchoshi wakare. It is irregular in form.
29 Omai san ga You are
Ichi yoka The best,
Ichi kawaika The most beloved.
Omai san de nakereba Without you
I wo akentai ^^ No sunrise.*'^
Kosa kosa kosa
^^ Perhaps for: sekkaku.
^° Or: akenu for yo wa akenu.
®^ The last Hne means on the surface that without you there is no sunrise, but it also car-
ries the connotation that without you I cannot sleep. Mr. Aiko went so far as to interpret it
as meaning that without you I cannot finish, i.e., cannot finish intercourse. As with many of
the songs, the person speaking may be either a man or a woman.
1
BANQUET SONGS 1"]
DOKKOISE
The clokkoise type of song is common in rural Japan. The people of Suye re-
gard it as local and distinguish dokkoise from rokuchoshi songs though there is
no significant difference between them either in content or in form except for
the refrains. Three typical dokkoise refrains are:
Dokkoise ajya yoka ro.
Dokkoise no se.
Choina choina dokkoise.*^"
The last refrain is influenced by a song, Choina choina, popular in Kuma but
not local to it. Most dokkoise are in regular 7-7-7-5 dodoitsu form. Unrelated
stanzas may be joined together by any one of the above refrains.
// ¥^ggs Are Tended
The following four stanzas are frequently sung together as one song. The
first two at least both deal with eggs, but the other two are quite unrelated to
each other or to the first ones. The form of the first three is regular dodoitsu,
that of the fourth 5-7-5-5-5.
30 Dokkoise tamago wa Dokkoise! Eggs,
Sodatsurya hiyoko If tended, become chickens.
Ha yoisho yoisho
Hiyoko sodatsurya Chickens if tended
Toki utau Crow in the morning.*'^
Hara dokkoise no se ^^
3 1 Maru tamago mo Even round eggs
Kiriyo de sh'kaku Can be cut square.
Mono mo Tyo de Things that are said
Kado ba tatsu Can be very sharp.
^- The term dokkoise is a meaningless term used in the refrains; it is also an exclamation
used in lifting or making an exertion.
^^ This song and the next one (31) are in the nature of sad comments on the way of the
world. The literal meaning of the last line of No. 30 is "there is a song," the idea being that
if a man looks after eggs he has chickens on his hands, and if, further, he is so foolish as to
look after the chickens, he will soon have plenty of noise in his yard.
®* A variant of this song is:
Dokkoise no tamago wo
Sodatsurya hiyoko
Sodatsurya toki utawo.
28
32
33
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Noboru hashigo no
Mannaka goro de
Shimbo shanse te
Me ni namida
Doro mizu ni
Sodaterarete mo
Ne vva shosho ni
Saite kirena
Hasu no hana
When climbing a ladder,
About the middle,
Please be patient —
Tears in the eyes.^^
In muddy water
Though it is raised,
With roots growing here and there,
The lotus blossoms
As a beautiful flower.*^^
Cold and Soba ^^
Two dokkoise songs joined by a refrain. They are simple descriptions-.of two
things well appreciated by the farmer — cold and food. The first is regular
dodoitsu in form but the second is irregular.
34
Samusa fure fure
Cold, fall fall-
Kaya-yane arare
Hail on the thatch
Oto wa sede kite
Comes soundlessly.
Furi kakaru
Cold falls.
Dokkoise ajya yokaro
35
Ajya yokaro
The flavor is good.
Ajya yokaro
The flavor is good.
Sobaya no nidashi
Soba ^^ soup
Katsuo nidashi
Fish soup.
Ajya yokaro
It is good.
^^ This song presumably is a metaphor concerning lovemaking. In the last line 'He has'
or 'She has' is understood.
^® A song similar to this one is recorded by Lafcadio Hearn in his essay "Buddhist Allu-
sions in Japanese Folk-song" in the volume, Gleanings in Buddha Fields. He interprets it as
a prostitute singing it to justify herself by a comparison with the lotus. Her calling is some-
times referred to as Doro mizu kagyo or Muddy water occupation. Hearn's verse (he gives
no Japanese text) is:
However fickle I seem, my heart is never unfaithful:
Out of the slime itself, spotless the lotus grows.
®^ Soba is a vermicelli-like product made from buckwheat.
BANQUET SONGS
29
The Painted Sake Cup
Sake cups are often painted inside, and Ebisu, a popular deity of good for-
tune, forms a common decoration. The form of the song is the rather unusual
one of 5-7-7-7-5. (Cf. No. 48.)
36 Sakazuki no
Naka ni kaitaru
Makiye no Ebisu
Kiyo mo niko niko
Asu mo mata
Dokkoise ajya yokaro
Sake cup:
Painted inside
Silver and gold lacquer Ebisu-
Today smiling.
Tomorrow again.^^
The Appetizer
Sake no sakana (wine fish, wine food) is any conventional food such as raw
fish or pickled plum, served with the wine. Soba is a pivot word in this song
meaning both a kind of buckwheat vermicelli and side. In form the song is a
series of seven-syllable lines.
37 Sake no sakana
Dokkoisho
Udonu ^^ ka soba ka
Udonu soba yori
Kaka no soba
Yoi! shoko
Shoko Ichirikiya no
Don don ka
The appetizer:
Is it udon?
Is it soba ? "^^
Rather than udon or soba
Rather than my old lady's side.
The wine shop of Ichiriki.
®^ "Smiling" is understood.
^^ The n of udon is stressed by lengthening, perhaps as in archaic Japanese (cf. p. 7). Udon
is a wheat noodle.
'^'^ Soba here means both side and buckwheat vermicelU.
30
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
With Face Covered
This song refers to the old village custom of a young man visiting a young
woman in her room at night, a clandestine meeting for which the lover always
covers his face with a towel as a disguise. Thus any stray person would not
recognize who is visiting the girl; furthermore, if he is repulsed the towel
"saves" his face so that if he meets the girl next day both may act as though
nothing had happened. (Cf. also Song 12.)
This and Song 37 are often run together. It is in regular dodoitsu form.
38 Dokkoise no se
Do ya ni hdkamuri
Nuchya t5 akete
Iru-wai na
The dokkoise house:
With face covered,^^
You leaving open
The door.
Country Wrestling
This graphic description of sumo or Japanese wrestling, a common accompani-
ment of a rural festival, may also be interpreted as a parody of love-making. It is
irregular in form.
39
Dokkoise dokkoise wa
Inaka no sumo yo ye
Okitsu motsuretsu
Matamo dokkoise
Dokkoise dokkoise is
The country wrestling:
Getting up, becoming entangled
Again and again.
White Waves
Though in regular dodoitsu form, and with a dokkoise refrain, this song has
a rather sophisticated air; it may have come to Suye via one of the geisha houses
of the neighboring town of Menda. Uyehara says it is popular in other parts of
Japan.
Okitsu shira-nami
Tatsu no mo mamayo
Kogare sae kuru
Hama chidori
Dokkoise aja yokaro
White waves from the horizon
Roll in slowly.
The plovers come,
Searching for something.
^^ "I come" is understood.
BANQUET SONGS
31
As a Butterfly
These two songs, quite unrelated, are often sung together with No. 30 as
dokkoise. They are regular dodoitsu in form.
41 Cho yo''^ hana yo de
Sodateta musume
Ima wa tanin no
Te ni nakaru ^^
42 Omae-san '^'^ to nara
Washa doko made mo
Yedo ya Tsushima no
Hate made mo
As a butterfly, as a flower
Have we reared our daughter.
She is now
In others' hands.
With thee
I'll go anywhere —
Even so far as
Yedo ^'' or Tsushima.^^
Tied to a Cherry Tree
This verse seems to be well known in various parts of Japan, though it is per-
fectly at home in Kuma, often being sung as a dokkoise verse. Bonneau has a
text of it as a song of Honshu (the main island of Japan) in Folklore japonais,
VoL 2, No. 176. It is also included in Gesammelte Werke der Welt Musik.
The form is regular dodoitsu.
43 Saita sakura ni
Naze kuma '^'^ tsunagu
Kuma "'"^ ga isameba
Hana ga chiru
To a flowering cherry
The stallion why have you tied?
The horse, becoming restless,
Will shake off the flowers.
''-Or: ya.
"^^ A variation of this song from the neighboring prefecture of Miyazaki is recorded by
Bonneau as a wedding song in Folklore japonais, VoL 3, No. 66. It runs:
Cho ya hana ya to
Sodateta musume
Koyoi anta ni
Agemasu kara wa
Banji yoroshiku
Tanomimasu
As a butterfly, as a flower
Have we reared our daughter.
Since we are giving her
Tonight to you,
We hope you will be nice (to her)
In every way possible.
'^*Or: Omae.
''^ Yedo is the old name for Tokyo.
^^ Tsushima is a group of islands between Kyushu and Korea.
''^ For: Koma.
32
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
OTHER BANQUET SONGS
Chiosan
This is a fairly popular song to which very indecent dances sometimes are per-
formed. It is said in Suye that in the old days the song used to be sung when
women gathered at night to twist hemp. When sung by the women they drop
all r's so that a word such as kaminari becomes kamina'i. The forms of the first
stanza and the hayashi are irregular but the last stanza (46) is regular dodoitsu,
7-7-7-5-
44
Chiosan to iwarete
Ano kurai no
Kiryo de na
Chiosan chiosan to
Iwareta kai ga
Nai honni honni "^^
45 (^Hayashi)
Bota-mochi
Tanna kara
Aa koshi kara
Koshi kara
46 Chiosan no ogoke
Kaminari ogoke
Suye mo Fukada mo
Nari watari
{Hayashi repeated)
The one called Chiosan
Her beauty is
Not so great.
Chiosan Chiosan
She's not worth being called,
Not really, really.
Dumpling
From the shelf —
Ah! from the hip,
from the hip.'^^
Widow Chiosan,
Thunder widow.
All over Suye and Fukada '
She resounds.^-'^
^^ This line is often accompanied by strong forward movements of the hips as the chorus
stresses the heavy n sounds of Honni, honni! Cf. the Hotsuri, hotsuri! of Song 15.
''^ This line is said to refer to a motion necessary in making hemp rope; its aptness for an
indecent dance movement is not overlooked by the women of Suye.
®° Two adjacent villages of Kuma where this song is sung.
^^ Meaning either that she is very noisy or that people gossip a lot about her, both of
which things might be true. Widows in villages of Kuma have reputations for independence
and promiscuity. The term goke, meaning widow, if modified to gokekai means prostitution
and is often used in this sense in reference to local village widows by their kindly female
neighbors.
BANQUET SONGS
33
When It Rains
A characteristic Japanese nature scene in regular dodoitsu form.
47 Ame no tokya yama
Yama yama mireba
Kiri no kakaranu
Yama wa naka ^"
In rain the mountain,
If one looks at the mountain,
There is no ridge
Not covered by mist.
In the Bowl of V/ater
The bowl of water referred to in this poem is the one used for rinsing the
,tiny Japanese wine cups during an exchange of drinks. It is usually furnished
at a geisha house, but rarely in a farmer's home. Mizuage is a pivot word. It
means literally 'to lift from the water' but also has a secondary meaning 'to take
a girl's virginity' — a term especially used in reference to a young geisha. Thus
the line, "Who will lift it from the water?" also may mean "Who will take me
for a bride" (ordinary young girl speaking), or "Who will take my virginity?"
(neophyte in a geisha house speaking) .
The form is a rather unusual one — 5-7-7-7-5; cf. Song 36. (The fourth line is
irregular in that it has an extra syllable.)
48 Haisen no
Naka ni ukabishi
Ano sakazuki wa
Donata ga mizuage
Nasaru yara
In the bowl of water
Floats that cup.
Who will lift it from the water?
I wonder — .
®^ Naka-nai.
34
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
After Drin\ing Wine
A song on two popular topics: drink and sex. The form is a slightly irregular
dodoitsu.
49 Shochu ^^ nonde kara
Iwo ^^ neburarenu
Otoke daite kara
Senya ne ^ naran
Shokyo yoi
After drinking wine
I cannot sleep well.
Lying close to a man
I cannot do otherwise.^^
Wine Drinking Drinking
The general idea of this song is that while I drink myself out of house and
home, there are plenty of teetotalers who are also poverty stricken — therefore I
may continue to drink with a clear conscience. The last two lines of this song
evidently form a popular saying, since they are quoted by Hepburn in his
Japanese-English, English-Japanese Dictionary.
50 ShSchu wa nomi nomi
Mi wa hadeka ^^ demo
Geko no tatetaru
Kura wa naka ^^
Yoiya sa
Wine drinking, drinking
And going without clothes-
Teetotalers ^^ build
No storehouses.''^
^^ Shochu is a distilled rice liquor, the standard drink of Kuma.
^*For: yo sometimes pronounced iyo.
^^ Ne is superfluous here so far as syllable count is concerned, nor is it necessary for mean-
ing. It is probably included for effect and to emphasize the n sounds of the line and because
the line might sound too short without it. It also emphasizes the negative naran, 'cannot.'
*® "Than to copulate" is understood.
^^ Hadeka-hadaka; or perhaps from hade, "gay."
^^For: nai.
®® "Also" may be understood after this word.
®° A storehouse is a sign of considerable wealth by rural Japanese standards. The meaning
here is that not all teetotalers build storehouses.
BANQUET SONGS
i!)
By the Long Paddy Path
Old Mr. Kurogi, whose father was a not very well-to-do samurai, recited this
verse one evening to a few neighbors, mostly women, as they awaited a moon-
rise. It was the only time I heard it during the course of a year in Suye. On the
surface a simple little song of country life, Kurogi claimed it had another mean-
ing as follows: The aze michi (literally the path or dyke between rice paddies
on which may be planted azuki beans) is the line down a woman's stomach lead-
ing to the mame (literally bean, symbolically, vulva) and the mame no ha is
the cUtoris.
