Japanese Peasant Songs/Lullabies

by by John F. Embree with Ella Embree and Yukuo Uyehara

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 monotonous 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.

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 Jī no mago Jī wa doke ikaita[1] Jī wa machi Fune kai ni Fune wa nakatte Uma kōta[2] Uma wa doke Tsunagaita Uma wa sendan no ki[3] 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[4] Nenne horori Yama de naku no wa Yama bato yo Horo horo horori Nen horori Bōya 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.

Little Boy

107

Bōya wa yoi ko da Nenne shina[5] Are mi ohisama Nenne sh’ta Kaka kara suzume ni Chuchu suzume Isshoni neburoto[6] Tondeta

Little baby boy, good child Go to sleep. Look! the sun Has gone to sleep. Kaka kara sparrows And chuchu