The form of the song is regular dodoitsu.
51 Nagai aze-michi
Yoi k'sh'ta ^^ kureta
Suso ga nuretaro
Mame no ha de
By the long paddy path
You have come well —
You must have wet your hem ^-
By the bean leaves.
What Will You Do?
This text is of an irregular form like a hayashi, but it was not regarded as one
of the Rokuchoshi cycle in Suye.
Omaya dosuru
Heso made
Ue sa made irete
Naka de oretara
Donasaru
What will you do
If, when in
Up to the navel,
It breaks inside —
What will you do?
Though I Am Not Good
This song involves a pivot word, irekuri, meaning literally to put in and take
out as at a pawnshop, but also having in this song a second sexual connotation.
The form is regular dodoitsu.
53 Dodoitsu heta demo
Irekurya jozu
Kesa mo s'chiya de
Homerareta
A korya korya
Though not good at dodoitsu,
I am good at business.^^
Even this morning
The pawn broker praised my cleverness.
^^ Perhaps from Yoku kite.
^- I.e., the hem of your kimono — either a man or a woman might thus "wet his hem."
^^ Meaning also that I am good at the art of love.
36
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
In the Mountains
Two songs often sung as one. The form of the first is 5-7-7-5, that of the
second regular 7-7-7-5 dodoitsu.
54
Yama no naka
Yama no naka
. Ikken ya demo
Sume ba miyako yo
Waga sato yo
55 Yama de akai no wa
Tsutsuji to tsubaki
Saete kara yarn
Fuji no hana
In the mountains,
In the mountains
Though a sohtary house.
After hving there it seems a great city:
My native place.
Red in the mountain are
Azalea and camellia — ^'^
I'll give you when it blooms
The wisteria flower.
Yoti Are the Only Hero
This is probably a local adaptation of some popular song of the Meiji period,
a time u'hen all sorts of foreign things were being borrowed including English
phrases in popular songs.
56 Gdgetsu ^° wa wari hitori
Iroke no nai yoni
Kai bashite
Yokomede choito mite
Ai dontu no^^
You are the only hero —
You pretend to have no feeling,
Casting side glances,
Glancing once.
I don't know.
^* The slopes of Mount Ichifusa, the high (6,000 feet) mountain of Kuma are covered
with azalea and camellia trees which bloom in a profusion of color in the spring. Many people
of Kuma make a trip up the mountain at this time to visit the shrine and enjoy the beauty
of the flowering trees.
^^ For: goketsu.
^^ This line serves simply as a meaningless chorus line, comparable to yoiya sa as far as
peasants of Kuma are concerned when they sing this song. The phrase has diffused to rural
Kyushu like other foreign terms such as matchi for 'match' or koppu for 'glass' which are
locally regarded as native, not alien terms.
BANQUET SONGS
37
The Ribs of the Umbrella
This song, of rather irregular form, sounds more hke a geisha song than that
of a Kuma farmer. It may have reached the village through some visitor to a
geisha house.
57 Karakasa no hone wa
Bara bara
Kamya yaburete mo
Take ni sotaru
En ja mo ^"^
Mis'te nasaru na
Rokur5-san
Nambo watashi ga
Yaburete mo
Us'te shon shon ^^
The ribs or the umbrella
Have fallen apart;
The paper is also torn,
But with bamboo
Tied together.
Do not throw it away,
Dear Rokuro.
Though I
Also am torn,^^
Don't desert me.
Flower-Like Satjo
A verse often sung by wom.en to honor or more often to tease some man
present. Sung to Ohara bushi tune (130). The form is regular dodoitsu for 58a,
and a short 7-7-5 for 58b.
58a Hana no Sano ^^^ san ni
Horen mon na mekura
Meaki mekura no
Aki mekura
58b Sano '^^^ san horen mo ^^^
Onna no mekura
Are mekura
With flower-like Sano
Those who are not in love are blind,
With their eyes open they are blind.
Truly blind.
Those not in love with Sano
Are women blind.
That (are) blind.
^"^ For: mono.
®* Or: Machya, machya, machya ne — Wait, wait, wait!
^° 'Aged,' 'old.' Yaburete is the pivot word here.
^^° Any name may be put in here. Flower-Hke is a pillow word meaning beautiful as a
flower.
^"^ For: mono.
38
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
My Penis
This song is sung in a sort of recitative without much of a tune. The samisen
player strums on her instrument at the beginning of each verse and calls out the
question "A kora, nan jaro kai kora?" The dancer answers with a verse as he
steps lightly about the room stroking or waving a stick about a foot long and
smoothed oi? at the end, which is placed against his body so as to represent a
phallus. Thus the song and dance were performed at a farewell banquet in
honor of the author in Hirayama, a mountain hamlet of Suye Mura. In Hira-
yama speech and act are freer than in hamlets of the plains.
In form this song is an example of a counting pattern whereby each succeed-
ing stanza commences with a number in consecutive series. The second line of
each stanza except 59a also begins with the same syllable as the number of the
stanza. (Cf. some of the children's songs, Nos. 88, 89.) The arrangement of sylla-
bles in a stanza is mostly 5-7-7-7.
59a Samisen player:
A kora nan jaro kai kora-
Dancer: A sh'totsu
Nan jaro kai kora
Watasi no chimpo
Yoka ^^^ chimpo
Now then what is this?
Now one
What is this?
My penis
Good penis.
59b
Kora futatsu
Nan jaro kai kora
Futosh'te nagosh'te
Watasi no chimpo
Yoka ^°^ chimpo
Now two
What is this?
Thick, long
My penis
Good penis.
59c
A mitsu
Nan jaro kai kora
Mite mo
Watasi no chimpo
Yoka ^^^ chimpo
Now three
What is this?
Even looking (at it).
My penis
Good penis.
59d
Yotsu
Nan jaro kai kora
Yoko kara mite
Mai kara mite
Watasi no chimpo
Yoka
:hi
impo
Four
What is this?
Look from the side,
Look from the front.
My penis
Good penis.
' This is repeated before every subsequent stanza.
BAN(
3UET SONGS
596
Itsutsu
Five
Nan jaro kai kora
What is this ?
Itsu mite mo
Whenever you look.
Watasi no chimpo
My penis
Yoka ^"^ chimpo
Good penis.
59f
Mutsu
Six
Nan jaro kai kora
What is this?
Murorete futosh'te
Long and sw^oUen,
nagosh'te
Watasi no chimpo
My penis
Yoka ^^^ chimpo
Good penis.
59g
Nanatsu
Seven
Nan jaro kai kora
What is this?
Nagosh'te irosh'te
Long, big.
Watasi no chimpo
My penis
Yoka ^^^ chimpo
Good penis.
59h
Yatsu
Eight
Nan jaro kai kora
What is this?
Yappari
Still
Y6kai«3 chimpo 10*
Good penis
Watasi no chimpo
My penis.
59i
Kokonotsu
Nine
Nan jaro kai kora
What is this?
Koko de mite mo
If you look from this side,
Yappari
Still
Yoka 103 chimpo ^^^
Good penis
Watasi no chimpo
My penis.
59J
Kora to
Now ten
Nan jaro kai kora
What is this?
Totsuke mo naka
Extraordinary,
Watasi no chimpo
My penis
Yoka ^^^ chimpo
Good penis.
39
103 "pj^g Q q£ yoka, normally short, is long in this song.
^"^ In stanzas 59h and 59! yoka chimpo comes before watasi no chimpo, probably for
euphony to follow after yappari.
HAMLET DANCE SONGS
Each hamlet formerly had a song of its own, sung to accompany a special dra-
matic dance. These dances are performed on special occasions such as a ceremony
before a waterfall in Hirayama in the event of a drought, or on the occasion of
the completion ceremony (rakuseishiki) of some public structure such as a bridge
or a schoolhouse.
40
o
Oh
&
g
HAMLET DANCE SONGS 4I
Niwa\a
Niwaka is the song used to accompany the special Te Odori dance o£ Hira-
yama hamlet, Suye Mura. The first two lines are sung in the same time (per-
haps by the soloist), the rest is faster until the last line, which is drawn out. The
noe refrain is pronounced with a greatly lengthened 'o.' There are many versions
and no two people use the same sequence of verses. The form of the song is an
opening seven syllable line followed by the refrain noe. This line is repeated,
then there is a second repetition of this line with the refrain sai sai inserted in
the middle. The last line is of five syllables and is sometimes repeated also. Thus
the stanzas may be analyzed into a dodoitsu form with special refrains. An ex-
ception to this form is the opening stanza.
60a Bochan ^ no doku " iku Young man where are you going?
n5e
Bochan ^ no doku ^ iku Young man where are you going?
noe
Watashya sai sai I am going
Shinzakaya ni To the new wine shop,
Shinzakaya ni To the new wine shop,
Sake kai ni ^ To buy some wine.
^ The n of Bochan (Botchan) is elided so this is actually a seven-syllable line.
^ For: doko.
^ A variant of 60a is:
Neisan ga doke iku Young lady where are you going?
noe
Neisan ga doke iku Young lady where are you going?
noe
Neisan ga sai sai The young lady:
Shinzake ni For the new wine,
Shinzake ni For the new wine,
Sake hakari A measure of wine.
42
6ob Sake no hakari ga
noe
Sake no hakari ga
noe
Sake no sai sai
Hakari
Fuji no yama
Fuji no yama^
6oc Fuji no yama hodo
noe
Fuji no yama hodo
noe
Fuji no sai sai
Yama hodo
Murote mo iya yo
6od Meido no miyagi
noe
Meido no miyagi
noe
Meido no sai sai
miyagi "^
Murote mo iya yo
6oe Fuji no shiro yukya
noe
Fuji no shiro yukya
noe
Fuji no sai sai
Shira yukya
Asahi de tokeru
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
A measure ^ of wine,
A measure of wine,
A measure of
wine.^
Fuji mountain,
Fuji mountain.
As much as Fuji mountain,
As much as Fuji mountain,
As much as
Fuji mountain
Given to me, I'll ignore it.
The souvenir of Hades,
The souvenir of Hades,
The souvenir of
Hades
Given to me, I'll ignore it.
The white snow of Fuji,
The white snow of Fuji,
The white snow of
Fuji
In the morning sun will melt.
* A hakari is a beam scale, commonly used to measure various things, including the rice
wine sake. No definite amount is indicated in the song, but a sho is a usual amount to pur-
chase under such circumstances — i.e., sending a man servant or a maid servant to buy some
wine. A sho equals about half a gallon (American measure) .
^ "Is like" is understood here.
® The accent of this last yama is shifted from the first syllable to the last, thus stressing
the final syllable of the song, as is also done in the other Niwaka stanzas.
"^ In the song as it appears in my field notes this line reads meido no miyagi, but this does
not fit the form of the other stanzas and is probably an error.
Fig. 6 {top)
A Step in the Niwaka Dance.
Fig. 7 {bottom)
Niwaka Dance — The Man in the Foreground Keeps Time.
6o£ Musume shimada ga
noe
Musume shimada ga
noe
Musume sai sai
Shimada wa
Nete tokeru
Nete tokeru
6og Take no suzume wa
noe
Take no suzume wa
noe
Take no sai sai ^
Suzume wa
Shina yoku tomaru
6oh Tomate ^ tomaranu
noe
Tomate ^ tomaranu
noe
Tomate^ sai sai
Tomaranu
Iro no michi
Iro no michi
HAMLET DANCE SONGS
The young lady's hairdress,
The young lady's hairdress,
The young lady's
hairdress
Comes down when she lies down,
Comes down when she lies down.
On the bamboo the sparrows.
On the bamboo the sparrows.
On the bamboo
the sparrows
Neatly perched.
It stays, yet does not stay.
It stays, yet does not stay,
It stays, yet
does not stay,
The way of love.
The way of love.
43
* In my field notes the line Take no sai sai reads Take wa sai sai. This is probably an error.
^ For: tomatte.
44
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
By That Side Lane
This is the specialty o£ Kakui hamlet in Suye Mura and is sung on special
occasions, such as the opening of the new school building some years ago. It is
unusual in being a continuous song o£ thirteen seven-syllable lines all about one
subject, a trip to an Inari shrine. (Inari is a popular deity who cures the sick
and brings good fortune to his followers. The messenger of Inari is the fox, so
he is sometimes erroneously referred to as a fox god.) A variant of this song is
given in Gesammelte Werke der Welt Musik, Vol. 13, pp. 204-5. It is described
as a folksong sung by children during the Yedo period.
61 Muko yokocho no
Oinarisan ni
Issen agete
Choito ogande
Osen ga chaya
Koshi wo kaketara
Shibucha wo dash'ta
Shibucha yoku yoku
Yokome de mireba
Kibi no dango ka
Awa no dango ka
Dango dango de
Sonna kotja ikene.
By that side lane
To Inari shrine —
One sen was offered,
Prayed for a moment.
Then to the tea house.
When I sat down,
They offered bitter tea.
Well, well at the tea
I glanced askance:
Was it corn cake?
Was it millet cake ?
Cake, cake.
No, that Vv^on't do.^''
^° In the Yedo version the end of the song is somewhat different. The complete text in
Gesammehe Werke der Welt Musik is:
Muko yokocho no
Oinari san e
Issen agete
Zatto ogande
Osen no chaya e
Koshi wo kaketara
Shibucha wo dashite
Shibucha yoko yoko
Yokome de mitara-ba
Kome no dango ka
Tsuchi no dango ka
Odango dango
Kono dango wo
Inu ni yaro ka
Neko ni yaro ka
Toto tonbi ni
Sarawareta
By that side lane
To Inari shrine —
One sen was offered,
Prayed hurriedly,
Then to the tea house.
When I sat down,
They offered bitter tea.
V/ell, well at the tea
I glanced askance
Was it rice cake?
Was it dirt cake?
Cake, cake.
This cake
Shall I give to the dog?
Shall I give to the cat?
At last by a hawk
It was snatched away.
HAMLET DANCE SONGS
45
At the Ferry of Yamasa\i
This song is sometimes included as part of Muko Yokocho No (No. 6i). It is
similar to it in being a "long" poem about one subject. The form is irregular.
62 Yamasaki no
Watashiba de
Chira to misomeshi
Goju ry5 saki ni
Tobo tobo
Yoichibe ga
Ato kara tsukekuru
Sadakuru
Totsan machine
Totsan machine
lya sonna kotja ikene
Mada hokani mo
Takusan aredo
Amari nagoyaja ^^
Shokun mo taikutsu
Watashi mo taikutsu
Kokoro attari de
S'tettoke hottoke
At Yamasaki
Ferry
I found it,
Fifty ryo/-*^ and sauntered ^^
slowly, slowly.
After Yoichibe ^^
Came following
Sadakuru.-^"^
Hold on old man,
Hold on old man,
No, no, that won't do!
There are yet more
Stories to tell —
Since it's too long
You must all be tired,
I also am tired —
So, here
I'll stop.
Genjomero
One of several verses sung for the monkey dance, a specialty of Shoya hamlet
in Fukada Mura. The first two lines are sung very slowly and the last one very
rapidly. The dancers dressed in red costumes wear monkey face masks. The
form of the song is irregular.
63 Genj6mero-me wa
Sh'to yo ya hosoi ne
GenjS san na
Doko kara kai
Genjomero ^^
Smaller than a man,
Mr. Gen jo
Whence came he?
^^ A ryo is an old coin comparable to a modern yen.
^2 The idea is that, having suddenly found so much cash, the man picked it up quickly
and then walked along slowly as if nothing had happened in order to arouse no suspicion.
^^ Yoichibe is the hero of the story.
^* Sadakuro is a type name for thieves in lapan. The name is pronounced Sadakuru here
in accordance with the Kuma dialect, where 'u' often replaces 'o.'
^^ Probably from the term Owari Nagoya, i.e., Nagoya of Owari province, noted for its
castle.
^^ Genjomero is a type name for monkeys.
SEASONAL SONGS
These songs concern or are much sung during certain seasons, but this does
not mean that some of the verses may not be sung at any banquet regardless of
season. This is especially true of the March Sixteenth stanzas.
46
SEASONAL SONGS 47
Song of March Sixteenth ^
(Sangatsu Juroku Nichi No Uta)
On the fifteenth and sixteenth of March (lunar calendar) there is an impor-
tant festival in honor of Mt. Ichifusa, the sacred mountain of Kuma county. On
the fifteenth people from all parts of the county, especially young married
couples, make a pilgrimage to the mountain, spending the night at a shrine on
the mountain and returning home the next morning. This song is frequently
sung by individuals or groups of travelers at this time. The possibility of a
rendezvous with one's lover on the trip, or the night out of the young bride and
groom gives point to the first stanza; and since it nearly always rains at this time
of the year in Kuma the reference to an umbrella in the second stanza is in
keeping with the season. Many male travelers spend an hour or an evening
at a tea house, perhaps sleeping with one of the girls who beckon a welcome
as in the third stanza. All in all it is a trip marked by good times and high
spirits — assisted by wine — in spite of inclement weather and a more or less
sleepless night on the hard wooden floor of a mountain shrine. The fourth stanza
has no very definite reference to the events of March Sixteenth and may not
really belong to this cycle. The order of verses is not fixed, and one or two may
be sung without the others, and when Rokuchoshi verses are sung at a banquet
one of these may be included. Some informants in Suye give stanza 65 as a part
of the Bon song (Nos. 71-4). The song also has a special tune of its own.
Stanzas 64 and 65 are recorded as of Kuma by Kodera and in Tanabe's Folk-
songs of Kuma. Bonneau has a variation of stanza 65 as of Northern Japan in
his Folklore japonais, Vol. 2, No. 188 — this is peculiar since both the people of
Kuma and scholars like Kodera regard the song as characteristic of Kuma.
Bonneau's variant has a similar basic thought and the same opening line as the
Kuma song, but the other lines are different. Parallelism is possible here since
both umbrellas, visits to tea houses, and such sentiments are all common in
Japan. Such a problem as this can only be settled by further collections of data
in various parts of Japan.
The form of the song is regular dodoitsu 7-7-7-5, except for the last stanza
which has an extra five syllable line. In this connection it is worth noting that
this stanza may not be part of the March Sixteenth song.
So called by people of Kuma.
48
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
64 Otake gozankei -
Dokkoi
Ucha yute deta ga
Otakya nazukete
Kinagusan ^
Na yoe
65 Kasa wo wasureta
Dokkoi ^
Menda no chaya de
Sora ga kumore ba
Omoi dasu
Na yoe
66 Otake ^^ yama kara
Dokkoi 4
Yuyama o mireba
Yuyama onago ga
Dete maneku
Na yoe
Kyo wa hi mo yoshi ■'^■'■
Dokkoi ^
Shindera mairi
Harai baba mo
Dete miyare
Mago tsureta
Na yoe
67
''To worship the gods." ^
One leaves the house —
The gods in name only —
One's heart's enjoyment."^
The umbrella ^ forgotten
At a Menda Inn — ^
If the sky becomes clouded
You will remember.^
From the sacred mountain
If Yuyama were seen,
Yuyama women coming out
Beckon.
Today is a good day -^"
To visit the Shin temple
Grandmother Harai,
Come along too
With your grandchild.
^ Sometimes a 'to' is added to this line and the dokkoi chorus after the first line omitted.
^ Otake literally means mountain or honorable mountain, so this line might be strictly in-
terpreted as to worship the mountain.
^ Or: dokoe.
^ Or: kinagusami. This is a good example of how a final n sound may come to replace
a final m syllable such as mi.
^ The idea of this song is that as the young person leaves the house he says it is to visit the
sacred mountain to pray at the shrine, but actually he or she expects to meet a sweetheart.
'' Kasa may also mean sedge hat, a headgear commonly worn by rural travelers as a pro-
tection against rain and sun.
^ Menda is a small town of Kuma through which many travelers pass on their way to
Mount Ichifusa, the sacred mountain.
^ "You will remember your umbrella and by association, me;" presumably a tea house girl
speaking.
^° See note 3.
^^ Cf. the opening line of song 79*
^2 I.e., an auspicious day.
SEASONAL SONGS
49
Weeding Song
(Kusatori Uta, also called Yoshinbo)
Weeding is an arduous task involving backbreaking work in the paddy fields
under a hot June sun. As might be expected this work is a woman's occupation.
The words of the "weeding" song have nothing to do with the job, and as a
matter of fact the song is little sung in Suye Mura, The third stanza was given
as a part of the Bon song (71-4) by some. All three stanzas are given in Tanabe's
Folksongs of Kuma and the version given there is followed here since the au-
thor's text of this song is incomplete. The form is a somewhat irregular dodoitsu.
68 Yushimbu ^^ koromo ni
Momi ^^ no ura tsukete
Nan to tsutsume do
Iro ni deru
Osa yushimbu ^^
69 Yushimbu Yushimbu to
Na wa yucha kurunna
Yagate Fumonji no
Tera wo tsugu
Osa yushimbu
70 Fumonji otera kara
Motomachi mireba
Terujo shengamejo ga
Dete maneku
Osa yushimbu
Neophyte has in his kimono
A red lining;
However he tries to cover it
It still shows.
Neophyte, neophyte,
Don't call me that.
Soon at Fumonji temple
He'll be the successor.
From Fumonji temple.
As you look to Motomachi
The girls come out
And beckon.
^^ Tanabe gives Yoshinbo, but the local pronunciation is Yushimbu. The word means a
neophyte at a Buddhist temple, and also has the meaning of a useless fellow.
^*Momi, 'red lining,' also 'restless' (from momu). The idea of this stanza is (a) that no
matter how he tries that neophyte can't disguise his lowly status in the temple or (b) that
a good-for-nothing person always has some stigmata or (c) a secondary sexual symbolism —
this last is not certain as I have nothing definite to that effect in my notes.
50 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Bon Song
(Shonga Odori Uta)
Bon or, as it is more often referred to, Obon, is a period in the middle of the
seventh month when the spirits of the dead are beUeved to return to earth and
revisit their former homes. The season is marked by a number of ritual observ-
ances such as cleaning the graves and placing special offerings in the butsudan
or household shrine. During the evenings of Bon special dances were formerly
performed by the villagers outdoors in some open area. These were group dances,
the performers forming a large circle dancing to the accompaniment of a drum
and a song leader, both of whom reinforced themselves with wine as the dark
hours passed. The dancers joined in on the choruses. Here, unlike the banquet
songs, the musicians and leaders were men. Both songs and dances frequently
had some sexual elements and possibly some sexual license followed, especially
among the young people. The custom of Bon dancing appears to be quite un-
related to Buddhism and the return of the spirits and may have antedated the
advent of Buddhism in Japan.
There may be an ancient historical connection and functional resemblance
between the old Japanese Bon dance and certain of the summer festivals of
South China which formerly served as an occasion for sexual licence and a time
of betrothal for the young people of the community (see Granet's Festivals and
Songs of Ancient China, most of which is taken up with this subject, and
Waley's Book of Songs, pp. 28-9.) Today many of the rural Bon dances have
been suppressed by the governm.ent, while more or less bowlderized and com-
mercialized forms have been retained in some of the towns and cities. The dance
of Suye Mura is now forgotten and only a few old people even remember the
verses.
Shonga may mean ginger and thus have a phallic significance, or it may be
simply a kind of refrain. Kodera says this refrain is widespread in Kyiishu and
that it may derive from soka, 'is that so?' He gives a version of the third stanza
(72) as coming from Hiroshima.
In form the song follows a regular dodoitsu pattern. Numbers 73 and 74 are
simply doubled dodoitsu. The verses and refrain are sung or rather chanted very
slowly, each vowel being prolonged and an occasional syllable repeated: e.g.,
Odoraren becomes odo, odorarenu.
71 Shonga odori nya In the shonga dance
Ashi byoshi te byoshi Foot beat, hand beat.
Ashi ga soro wa nya If feet are not in rhythm
Odoraren ^^ One cannot dance.
^^ See comment on this word in the description preceding this song.
SEASONAL SONGS
51
72 Shonga odori wa
Dete mite narota
Kuni no miyage ni
Shuja naika
Dokkoi sho shonga e
73 Shonga baba sama
Meizan suki desu ^^
Yumbe ^^ kokonotsu
Kesa nanatsu
Yumbe ^^ kokonotsu nya
Shokusho wa senedo
Kesa wa nanatsu ni
Shokusho sh'ta
Dokkoi sho shonga e
74 Shonga-batake ^^ no
Mannaka goro de
Sekida kurya ^" chute ^^
Damasareta
Sekida kurya ^^ chute ^^
Damashimashita ga
Ima wa sekida no
Sata mo naka ^^
The shonga dance —
Came out, saw and learned-
For souvenir of the county
Let's make it.
Shonga old lady
Likes meizan cakes.
Last night nine,
This morning seven. ^^
Last night's nine
Indigestion did not give,
This morning's seven
Indigestion gave.
In the middle
Of the ginger field "^
The slipper he promised."^
I've been fooled —
The slipper he promised.
I'm fooled indeed —
Now the slipper
He doesn't even mention.
^^Or: Shonga basan wa Shonga old woman
Yaki-mochi suki de gozaru Likes roasted mochi.
Both these variants may have the second meaning of the old woman likes copulation, so
that last night's nine connections she survived, but this morning's seven were too much
for her.
■^^ From yube.
^^ "She had" is understood.
^^ Or: yube no.
-° Here shonga must mean ginger, but if shonga is also a refrain term as Kodera claims,
then we have here a typical play on sound as well.
-^ "We made love" is understood.
-^ From kureyo.
-^ Or: chote from to itte.
-* As a sign of betrothal.
-^ Or: nashi.
52 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Rejoice
These lines, said to be rokuchoshi in Suye, were written on a paper attached
to a stone Jizo brought into a wedding hall during a banquet by some young
men of the hamlet. However, the song is evidently a variation of the Satsuma
Shonga Bushi as recorded by Kodera.^^
It is the custom in Kuma for a stone image of Jiz5 to be brought into the
house of a wedding by some hamlet young men with their faces covered by
towels. These young men rush in with their load during the banquet in the
midst of ribald jokes, and then hastily retire to the kitchen where the women
give them some wine. The bringing of Jizo into the house is a ritual precaution
against the possibility of the bride's running home. A few days after the wedding
the bride makes a little bib for Jizo and he is returned to his usual roadside niche.
Jizo is, among other things, a deity of children, so that a more basic significance
of this whole custom is to insure fertility in the bride and to emphasize the basic
function of marriage, i.e., the begetting of children.
In form this song is dodoitsu 7-7-7-5 with an extra 7-5 couplet.
75 Iwae medetaya Rejoice, be happy.
Wakamatsu sama yo The young pine —
Yeda mo sakaeru The branches thrive,
Ha mo shigeru The leaves grow thick,
le mo sakaeru The house prospers,
Ko mo fueru Children increase.
' Text of Satsuma Shonga Bushi:
Ureshi medeta no
Wakamatsu sama yo
Yeda mo sakaeru
Ha mo shigeru
A shonga
SEASONAL SONGS
53
On the Eve of the Fifteenth
On the eve of the fifteenth of the eighth month there is held a celebration in
honor of the moon, marked by offerings to the full moon. Young people of the
village make a rope of rice straw and have a tug of war. This game has a slight
ritual value since the winning group is said to have a good harvest. (In Suye
this has little significance since the tugging goes on endlessly and if one side is
losing some people from the winning end run over to help the other group to
pull.) A giant straw sandal is also made and placed by some sacred wayside
stone.
The first two stanzas appear in Kodera's collection as a Kuma song and they
also appear in Tanabe's Folksongs of Kuma. The third stanza (78) is a charac-
teristic modification of the second (77) along phallic lines — the suggestion of the
pestle was too good to miss.
Like the Bon song (70-73) the regular Eve of the Fifteenth song is known to
only a few old people; it is also, like the Bon song, sung very slowly.
The form is somewhat irregular, the arrangement of syllables for the three
stanzas in order being 7-5-5-7-5-7, 7-5-5-5-7-7 and 7-7-5-7-7.
76 Jugoya ban ni
Tsunahiki ga
Gozaru choi
Eiya to ieba
Ne ga kireru
Ne ga kireru
lyo ne ga kireru
77 Jugoya ban ni
Tsuna hikanu
Mono wa choi
Saki no yo ja
Oni ga kine de tsuku
Kine de tsuku
lyo kine de tsuku
78 Jugoya ban ni
Bobo sen^ mono wa
Yoi yoi
Saki no yo de
Oni ga kine de tsuku
Are kine de tsuku
Yoi yoi
On Fifteenth Night
Comes tug-of-war.
'Choi!'
We shout 'eiya!'
The rope will cut,
Rope will cut,
The rope will cut.
On fifteenth night
Those who don't pull,
'Choi!'
In the next world
The devils will pound with a pestle,
Pound with a pestle.
Pound with a pestle.
On fifteenth night
Those who do not f — k
In the next world
The devils will pound with a pestle,
Will pound him with a pestle.
A vulgar folk term; cf. use of 'bobo' in Song 8.
FOUNDATION POUNDING SONGS
(Dotsuki or Jitsuki)
In rural Japan, when a building o£ any size is to be constructed, the earth
which is to underlay the foundation is subjected to extensive pounding to harden
and solidify the ground. This is done by means of a heavy log pounder held
vertically in a frame attached to which is a series of ropes. These are alternately
pulled and let slack by the workers. The rope pullers are as a rule women of the
village or hamlet working on a cooperative basis.
There are many songs to accompany this work, some of them rather long.
The verses are sung by a male song leader who does not pull at the ropes him-
self, while the recurrent refrain is sung as a chorus by the pullers. This organiza-
tion of the singing is similar to that at a Bon dance (see p. 50).
The steady rhythmic character of the refrain alternating with the verses helps
to keep the people pulling regularly, while the stories, probably well known to
most, are a relief from the monotony of the v/ork. This would be especially true
of the melodramatic tales of Jusuke's marriage (81) and the obscene remedies of
the last song of the series (85).
The following songs were collected in Fukada, a village next to Suye, during
the pounding of a foundation for a public building by the women of the village.
The song leader, a man who knew the songs well, dictated the texts given here
during a rest interval in the work. The order of the songs is of no special signifi-
cance, being simply the order in v/hich they were dictated. It is probable that
after a long ballad one or two short songs would be sung by way of contrast.
Bonneau, in Folklore japonais. Vol. 3, Nos. 41-43, includes three short pound-
ing songs from Kyushu, two of which have the same opening line as No. 79.
In form, songs 79, 80, and 81 are a simple series of seven-syllable lines, songs
84-5 an alternating series cf five- and seven-syllable lines, and songs 82-3 irregular
dcdoitsu.
54
Fig. 8 (top)
Foundation Pounding (Dotsuki).
Fig. 9 {bottom)
A Group of Women Bouncing a Man They Rushed between Spells of
Foundation Pounding.
FOUNDATION POUNDING SONGS 55
A Good Day Is Here
This short song (over twice the length of its text when the refrain is included)
is something of a spell to insure good fortune to the building to be built and to
those who use it. This is characteristic of rural Japan where a ritual of some kind
is always performed at the commencement of a new building, bridge, or road to
insure good fortune to the people Vv'ho will use it when completed.
79 Kyo wa hi mo yoshi ^ Today is a good day,
Yoi yoi ^
Kichijitsu gozaru A good day is here.
Yoi, yoi, yoiya nya
Ara nya, kora nya tose ^
Kichijitsu yoi hi ni A good day, on a good day
Dotsuki nasaru Pound the earth —
Kin no dotsuki A golden pounder,
Kogane no yagura A golden frame —
Kore o hiku no ga They who pull this are
Daikoku Ebisu Daikoku, Ebisu.^
Irete tsukaruru Placed and pounded
Oban koban Big coin, small coin.
^ Cf. the opening line of Song 67 — cf. also this text of Bonneau, given in Folklore japonais,
Vol. 3, No. 43:
Kyo wa hi mo yoshi Today is a good day.
Ishi-zuki nasare Pound the stone
Gin no ishi-bo ni A silver powder.
Nishiki no te-nawa Ropes of brocade —
Te-nawa toru no ga . And those who pull
Shichi-Fukujin Are the seven gods of
Good Fortune
^ The refrains are sung by the pullers as choruses, that after the first line alternating with
that after the second line after every line in the song. The same alternating choruses are
used in most of the other foundation pounding songs as well.
^ Daikoku and Ebisu are two popular deities of good fortune. Small wooden images of
the pair are to be found in the houses of most farmers.
56
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
The Plum Tree
80 Nitan batake no ^
Sono nakagoro ni
Sh'totsu komakana
Koume ga gozaru
Sono ya komme ga
Wakamatsu tsurete
Sokode komme ga
Kudoki ga gozaru
Washi ga kommai totte
Anadorya suru na
Kosho ya sansho wa
Komai hodo karai
Seki no kogatana
Mi wa hosokeredo
Aya mo tachimasu
Nishikimo orosu
Seta no karahashya
Miriage no kobashi
Soko de watashi mo
Choito kiri agete
Ato o wakanoshu ni
Otanomimasu
In the center
0£ the two tan^ field
One very Httle
Plum tree stands.
This plum tree
Brought the young pine tree.
The small plum tree
Has this to say:
"Because I'm small
Do not look down on me;
Pepper and sansho ^
The smaller they are, the sharper they are.
The pocket knife of Seki,
Although the blade is thin,
It can cut silk
And cut brocade.
Although the bridge of Seta ^
Is a small short bridge
Here I too
Will cut short
To the young people *
The rest I'll leave."
* For refrains see song 79, note 2.
^ One tan is about a quarter of an acre.
^ A sharp spice used in pickling.
^ Very famous is understood.
* "To sing" is understood. For the sort of abrupt ending used here cf. Song 62.
FOUNDATION POUNDING SONGS
57
]usuJ{e and Oiro
1 1 Tokoro mosaba
Usa Higo no Kuni
Sono na moseba
Seizaemon
Hitori musume no
Oiro to yute
Kiryo no yoi koto
Junin sugure
Hana ni tatoete
Mosunareba
Tateba shakuyaku
Suwareba botan
Ayumu sugata ga
Yuri keshi no hana
Ono-no-Komachi mo
Sayoteru-Hime mo
Oyobazaru to no
Hyoban musume
Kiry5 yokereba
Mina hito-san ga
Ware mo ware to
Moral ni kakaru
Kesa mo junin
Mata jugonin
Sanju-go nin no
Moraishu naka de
Kaku no Jusuke-san
Yakusoku de
Saraba Jusuke ni
Yaranakya naranu
Hanashi kimareba
Iwai to kimaru
Asu wa Oiro no
Iwai to kimaru
Mura no wakaishu wa
Sonemi ga gozaru
Mura ni yori yori
Ky5gi o itashi
Oiro iwai no
Sono hito nareba
Shikaku-gan niwa
There is in Usa
Of Higo province
A man named
Seizaemon.
He has an only daughter
Called Oiro
Whose beauty surpasses
Even ten.
Likened to flowers,
I'll say
She stands an herbacious peony
And sits a peony
And walks
A lily, a poppy.
Even Ono-no-Komachi,®
Or Sayoteru-Hime ^^
Are not a match
To her.
Being such a beauty
The young men
Crying "Me too, me too!"
Scramble to woo her.
Ten more this morning,
Again fifteen —
Of thirty-five men
Among the suitors
Jusuke of Kaku
Gets the promise.
When thus promised to Jusuke
Oiro must be given away.
When thus decided
A celebration is in order.
Tomorrow will be Oiro's
Wedding feast.
The village young men
Are jealous of it
And, group by group.
They plot a plan
At Oiro's feast.
These men
In a square coffin
^ A woman poet of old Japan considered one of the most beautiful of all women.
^° Probably Sayo-Hime, legendary beauty of old Japan.
58
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Tsubame o hanashi
Rokuji-gami oba
Mae harimashite
Jusuke iwai to
Zashiki ni ireru
Kyo wa torikomi
Asu kite tamore
Sono hi iwai mo
Hodo yoku sunde
Asu wa wakanoshu no
Iwai de gozaru
Asa wa hayo kara
Iwai to kiyaru
Arame kizande
Umeboshi soete
Agari kudasare
Wakashu gata yo
Sokode wakanoshu
Hara tatemashite
Konna sakana de
Nomareru mono ka
Sakana nakereba
Ryorite toran
Soko de Jusuke
Hitoma ni sagari
Netoru Oiro wa
Yusuri te okoshi
Kyo no wakaishu no
Shisshi o mireba
Isso futari o
Koroso no takumi
Koko de futari ga
Wakanoshu gata ni
Korosaremashitara
Sosen ni sumanu
Saraba korekara
Shinju wo shimasho
Kokode futari ga
Shinju o shite wa
Mura no wakanoshu ni
Teishu ga oranu
Let some swallows go,
A six character paper ^^
Pasted in the front
As a gift to Jusuke.
They bring it into the room.
"We are very busy today
So please come tomorrow." ^-
The wedding feast is over
Very successfully,
And the next day is
The feast for the village ^^ young men.
They come from early morning
On that day —
The sea-weed cut
With pickled plums is served.
"Please have some,
Our village friends."
Then the boys
Become angry.
"With such relish
How can we drink
If there isn't any fish?
We'll get someone who can
prepare a dish!"
Whereupon Jusuke
Goes into another room
The sleeping Oiro
Shakes out of bed —
"Today's young men,
As I see their hatred.
Both of us
They plot to kill."
"If we two
By men like these
Should be killed.
What shall we say to our ancestors?
Then we might as well
Die together." ^"*
"If we two
Should die together now
For the village young men
There will be no host —
^^ Na mu a mi da butsu or Namu Amida Butsu (Glory be to Buddha), which are the
six characters pasted on the coffin at a funeral. ^^ Jusuke's family speaking.
^^ It is a wedding custom to give feast food and a drink to neighbors the day following
the banquet for relatives. ^* Literally: "commit love suicide."
FOUNDATION POUNDING SONGS
59
Saraba watashi o
Hito ashi sakini
Oiro yo yuta
Yo yute kureta
Oya no yudzuri no
Masamune gatana
Nugute misezuni
Oiro o koroshi
Shinda Oiro o
Hadaka ni nashite
Nashita Oiro o
Manaita nosete
Sashimi bocho ni
Murabashi soete
Agari kudasare
Wakanoshu gata yo
Sokode wakanoshu ga
Odoroki-mashite
Takai en kara
Tobu no mo areba
Takai dote kara
Tobu no mo gozaru
Sokode Jusuke
Koniwa ni orite
Ura to omote no
Gomon o shimete
Nyobo no kataki
Kakugo wa yoika
Mura no wakanoshu
Mina kirikorosu
Kaesu katana de
Waga nodo tsuite
Jitsu ni hakanaki
Saigo de gozaru
Sore de minna ga
Moto yukotoni
Hito ni sugareta
Yoi ko wa motsuna
Hito no kirau yona
Yomego mo konna.
Please finish me
Before you go."
"Well said, Oiro
My thanks to you."
The Masamune sword
Inherited from his father
(Jusuke took out)
Quickly he puts an end
To Oiro.
Dead Oiro
He stripped,
The stripped Oiro
He put on the chopping board,
He placed the kitchen knife and
chopsticks
At her side:
"Please have a feast,
My friends."
Hereupon the young men
Are surprised;
From high veranda
Some jump down.
From high wall
Others jump down.
Thereupon Jusuke
Goes down to the yard,
Closing the gates
Both back and front
"I will avenge my wife
On you." (Thus saying)
The village youths
All of them he kills.
Then, turning to himself,
He thrusts his sword into his throat.
And this quick death
Is indeed the end.
Thus by all
It is said.
Never have a sofi
Who far surpasses others.
And such is the end
Of a bride envied by others.-'^''
^^ The ideal in rural Kuma is a cooperative man. Ail social groups provide for rotated
responsibility of leadership so that no one man continuously stands out. Envy is not only
feared, it is believed to have supernatural power, so that a man or woman may die of it.
(Cf. Murasaki's Tale of Genji, chapter 7 of Waley's translation.)
6o
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Come Come Sparrow
This song is given as a masquerade song in Tanabe's Folksongs of Kuma; it
is also given in Gesammelte Werke der Welt Musik as a foundation pounding
song.
82 Chuchu ^^ ke manju ^"^ kashiu
Natane no mi kashu
Yagate daikon-bana no
Mi wo kuwasho
Come, come, sparrow —
I'll give you some cake,
I'll give you rape-seed.
Then I'll give you radish seeds to eat.
83 Hiru wa tango tango
no no no dokkoi
Oke no wa wo shimuru
Yoru wa Shosama no
Koshi shimuru
During the Day
During the day the pail,
the pail —
Put the hoop on the bucket;
At night.
Tighten the waist of Sho-sama.^^
^^ A local term for sparrow.
^■^ For: manju.
^^ The idea is that during the day a bucketmaker puts hoops on buckets, while at night
he tightens the waist of (hugs) Sho-sama.
FOUNDATION POUNDING SONGS
6l
Kanshiro Wants a Wife
84 Kanshiro to yu hito wa
Aru koto nai koto
Nozomareta
Aru koto nai koto
Nozomi nara
Aru koto nai koto
Yute miro
Kanshiro dono ga
Wakai toki
Ammari nyonbo ga
Mochitasa ni
Shih5 no kamigami
Gan tatete
Ichi niwa Idzumo no
Oyashiro
Niban Ise no
Daijingu
San de Sanuki no
Kompira san
Shiho no kami e
Gan tatete
Kami no gojihi ni
Sugatte mo
. Yoi yona nyonbo wa
Orimo senu
Shikoku mawari o
Omoitachi
Shikoku hachiju
Hachi kasho wo
Ura to omote o
Sagasedomo
Yoiyona nyonbo
Orimasenu
Saraba kore kara
A man named Kanshiro,
Of things there are
and things there are not,
Was asked,
Of things there are
and things there are not,
If you wish.
Of things there are
and things there are not
Let's name them.^^
When Kanshiro
Was young
He wished to have
A wife so badly
That to the gods of four directions
He prayed.
First to Idzumo's ^^
Oyashiro Shrine,
Second to Ise's ~^
Daijingu Shrine,
Third to Sanuki's ^^
Kompira Shrine.
To the gods of four directions
He offered prayers.
To the mercy of the gods
Though he had appealed.
Still a suitable wife
He could not find.
Of a pilgrimage to Shikoku
Then he thought.
Of Shikoku
The eighty-eight places
Through and through
He searched;
A suitable wife
He could not find.
Then he went
^^ The general meaning of these introductory remarks is that there was once a man
named Kanshiro and the things told of him may be true or may not be true; at any rate let
us relate them.
^^ Place name.
62
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Saikoku ni
Chikugo no kuni o
Hajime to shi
Hizen Higo kara
Satsuma made
Sagashite miredo
Nao orazu
Higo no kuni ni to
Tachikaeri
Higo no Kumamoto
Torn toki
"Kore a moshi
Kanshiro sama
Anata wo atashi wa
Itsukaramo
Shitai moshitezo
Koko mitoshi
Anata no idokoro
Sagase domo
Anata no sugata wa
Miemasenu
Koko de otaga
Kyo kunenme
Dozo korekara
Nyobo ja to
Yute moraeba donoyoni
Watashya konomama
Shinurutomo
Nande yononaka
Urami masho
Wakai doshi no
Kotonareba
Sugu ni hanashi mo
Matomatte
Shibashi machiyare
Kanshiro san
Watashi ga choito
Kozashiki wo
Tsukurimasu kara
Machinanse
Soko de onna ga
Suru koto nya
Tatami o sammai
Hikidashite
To the western provinces
Beginning with
Chikugo;
From Hizen and Higo ^^
As far as Satsuma
He searched,
Still he could not find.
To the region of Higo
He returned again
And as through Kumamoto of Higo '
He was passing
"Pray,
Sir Kanshiro
For you I have
For a long time
Been longing —
For the past three years
Your whereabouts
I tried to find.
But your figure
Has eluded me.
After many years
Today I have met you.
Please, if from now on
You call me your wife
Then,
Here and now
I should die,
Why should I have a grudge
Against this world?"
Since they were
Both young
The question was
Soon settled.
"Wait a minute,
Kanshiro
I am going to make
A small room
(For us two,)
Wait a while."
Then the woman
Without more ado,
Three pieces of tatami
Took out,
-^ Higo is the old name for the present Kumamoto prefecture; cf. Song 87.
FOUNDATION POUNDING SONGS
63
Rokumai byobu ni
Mitsubuton
Moshi mo no kami no
Kawari niwa
Mushiro o shigo-mai
Hikidashita
Kore o mite toru
Kanshiro
Tote mo kanawanu
Nyobo zoto
Idaten hashiri nl
Hashiriyuki
Kore o mite toru
Sono onago
Onore Kanshiro
Nigasuka to
Izen no kozashiki
Katatsukete
Shiro uma ippiki
Hikidashite
Sore ni bagu o mo
Hikidashite
Sono ya uma ni
Uchinotte
Otte kimasu yo
Kanshiro
Yoyaku Kanshiro
Nigenonde
Kawashimo atari ni
Nigenonde
Mo wa kore nite
Daijobu
Omo ori kara
Oarashi
Ame ya arashi to
Narimasuru
Choito kokorade
Amayoke o
Itasu ori kara
Yudachi mo
Hareta tenki to
Narimasuru
Soreni tokoro no
Nomin wa
Hoko wo katagete
Kusa kari ni
A six piece folding screen,
And three quilts
And instead of paper
In case of emergency,
She produced
Four or five straw mats.
Seeing this
Kanshir5 thinks:
A terrible woman
This wife is.
And he ran.
He ran as fast as he could.
When the woman
Saw this:
"How can I let you go"
She yelled.
She put the small room
In order,
A white horse
Pulled out,
And trappings
She pulled out.
This horse
Riding
She chased
After Kanshiro.
At last Kanshiro,
Escaping
To the down stream
Ran away.
But before he could say
"I am safe"
A heavy
Storm
With strong wind and rain
Came down.
While he stopped there briefly
The rain
Ceased
And storm too.
And it
Became clear.
Then of this region
The farmers
Carrying implements
Were out to cut grass.
64
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Tochu yudachi
Aimashita
Niwakani dekita
Ohotoke-iwa
Kokoni amakage
Itaso to
Omo ori kara
Hotoke-iwa
lyo na oto de
Taoremasu
Kyoten itasu
Nomin wa
Nigeba ushinai
Sono iwa no
Shitani narite zo
Kega o suru
Mura no yakunin
Kikitsukete
Tazei nimbu o
Hikitsurete
Kyujo kyujo to
Dekakemasu
Mikka miasa no
Nezushigoto
Iwa wa katazuke
Ato mireba
Sanju gonin no
Shisha gozaru
Naomo Kanshiro
Nozomi kana
Nozomi nareba
Mata yaroka
yoi
In the meantime the storm
They also met,
When suddenly there appeared
The Buddha-rock.
Here the farmers
Tried to find shelter,
But alas!
The Buddha rock
Made a queer sound
And fell.
The astounded
Farmers
Lost their way,
Were rolled
Under the rock
And were hurt.
The village official
Heard this
And many workers
Brought to help.
And to help
They all came
For three mornings
Without rest.
When the rock was cleared.
Behold!
Thirty-five dead
There were
Even with this Kanshir5
Wants (a wife)
If he wants
We'll do it again
yoi.
FOUNDATION POUNDING SONGS
(>5
The Difficult Bride
85 Yombe gozatta
Hanayomego
Asu wa itoma to
Yutokini
Bombo ^^ ga kusai ka
Ke ga naika
Mochiage yo ga
Taranaika
Mochiage yo ga
Taran nara
Futon no ichimai mo
Shiitemiro
Sorede mada
Taran nara
Hachi gatsu jibunna
Kuri no iga demo
Hirote kite
Sore o oshiri ni
Shiitemiro
Sore demo mada
Taran nara
Osan kakete
Bui agero
Sonoyoni mochiage ga
Taran nara
Kondo wa kusaito
Nao koete
Sonoyoni bomba ga
Kusainaru
Sonoyoni kusai
Bombo nara
Sore ni hoho o
Yute kikasho
Shiodara yaite
Aku shimete
Sentaku dari de
Tatetemiro
Sore demo mada
Taran nara
Kosh5 to sanshS
Kona ni shite
Sore o imbu ni
Tsumetemiro
Taite no kusasa wa
Torete shimau.
The one gotten last night
The bride,
The next day,
When possessing her
Does the c — t stink?
Or hasn't it any hair?
Can she not
Raise herself high enough ?
If she cannot
Rise high enough,
A quilt underneath
Try to place.
Even if with that
It is not enough,
During the month of August
Some chestnut-burrs
Pick up
And these under her buttocks
Try to place.
If even that
Is not enough,
With a frame
Hoist her up.
If all of that
Is not enough,
This time if it smells
To the limit,
If to that extent
The c — t stinks.
If it stinks that much.
The c — t,
I will tell you a way
To avoid it.
Cook some salted cod-fish,
Leach it.
And put it
In a washing tub.
Even if this
Is not enough,
Grind some spice and pepper
Into powder
And this into the private part,
Try putting.
Nearly all the odor
Will disappear.
' This is a variant form of 'bobo,' used in Song 8.
CHILDREN'S GAME SONGS
There are many children's games with songs to accompany them in Kuma, as
elsewhere in Japan. The games played vary with the seasons and with the sex of
the players. Brief descriptions of some of the games are given with the songs
below, but there is no set rule that a given song will always accompany the same
game. Most of the children's game songs are sung to accompany one or another
of the girls' games.
Most of the songs which follow are probably local to Kyushu, if not to Kuma.
There are a number of nationally known school songs that are popular among
the village children, but with one or two exceptions these are not included here.
Many of the children's songs are irregular in form, the rhythm being synchro-
nized with the movements of a game.
66
children's game songs 67
ball bouncing songs
Ball bouncing is a girls' game, played in autumn. Boys not only do not play it
and other girls' games, but rationalize their not doing so by saying that girls are
quicker with their hands. Boys' games include a kind of cops and robbers, mock
warfare, and, in summer, the chasing of dragon flies.
Masachan and the Policeman
This is recited in a rapid singsong with an accent on the last word of every
second line. The ball is bounced with one hand with a heavier bounce on the
accented word. At the last line the ball is bounced to one side of the player and
on the last word is cut into the folds of the player's kimono.
The content of the song implies that one should not damage public property.
The last few lines reflect the shame associated with a business call by a police
officer.
The form of the song is a series of seven- and five-syllable lines.
86 Gakko okairi ^ no Returning from school
Masachan ga Little Miss Masa
Denshin bashira ni At the telephone pole
Ishi o nage Threw a stone.
Asa wa junsha-san - In the morning by Mr. Policeman
Shikararerii She gets a scolding.
Okachan to Masachan wa The mother and Masa will
Naki wakare Part in tears.
Sh'to ga miru kara Since people can see
Choito kakusu She will hide a bit.^
'^ For: okaeri.
- For: junsa-san. This line is shorter in singing than it appears here.
^ The ball is hidden in the kimono folds at the end of the song, thus corresponding to
Masachan's hiding of her face.
68
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Where Are You From?
This is sung in a singsong similar to Song 86. The last few lines are recited a
bit faster and the ball is bounced a little faster. On the last line the ball is bounced
higher and is caught on the player's back after which she starts from the be-
ginning again. If a group is playing, losing the last catch means losing one's
turn.
87 An'ta gata doku sa?
Higo sa
Higo doko sa?
Kumamoto sa
Kumamoto doko sa?
Semba sa
Semba gawa ni wa
Ebi sha ^ otte sa
Sore ni rySshi wa
Ami shade totte sa
Nitte sa
Kutte sa
Na no ha de
Choi choi
Where are you from?
Higo.4
Where in Higo?
Kumamoto.^
Where in Kumamoto?
Semba.^
In the Semba River
There are shrimps.
These the fisherman
With a net caught,
Boiled,
Ate
With cabbage leaves.
Choi choi.
Gomumari^
(Rubber Ball)
This is a counting song played by several children together, each one seeing
how far she can get in a rather fancy series of bounces before she misses the ball.
Missing a catch the player stops and resumes where she left oflf when her turn
comes up again. The difference between each stanza is that the word tonde
(bounce) in the first line is repeated as many times as one has had turns up to
ten, and on the Sanju ittai nittai santai line the numbers called, and conse-
quently the number of bounces of the ball is increased by three each time (three,
six, nine, up to thirty). Certain types of bouncing accompany certain words.
Regular bouncing is by hand and off the ground, when tonde, niju, and sanju
* The old name for the present Kumamoto perfecture.
^ I.e., Kumamoto City.
^ A part of Kumamoto City.
^ Ebi cha in my notes; probably should be as given above.
8 So called by the children who play the game and sing the song.
children's game songs 69
are called it is bounced on the foot, suisen calls for it to be thrown up on the
back of one's hand, tsukamo is a signal to pick it up when it bounces, then let
it bounce again, on ote ni tsuite the player touches her free hand between
bounces, and on ohidan tsuite she touches her leg between bounces; supon-pon
is the most complicated — the player bounces the ball, then throws it up on her
toe twice and resumes regular bouncing. No one ever gets through the entire
series without missing.
88a Hi fu ^ mitsu nana yoka -^^ tonde One two three seven eight bounce.
Hi fu mitsu nana yoka niju One two three seven eight twenty,
Hi fu mitsu nana yoka sanju One two three seven eight thirty,
Sanju hittotsu futatsu Thirty one two,
Sanju hittotsu futatsu Thirty one two,
Tonde hittotsu futatsu Bounce one two.
Sanju suisen Thirty straight up,
Tonde suisen Bounce straight up.
Niju suisen Twenty straight up,
Sanju ittai nittai santai Thirty once, twice, thrice,
Tsukamo mo mo Grasp it again, again.
Kugatsu no shinkoko ^^ September new grain
Oten'tsuite ^^ Touch the hand,
Ohidan tsuite Touch the leg,
Yari kono Pass on,
Supon-pon ^^ Supon-pon.
Ikku hi fu mitsu One person one two three,
Nana yoka tonde Seven eight bounce.
88b Hi f u ^ mitsu nana yoka tonde tonde
(The rest is the same as 88a up to:
Sanju ittai nittai santai shitai gotai rokutai
Then again the same up to the final:
Ikku hi fu mitsu nana yoka tonde tonde)
88c Hi fu ® mitsu nana yoka tonde tonde tonde
Sanju ittai nittai santai shitai gotai rokutai
sh'chitai hachitai kutai
Ikku hi fu mitsu nana yoka tonde tonde tonde
1 to 88j follow the same cumulative pattern.
^ For: hitotsu, futatsu. This short form is frequently used in counting.
^''For: yatsu.
^^ For : shinkoku.
" For: O te ni.
^^ Onomatopoeia.
70
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Saigo Tal{amori's Daughter
This is another counting song, but with some story to it in contrast to the al-
most purely numerical content of Song 88, A similar song is recorded by Bon-
neau in Folklore japonais, Vol. 3, No. 54,
The song below refers to the rebellion and death of Saigo, a popular hero of
southern Kyiishij. This is one of the few songs in the collection dealing with
historic events. Another is Song 91.
Ichi kake ni kake san kakete
Shi kakete go kakete
Hashi wo kake
Hashi no rankan
Koshi oroshi
Haruka muko wo
Nagamureba
Ju-sh'chi-hachi no
Neisan ga
Katate ni hana mochi
Senko mochi
Neisan doku ^^ ka to
Tazunereba
Watashi Kyushu
Kagoshima no
Saigo Takamori
Musume desu
Meiji Ju-nen
Senso ni
Uchijini nasareta
Chichi ue no
Ohaka mairi
Made shimasu
Moshi watashi wa
Otoko nara
Shikan gakko
SotsugyS shi
Ume ni uguisu
Tomarasete
Hohokekyo to
Nakasemasu
One two three measures,^*
Four five measures,^*
Suspend a bridge.
On the bridge railing
Sitting,
Way over there
Should one look,
A seventeen or eighteen year old
Maiden ^^
In one hand carrying flowers.
Incense in the other.
"Where from, maiden?"
Should one ask:
I am from Kyushu,
Kagoshima's
Saigo Takamori's
Daughter.
In the Meiji Ten
War,i^
Having been killed in battle,
My father
His grave
I am visiting.
If I
Had been a boy.
From military school
I'd be graduating.
As the nightingale on the plum tree
Alighting,
Hohokekyo ^^
I would sing.^^
^* 'Of wood' is understood.
^•^ 'One would see' is understood.
^^For: doko.
^^ Saigo Rebellion of Tenth year of Meiji (1877).
^^ Onomatopoeia for the song of the nightingale.
^^ The general meaning of the end of this song is that "I would, be a successful man.'
Bonneau's version of the song does not include the secrion about "If I had been a boy."
CHILDREN S GAME SONGS
71
Bean Curd Is White
Children like to recite this song very rapidly to see who can do it the fastest
without making a mistake. The song opens as a counting song like No. 89, but
actually it is quite different. It has a special form whereby the final word of one
line has the same sound and the same meaning as the first word of the following
line. Except for the first line, which is long, the song consists of a series of seven-
syllable lines.
90 Ichi kaku ni kaku san kaku
shi kaku
Shikaku wa tofu
Tofu wa shiroi
Shiroi wa usagi
Usagi wa haneru
Haneru wa kaeru
Kaeru wa aoi
Aoi wa banana
Banana wa nagai
Nagai wa entotsu
Entotsu wa kuroi
Kuroi wa Indojin
Indojin wa tsuyoi
Tsuyoi wa Kintoki
Kintoki wa akai
Akai wa jakuro
Jakuro wa wareru
Wareru wa manju
One corner two corners three corners
four corners.
Four cornered ^*^ is bean curd,
Bean curd is white,
White is a rabbit,
A rabbit Jumps,
Jumps a frog.
Frog is green,
Green is banana,
Banana is long,
Long is chimney.
Chimney is black.
Black is Hindu,
Hindu is strong.
Strong is Kintoki,^^
Kintoki is red.
Red is pomegranate.
Pomegranate is divisible,
Divisible is dumpling.^^
BEAN BAG AND SKIP ROPE SONGS
Bean bag and skip rope are also girls' games. In the spring the girls carry their
bean bags (shako) everywhere. While a mother is calling on someone, a little
girl will bring out her bags and juggle them. There are any number of songs
similar to our "One, two button your shoe" type, sung to various tunes, but all
having a definite rhythm which allows for an alternating series of long and short
^^ I.e., square.
2^ Kintoki is a legendary strong boy usually depicted with a red face.
22 Manju locally is a symbol for the vulva. When giving the words of this song the girls
at first would not give the last word out of bashfulness and said to put in rei-rei-rei (i.e., zero
zero zero or 0-0-0 as is done in censored Japanese newspaper reports referring to troops),
then finally pointed to the vulva without naming it. In another region this line would not
have any sexual connotation since the word manju is not used in a sexual sense. In northern
Kumamoto for instance the corresponding word for vulva is mencho.
72 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
throws. If two girls are playing together, during the long throw the partner
catches the bags and juggles them until the song calls for another long throw.
There are also games where one girl will play with the bags until she misses
when the other one takes her turn.
Japan's Nogi
This is a skip rope (ohairi or hai yorosi) song, also used as a bean bag song.
Many different verses are sung to the tune of this song.
The subject of the song, Russia's defeat by Japan, is something never forgotten
by the Japanese, being referred to in all patriotic speeches. This little game song,
one of several on the same subject, helps to inculcate in the minds of the children
the pattern of thought of regarding Russia as a weak and somewhat strange,
barbarous country. Often in the midst of a game children will break out with a
gay "Nihon ga katta, Rossia maketa!" (Japan won, Russia lost!)
In form, this is a serial song similar to No. 90 except that here it is the final
syllable instead of the final word of a line that forms the beginning of the first
word in the next line. During the bean bag throwing a series of short throws
accompanies the opening lines, then there is a long throw on 'chan chan bo' to
'inkoroshi.' The remaining long lines are recited very rapidly to the accompani-
ment of shorter throws.
The sense of the song is somewhat influenced by its form. The bird names,
suzume and mejiro, for instance, appear to be inserted simply as a means of con-
necting Gaisensu with Rossia.
91 Nippon no Japan's
Nogisan ga Nogi ^
Gaisensu Triumphantly returned.
Suzume Sparrow,
Mejiro White eye,
Rossia Russia,
Yabangoku Barbarous country.
Kurobatokin Kuropatkin,^^
Kinnotama Testicles.
Makete niguru chan chan bo Lost and fled Chinamen.
Bo de tataku wa inkoroshi One who beats with a stick is a dog catcher,
Siberia tetsudo jya nai keredo Not that I speak of Siberian Railroad,
Dobin no kuchi kara hakedaseba But steam comes from the kettle spout.
Barutsikukantai dzenmetushi The Baltic fleet all destroyed,
Shiro hata The white flag raising,
Tatete kosansu Surrendered.
^^ The Japanese general who captured Port Arthur in 1905.
^* The commander-in-cliief of the Russian army during the Russo-Japanese war.
CHILDREN S GAME SONGS
73
The Soldier's Girl
92 Gakko okairi
Jochan ga
Aka shiri
Hikkaragete
Hin no yosa
Sore de heitai san ga
Horekonde
Kamisashi yaru ka
Kushi yaru ka
Watasi sono mono ^^
Irimasen
Ima no hayari
Kochirimen
Mosi-mosi
Returning from school
Young girl,
Red skirts
Tucked up,
So very graceful
That a soldier
Fell in love.^*^
"Shall I give you a hairpin.
Shall I give you a comb?"
"I such things
Do hot want,
The present style
Is silk crepe
I say."
Cat, Cat
93 Neko, neko, neko, neko
Sakaya neko
Sakaya ga iya nara
Yomi-ire ^^ de
Yomi-ire nara dogu wa
Nani, nani ka?
Tansu, nagamochi
Suzuribako ^^
Kore dake motte iku naraba
Futatabi kaette
Kurumaizo
Cat, cat, cat, cat,
Cat of the sake shop.
If you do not want the sake shop
Become a bride.
If you go as a bride, the dowry
What will it be?
A dresser, a chest,
A writing box.^®
If you take so much along,
You must not
Come back again.
^^ "With you" is understood.
^®For: senna mono.
^'^ For: yome-iri.
^® Some versions have Hasamibako — a lacquered box carried at the end of a pole and for-
merly used in traveling by men of rank.
74
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Father Is a Peony
94 Chichi wa shakuyaku
Haha botan ^
Im5to wa shiro giku
Nisan wa
Kwanpeitaisha no
Kunshobana
Choito watasi wa
No ni saku yuri no hana
Metta ni senshi wo uchitogete
Kin no kibako ni
Okuraru
Father is a peony,
Mother is a peony ,^^
Younger sister a white chrysanthemum,
Older brother
A decoration flower
Of the shrine.
Only I am
A lily flower blooming in the fields,
Dead in the battlefield,
In a golden wooden box
Sent back.
OTHER GAME SONGS
Other games such as those using pebbles, hand clapping games and so on are
also accompanied by songs or recited verses.
95 Sumire tsumitsutsu
Kairi yoku ^^
Yama-kyo no
Kodomo no airashisa
While Pluc\ing a Violet
(Pebble Game Song)
While plucking a violet
They return home:
Mountain village children
Are charming.
lines.
In the song botan is pronounced bota-un because the accent falls at the end of the short
^° Two different types of peony are referred to in the original: shakuyaku and botan.
^^ For: kaeri joiku.
CHILDREN S GAME SONGS
75
liana\o's Tears
This is a song to accompany a hand clapping game of which there are many
varieties. One common type similar to our own "Pease porridge hot, pease por-
ridge cold," is played thus: Two children sit facing each other. They first clap
their own hands together, then clap hands together, right hand clapping the
other's left and left hand clapping the other's right; then they clap their own
hands again and reverse the previous cross clapping — the right hand clapping
the other's right, the left the other's left. In some games a player claps her own
hands twice before clapping with the partner; in others a player claps hands,
then claps palms on legs, then claps hands with partner.
Song 96 is a cumulative song somewhat similar to 90. In the repetitive words
and phrases there is a heavy accent on the final syllable to correspond to a
movement of the game.
96 Arutoki Hanako no
Namida ga
Hori hori^^
Hori hori
Ammari deta node
Tamoto de
Nuguimasho ^*
Nuguimasho
Nuguta kimono wa
Araimasho ^^
Araimasho
Aratta kimono wa
Shiburimasho ^^
Shiburimasho
Shibutta kimono wa
Hoshimasho ^^
Hoshimasho
Hosh'ta kimono wa
Tatamimasho ^^
Tatamimasho
Tatanda kimono wa
Naoshimasho ^^
Naoshimasho
Naoshita kimono wa
Nezumi ga
Poki poki
Poki poki
On puku pon-na-pon
Once Hanako's
Tears
Poured down,
Poured down —
Too many tears.
With kimono sleeve
Let us wipe,
Let us wipe.
Wetted kimono
Let us wash,
Let us wash.
Washed kimono
Let us wring,
Let us wring.
Wrung kimono
Let us hang up,
Let us hang up.
Hung kimono
Let us fold.
Let us fold.
Folded kimono
Let us put away.
Let us put away.
Put-away kimono
The mice ate:
Poki poki
Poki poki
On puku pon-na-pon.^*
^^ Accent on the 'o' of the first word and the 'i' of the second.
"^ A clearly accented 'i' just before 'massho' and another accent on the final 'o.'
^* Last three lines form an onomatopoetic description of the mice eating.
jb JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Gof{ura\u ]i^
(Paradise Temple)
This game is played by two groups. Two people hold hands as if forming a
gateway, while the others approach and sing the first line of the song. The gate-
keepers answer. The first group sings the following line and so on. The verses
are not really sung, but are rather recited in a singsong. The last line is not
clear, unless it refers to the visit to shrines when a child is seven; however, in
Kuma this custom is not observed. After the end of the song the first group is
allowed to go through one by one and the trick is to get by without being slapped
by the gatekeepers. If they are slapped, they go to hell (jigoku), if not, to para-
dise (gokuraku). When all have passed they get their due. Those gone to hell
are inclosed between the outstretched arms of two people and are shaken vio-
lently while standing up until they fall down; the paradise people are supported
on the outstretched arms of two people and thrown up and down. All this is
done to a refrain :
Jigoku, gokuraku,
Oni san no kawari.
Hell, paradise,
In the devil's stead.
97 1st group: "Kono michi wa doko "Where does this road lead?"
desuka ? "
2nd group: "Tenjin sama ni toru "It is the road to Tenjin shrine."
michi"
ist group: "Dozo toshite guda- "Please take me across."
sanshe" ^^
and group: "Oya ga nai no ni "Without parents we cannot take you."
tosaseno"
ist group: "Kono ko ga nanatsu "This is the child's seventh celebration.
no oiwaibi.
Dozo toshite guda- Please take (him) across."
sanshe"
^^ The Kuma children's name for this game and song.
^^For: kudasanshe.
CHILDREN S GAME SONGS
77
Cloth Spread Out
Two girls hold hands facing each other or back to back and sing this song.
On the last word, which is much drawn out to suit the movement, they turn
through twisted arms to assume their original position and start the song again.
98 Momen zara zara
Azuki zara zara
Nama daizu no niu ^^ tokya
Kaeru kai na ^^
Cloth spread out,
Red beans spread out —
When fresh soya beans are cooked
Shall we return ?
Young Lady in a Basket
In the game to which this song is sung one child squats in the center, while
others go around in a circle singing the verse. When they stop singing the child
in the center, keeping his eyes shut, must guess who stopped behind him. While
guessing he feels all over the other in order to identify him and there is much
laughter as girls try to pick up their long hair, or assume different heights in
order to confuse identity.
99 Question: "Kago no naka no ojyo
san,
Naze sei ga hikui no?"
Answer: "Benkyo sen kara hikui
no
Tatte goran, tatte goran,
Anata no ushiro dare
ga oru?
Dare ga oru?"
®^ For: nieru.
^^ Another version:
Momen zara zara
Azuki no ni
Daizu no niu made
Kaeru kai na
"Young lady in a basket
39
Why are you so small in stature?"
"From not studying you are so small.
Do stand up, do stand up,
Behind you who is it?
Who is it?"
Cloth spread out
Before red beans cooked
Before soya beans cooked
Shall we return?
' Or cage, or palanquin.
78 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Mizu-Guruma ^^
(Water Mill)
In the water mill game a group of children hold hands forming a chain. Two
people at the head of the chain make a gate with their hands for the others to
pass through, forming a circle as they do so. The movement is regarded as sug-
gestive of the rotation of a water mill.
100 Ido no kawaze no By the rapids of the river
Mizu-guruma The water mill goes
Hi gacha-gacha-gacha Hi gacha-gacha-gacha,
Hi gacha-gacha-gacha Hi gacha-gacha-gacha.
Swallow Ken-Ken
This song is repeated over and over again as a group of children hop around
in a circle facing outward, each with his left leg interlocked with his neighbor's.
The verse is repeated until they fall down.
loi Tsubame ken-ken Swallow ken-ken
Mame tsubana The reed ears
Tsunde yokaro ka Can I pick them?
Mimi naka No ears,
Supon-pon Supon-pon
Mimi naka No ears,
Supon-pon Supon-pon.
Ta\ayama of Fu\ada
This is a children's song sung coming home from school when the sky be-
comes red in the region of Takayama. It is used as a shuttlecock song at New
Year's. There is a story about the mountain: About three years ago there were
many trees on Takayama, a small but distinctive hill in Fukada belonging to
Shoya hamlet. The people of Shoya decided to cut them down. When they came
to a tall tree near Jizo-san it refused to be cut. The people thought this odd so
called a priest who prayed. Then they cut it down. After that the god of the
mountain appeared in a dream and told a man of Sh5ya that their houses would
be burned down. Since then about six houses have been burned in Shoya.
102 Fukada no Takayama Takayama of Fukada
Fukada no Takayama Fukada's Takayama
Yuyaketa "^^ Was burnt very well.
Usagi mo tanoki '*^ mo Rabbits and badgers
Yuyaketa ^^ Were burnt very well too.
*" The local name for the game and song.
*^ For: yoyaketa.
*^For: tanuki.
Fig. 10 {top)
Ball Bouncing.
Fig. II {bottom)
Mizu-Guruma (Water Mill).
CHILDREN S GAME SONGS
79
Fireflies
A song sung mostly in spring and early summer (although also heard at other
times) and often used by boys as a call to each other. It has a tune somewhat
similar to those used by English hunters on a horn. The song appears to be well
known outside Kyushu. In Kuma young boys learn it from older ones, not from
a school text. Lafcadio Hearn records a version of the song which he gives as
local to Izumo, in his chapter on children's songs in A Japanese Miscellany.^*
A literary form of the poem with an extra stanza by Kazumasa Yoshimaru is
given in Uyehara's Songs for Children 26.
103 Ho-ho-hottaru koi
Sochi no mizu wa
Nigai zo
Kochi no mizu wa
Amai zo
Hotaru no yama kara
Hottate koi
Ho-ho fireflies, come.
The water over there
Is bitter.
The water over here
Is sweet.
From the mountain of fireflies
Come.
Tokyo I Saiv
This is sung as one player carries another upside down on her back.
104 Mieta mieta
T6ky5 ga mieta
I saw, I saw,
Tokyo I saw.
*^ Hearn's text is:
Hotaru koi midzu nomasho
Achi no midzu wa nigai zo
Kochi no midzu wa amai zo
Amai ho e tonde koi.
LULLABIES
In addition to the games songs there are a number of children's lullabies sung
by mothers, older sisters, and nursemaids as they carry small children on their
backs.
Many of the lullabies are irregular in form, the rhythm being synchronized
with the joggle of the nursemaid's back. Lullabies may be repeated in a monot-
onous singsong over and over, as the person carrying the baby rhythmically
shifts her weight from one foot to the other. The opening word nenne (go to
sleep) is characteristic of many lullabies.
80
LULLABIES
8i
Go To Sleep Torahachi
In rural Japan much of the caring for small children is by grandparents, so
that if they are away, of course the child might cry. This song, though often
enough sung out of realistic context by one of the grandparents, nevertheless
reflects truly the close bond between the alternate generations.
105
Nenneko Torahachi
Baba no mago
Baba oraren
Jl no mago
Jl wa doke ikaita ■"•
Jl wa machi
Fune kai ni
Fune wa nakatte
Uma kota ^
Uma wa doke
Tsunagaita
Uma wa sendan no ki ^
Tsunagaita
Nan kwasete
Tsunagaita
Hami kwasete
Tsunagaita
Go to sleep Torahachi,
Grandma's grandchild.
Grandma is not here,
Grandpa's grandchild.
Grandpa where did he go?
Grandpa went to town
To buy a boat.
There was no boat
He bought a horse.
The horse, where
Did he tie it?
The horse to a sendan tree
He tied it.
What did he feed it
Tied to a tree ?
He gave it a bit,
Tied to a tree.
Turtle Dove
106 Yezo yaro ■*
Nenne horori
Yama de naku no wa
Yama bato yo
Horo horo horori
Nen horori
Boya wa yoi ko da
Nenne shinai
Yezo yaro
Nen horori
That cries in the mountain
Is the turtle-dove.
Horo horo horori
Nen horori
Sonny is a good boy
Go to sleep.
^ For: Doko e ikareta.
2 Or: Naka tokya uma kote.
^ Or: Mai no sendan no ki.
* Perhaps a way of mildly scolding a child by calling it Yezo, i.e., Ainu or barbarian.
82 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Little Boy
107 Boya wa yoi ko da Little baby boy, good child
Nenne shina ^ Go to sleep.
Are mi ohisama Look! the sun
Nenne sh'ta Has gone to sleep.
Kaka kara suzume ni Kaka kara sparrows
Chuchu suzume And chuchu sparrows
Isshoni neburoto * To go to sleep together
Tondeta Were flying.
Little Boy's Nurse
This is an old and fairly widely known lullaby in Japan. Bonneau records it
in his Folklore japonais, Vol. 3, No. 56, as a Kyushu song while Lafcadio Hearn
claims it for Izumo in his essay, "Songs of Japanese Children," in A Japanese
Miscellany. Both versions differ somewhat from the one given here; the ending
of Hearn is more like this song than the one recorded by Bonneau.
108 Nenne nen yo Go to sleep
Okorori yo Rock a bye.
Boya no omori wa Little boy's nurse
Doko ni itta Where did she go?
Ano yama koete Over that mountain
Sato e itta She went to her birthplace.
Sato no miyagi "^ ni From her birthplace what gifts
Nani murota ^ Did she bring?
Den den taiko ni A rub a dub drum,
Sho no fue A trumpet,
Okiagari-kobushi ni A toy daruma ®
Inuhariko And a paper dog.
' The opening two lines found in lullabies of various regions of Japan.
"For: nemuroto.
' For: miyage.
*For: morota.
® A tumbler. The word comes from Boddhi Dharma, a Buddist Saint (sixth century
A.D.).
MISCELLANEOUS SONGS AND SAYINGS
The Sparrows Laugh
A short couplet occasionally sung at banquets — said to be a verse o£ Choina
choina, a longer song from another region, but this is doubtful.
109 Baba ga shoben suru When the old woman urinates
Suzume ga warau The sparrows laugh.
Coo\ing Rice
This verse is not sung at banquets. It was recited once when a discussion of
how to cook rice came up.
no Saisho toro tore At first small fire,
Naka bombo In the middle big fire.
Guzu guzu yu tokya Bubble, bubble.
Hi o hiite Remove the big fire —
Osan ^ naku tomo Even if the baby cries
Futa toruna Do not take off the cover.
Male and Female Butterfly
This verse is not a regular song of Suye, but was recited once when some
v/omen were speaking of the unpleasantness of making love to a man one does
not care for.
Ocho and Mecho are the male and female butterflies used as symbols at a
wedding, thus the first line refers to a well-mated couple. The rest of the verse
refers to the ceremonial drink of sake partaken of by bride and groom from
the same cup. The implication of this song is that the bride when drinking with
the groom (chosen by her family) is thinking of another man with whom she is
in love.
Ill Ocho Mecho Male and female butterfly —
Sakazuki yuri ^ mo Better than any sake cup,
Suita anata no My beloved, is your sake
Chawanzake Even in a teacup.^
^ As is common in Kuma dialect the 'an' is pronounced 'aij.'
^ For: yori.
^ A sakazuki is the conventional small wine cup used in drink exchange; chawan is a tea-
cup; by analogy a chawanzake is a teacup used for sake. Sake from a teacup is not good
etiquette.
83
84 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Riddle and Froverh
Such sayings as these are Ukely to crop up any time in a conversation that may
seem appropriate. The proverb about the year of thirteen lunar months came up
when some women were discussing the chances of one of them having another
child, and it was generally agreed that "this year" (1936) she was likely to be-
come pregnant because "this year has thirteen months."
112 Ten ni pika-pika In the sky sparkling,
Ji da pokkuri In the earth digging.
Kuwa A grub hoe.
113 Kotoshi ju-san tsuki This year thirteen months —
Cho kama de hara mute Big as a kettle will swell the belly.
Spells for Foot Cramp
A saying repeated three times, each time touching first the foot, and then the
forehead with a licked finger. Spells such as 114 and 115 are most likely to be
practiced by women.
1 14 Ashi no shibiri ^ Foot cramp
Futae ^ tsuke To the forehead stick .
A variation: —
Ashi no shibiri wa
Fute aneke
One Bottle of Infallible Remedy
This spell is supposed to cure a foot that has gone to sleep. As it is recited
the foot and forehead are touched in turn.
115 Ichi bin One botde,
Ni bin Two bottles,
San bin Three bottles,
Shi bin no mioyaku Four bottles of infallible remedy.
Incantation
116 Dokoisho Dokoisho
Sanpei san Mr. Sanpei —
Namanda ® Glory be to Buddha.
* For: shibire.
^ For: Hutae, from the standard Hitai.
® An abbreviation of Namu Amida Butsu, a conventional "Amen" of members of the
Shinshu sect of Buddhism.
APPENDIX I
Four Supplementary Stanzas of Kuma Ro\uchdshi
These songs were not recorded in Suye but are to be found in Tanabe's Folk-
songs of Kuma. They are of the same form as Songs 1-3 and presumably are
sung in the same way in those parts of Kuma where they are current.
117 Aoi baba kara
Satsumejo wo mireba
Tono no goen ni
Tsuru ga mau
Yoiya sa
118 Kuma wa yoi toko
Yama aoao to
Doko mo sumiyoshi
Hito mo yoshi
119 Natsu no Kuma gawa
Kajika nakeba
Tsuki ga kudakete
Kogyo to naru
120 Iwa ni kudakare
Arase ni momare
Shinku tsukushite
Noboru ayu
From Aoi ^ riding ground
Looking to Satsuma rapids,
From the master's veranda
The crane flies.
Kuma is a nice place:
The mountains green,
Everywhere good to live.
The people fine.
Kuma river in summer:
We hear the kajika,^
Moonbeams shimmer,
And become kogyo.^
Beaten to the rocks,
Struggling in the rapids.
With endless labor
Ayu ^ go up.
^ Shrine in Hitoyoshi; see Song i, note 5.
2 A kind of frog. There is a popular geisha house in Hitoyoshi of this name,
^ Kogyo-ayu, a kind of fish.
85
APPENDIX II
Three local songs of other areas which are popular in Kuma are given below.
These songs are recognized by the people of Suye as coming from outside Kuma.
Other regional songs are also sung from time to time, but the three given here
form a fair sample. A stanza of one other non-Kuma provincial song, Iso bushi
is given in note 7 to Song i.
Sado 0\esa
Sado is an island off the west coast of Japan and is included in the political
boundary of Niigata prefecture. It was at one time a place where important per-
sonages were exiled from the capital for various political offenses, and because of
this the island and its songs have acquired a certain glamor among the people of
Japan, even in the interior of Kyushu. There are many variations of the songs
given here, and women like to dance to them. There is a special melody to accom-
pany the words. The order of stanzas is not fixed. The form is regular dodoitsu.
123
124
Sado e Sado e to
Kusa ki mo nabiku
Sado wa iyoi ka
Sumi yoika
Aja aja aja sate ^
Sado e Sado e to
Minna yukitagaru
Sado wa shijuku ri
Nami no ue
Sado to Kashiwazakya
Sawo sasha todoku
Naze ni todokano
Waga omoi
Sado no Kanayama
Konoyo no jigoku
Noboru hashigo wa
Hari no yama
Toward Sado, toward Sado
Even the grass and trees bend.-"^
Sado, is it good,
Good to live in? ^
Toward Sado, toward Sado
Everyone wants to go.
To Sado it is forty-nine ri ^
On the waves.
Sado and Kashiwasaki "
Boat pole if pushed can reach.
Why does not reach
My heart my thoughts?
Sado's Kanayama ^
Is this world's hell,
Like climbing the steps
Of Needle Mountain.'''
86
APPENDICES
87
125 Nami no ue demo
Kuruki ga areba
Funenya do^ mo ari
Kai mo aru
126 Odori odoru nara
Itanoma de odore
Ita no hibiki de
Shamya irano
127 Nido to horemai
Takoku no hito ni
Sue wa karasu no
Naki wakare
128 Sue wa karasu no
Naki wakare demo
Sote kuro ga
Shitemitai
Even with the waves
You can come if you wish —
Because there are boats
And also oars.
When you dance, dance.
Dance on the wooden boards,
Dance to the sound of the boards-
Samisen we don't need.
We never shall love again — ®
People of other place
At last like crows ®
Weeping we must part.
Like crows
Weeping we must part —
Together with my love
Wish to live and toil.
^ I.e., even the grass and the trees like Sado.
- Cf. positive statement of similar idea in Song 118.
^ This refrain is usually used, and added to each stanza. In Suye aja* is sometimes pro-
nounced 'arya.'
* A measure of distance, 2.4 miles.
^ An island very close to Sado.
^ Kanayama probably refers to the traditionally famous mines of Sado Island where for
ages prisoners had been put to hard labor.
^ Needle Mountain is referred to in Buddhist legends.
*For: ro.
^According to an old story young crows, when grown up, show their love for their parents
by staying and helping them for one hundred days or so before going off on their own.
The reference here is to the parting of parent and children crows.
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
Tsuf(i Wa Kasanaru
(The moon is getting full)
This is a song of a pregnant geisha. It is sung in a very drawn-out manner, all
vowel sounds being very long. The singer usually wears some red underkimono
to represent a geisha. A pillow is stuck inside the kimono for the pregnant belly
and the singer's face is made up as a mask of the Otafuku,®^ looking very sad.
129a
129b
129c
Tsuki wa kasa naru
Onaka wa futori, doshozoine
Onaka wa doshozoine
Toriage baba demo yonde ko ka
Saa-saa
S'tetoke hottoke
S'tetoke hottoke
Dekita sono ko ga
Otafuku naraba doshozoina
Otafuku doshozoina
Dokono choja no kadoguchi ni
Saa-saa
S'tetoke hottoke
S'tetoke hottoke
S'teta sono ko
Yaban ga mitsyakya ^^ doshozoino
Yaban ga doshozoino
Gonin gumi
Saa-saa
S'tetoke hottoke
S'tetoke hottoke
The moon is getting full ^^
The belly is getting bigger, what to do?
The belly, what to do?
The midwife shall I call?
Dear-dear!
Let it go, let it go
Let it go, let it go.
When this child is born.
If he looks like Otafuku what shall I do?
Looking like Otafuku, what shall I do?
At some rich man's gate.^^
Dear-dear !
Let it go, let it go
Let it go, let it go.
If (I) throw (away) this child.
The night watch might find it.
The night watch, what will they do?
Five people group.^^
Dear-dear!
Let it go, let it go
Let it go, let it go.
®^ A funny roundfaced woman, familiar in Japanese drama.
'^^ Meaning that the months are piling up.
^^ "Shall I leave it?" is understood.
^- For: mitsketa nara.
^^ I.e., five people of the night watch.
APPENDICES
89
Kagoshima Ohara Bus hi
This song of Kagoshima prefecture is very popular in Kuma. Song 9 is a
jocular variation of the second stanza. As with the popular Rokuchoshi of Kuma
(Songs 1-3) there is a commercial recording of Ohara Bushi (Taihei Grama-
phone Co., Ltd., Record 5403).
130
131
132
133
Hana wa Kirishima
Tabako wa Kokubu
Moete agaru wa
Ohara ha
Sakurajima
Ha, yoi, yoi, yoiyasa to
Ame no furanu no ni
Somutagawa nigoru
Ishiki Harara no
Ohara ha
Kesho no mizu
Ha, yoi, yoi, yoiyasa to
Ote hanaseba
Shinjitsu rashii
Shian shite mirya
Ohara ha
Usorashii
Ha, yoi, yoi, yoiyasa to
Nushi no kokoro to
Sora fuku kaze wa
Doko no izuku de
Ohara ha
Tomaru yara
Ha, yoi, yoi, yoiyasa to
Flower is Kirishima,^^
Tobacco is Kokubu,^^
That burns and goes up is,
Ohara ha.
On Sakurajima.^^
Though there is no rain
Somuta River is muddy-
Of Ishiki Harara,!^
Ohara ha,
Bath perfume.
When I meet and talk,
It seems believable.
When I think,
Ohara ha.
It seems unbelievable.
Master's heart
And the wind-
Where,
Ohara ha,
Will they stop.?
^* A mountain on the boundary between Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures.
^^ Place in Kagoshima prefecture.
^^ A volcanic isle with an intermittently active volcano.
90
134
JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
135
Shin no yofuke ni
Washa ne mo yarazu
Yogi ni motarete
Ohara ha
Shinobi naki
Ha, yoi, yoi, yoiyasa to
Okurimasho to
Hama made deta ga
Nakete saraba ga
Ohara ha
lemosenu
Ha, yoi, yoi, yoiyasa to
In the middle of the night
I cannot sleep —
Pressing against the night clothes,
Ohara ha,
I weep.
I shall see you off I said
And went as far as the beach.
But I weep,
Ohara ha,
And good-bye I cannot say.
WORKS REFERRED TO
Gregory Bateson. Naven (Cambridge University Press, 1936)
Georges Bonneau. Anthologie de la poesie japonaise (Paul Geuthner, Paris, 1935)
L'expression poetique dans le folklore japonais (3 vols., comprising vols. 2-4 o£
Yoshino) (Paul Geuthner, Paris, 1935) [Referred to as Folklore japonais]
Le probleme de la poesie japonaise. Technique et traduction (Paul Geuthner,
Paris, 1938)
F. V. Dickens. Primitive and Mediaeval Japanese Texts (2 vols. Oxford Press,
1906)
Osman Edward. Japanese Plays and Playfellows (Heinemann, London, 1901)
John F, Embree. Suye Mura, A Japanese Village (University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, 1939)
Acculturation among the Japanese of Kona, Hawaii (Memoirs of the Ameri-
can Anthropological Association, No. 59, 1941)
Shimizu Fujii and Ryutaro Hirota, editors. Gesammelte Werke der Welt Musik
(Shunjusha, Tokyo, 1930) [In Japanese]
Marcel Granet, Festivals and Songs of Ancient China (George Routledge and
Sons, London, 1932)
Lafcadio Hearn. The Writings of Lafcadio Hearn (16 vols. Houghton Mifflin
Co., Boston, 1922)
J. C. Hepburn. Japanese-English and English-Japanese Dictionary (Tokyo,
1907)
Yukichi Kodera. Nippon Miny5 Jiten, Dictionary of Japanese Folk Songs
(Yubundo, Tokyo, 1935)
Kuma Native Province Readers (3 vols. Kumamoto, 1935)
Ryutaro Tanabe. The Folksongs of Kuma District (Mimeographed, Toma
Agricultural School, Kuma Gun, Kumamoto, 1932) [Referred to as Folk-
songs of Kuma]
91
92 JAPANESE PEASANT SONGS
T. Sato, H. Ihm and F. Kraus. Das Geschlechtleben der Japaner (2 vols. Leipzig,
1931)
Arthur Waley, translator. The Book of Songs (Houghton MifHin Co., Boston,
1937)
The Tale o£ Genji (Houghton MifHin Co., Boston, 1925)
Yukuo Uyehara. Songs for Children Sung in Japan (Hokuseido Press, Tokyo,
1940)
INDEX OF FIRST LINES
PAGE
Ajya yokaro 28
A kora nan jaro kai kora 38
Ame no furanu no ni 89
Ame no tokya yama 33
Ame wa furanedo ya 18
An'tagata doku sa 68
Aoi baba kara 85
Aoi matsuba no 19
Arutoki Hanako no 75
Ashi no shibiri 84
Ashi no shibiri wa 84
A sh'totsu . .38
Baba ga shoben suru •• . . ,83
Bochan no doku iku 4^
Bota-mochi 32
B5ya wa yoi ko da 82
Chichi wa shakuyaku 74
Chiosan no ogoke 32
Chiosan to iwarete 32
Cho ya hana ya to 31
Cho yo hana yo de 31
Chodo yoka 24
Chodo yoka tokkya 21
Chodo yokkya tokkya 24
Chuchu ke manju kashiu 60
Dekita sono ko ga 88
Dodoitsu beta demo 35
Doita ni mukuru 23
Dokkoise dokkoise wa 30
Dokkoise no se 30
Dokkoise no tamago wo 27
Dokkoise tamago wa 27
Dokoisho 84
Doro mizu ni 28
Fuji no shiro yukya 42
Fuji no yama hodo 42
Fukada no Takayama 78
Fumonji otera kara 49
93
94 INDEX OF FIRST LINES
PAGE
Gakko okairi 73
Gakko okairi no 67
Genjomero-me wa 45
Gogetsu wa wari hitori 36
Haisen no 33
Hana no Sano san ni 37
Hana wa Kirishima 89
Hi fu mitsu nana yoka tonde 69
Hiru wa tango tango 60
Ho-ho-hottaru koi 79
Hotaru koi midzu nomasho 79.
Ichi bin 84
Ichi kake ni kake san kakete 70
Ichi kaku ni kaku san kaku shi kaku 71
Ido no kawaze no 78
Ima wa ima wa ima wa 24
Inaka shoya don no 15
Inaka shoya dono 16
Ippai totta 20
Iso de meisho wa 14
Iwae medetaya 52
Ivva ni kudakare . 85
Jigoku gokuraku . 76
Jugoya ban ni 53
Kago no naka no ojyo san 77
Kanshiro to yu hito wa 61
Karakasa no hone wa 37
Kasa wo wasureta 48
Kichijitsu yoi hini 55
Kimi to wakarete 25
Koko no Hitoyoshi 14
Koko wa Nishimachi 14
Kono michi wa doko desuka 76
Kotoshi ju-san tsuki 84
Koyu goen ga 17
Kuma de ichiban 13
Kuma de meisho wa 14
Kuma to Satsuma no 14
Kuma wa yoi toko 85
Kyo wa hi mo yoshi 48, 55
Maru tamago mo 27
Meido no miyagi 42
Mieta mieta 79
Momen zara zara 77
INDEX OF FIRST LINES 95
PAGE
Muko yokocho no 44
Musume shimada ga 43
Nagai aze-michi ' • 35
Nami no ue demo 87
Natsu no Kuma gawa 85
Neisan ga doke iku 41
Neko neko neko neko 73
Nenneko Torahachi 81
Nenne nen yo 82
Nido to horemai 87
Nippon no 72
Nitan batake no 56
Noboru hashigo no 28
Nomuka baika . 24
Nushi no kokoro to 89
Ocho Mecho 83
Odori odoru nara 87
Okitsu shira-nami 30
Okurimasho to 90
Omae-san to nara 31
Omae to nara 31
Omai san ga 26
Omai san ga koshimoto 22
Omai san no koshimoto 22
Omaya dosuru 35
Omaya hyaku made 17
Omaya meiken 17
Onushya kami age 21
Otake gozankei 48
Otake yama kara 48
Ote hanaseba 89
Sado e Sado e to 86
Sado no Kanayama 86
Sado to Kashiwazakya 86
Saisho toro toro 83
Saita sakura ni 31
Sakazuki no 29
Sake no hakari ga 42
Sake no sakana 29
Sama ni kayo michya 19
Sama to wakarete 25
Sama wa hattekyaru 2^
Samusa fure fure 28
San ga yasuka tokya 23
Sano san horen mo 37
Shin no yofuke ni 90
96 INDEX OF FIRST LINES
PAGE
Shiraren tokya 24
Sho no yonaka ni 20
Shochu nonde kara 34
Shochu wa nomi nomi , 34
Shoji hikiake 19
Shonga baba sama 51
Shonga basan wa .51
Shonga-batake no 51
Shonga odori nya 50
Shonga odori wa 51
Soko yuchya tamaran 22
S'teta sono ko 88
Sue wa karasu no 87
Sumire tsumitsutsu 74
Take no suzume wa 43
Taragi no Bunzoji 21
Ten ni pika-pika 84
Toita ni mukuryu 23
Tokoro mosaba 57
Tomate tomaranu 43
Tsubame ken-ken 78
Tsuki wa kasa naru 88
Un ga yoshya 23
Ureshi medeta no 52
Wakare jato natte 26
Wasi ga tabi no sh'to de 26
Yama de akai no wa 36
Yama no naka 36
Yamasaki no 45
Yezo yaro 81
Yombe gozatta 65
Yoshinbo koromo ni 49
Yoshinbo yoshinbo to 49
Yuchya kuichya 24
Yuchya s'man batten 18
Yushimbu koromo ni 49
Yushimbu Yushimbu to 49
Yutte wa kureru na 24
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Japanese peasant songs Main/2
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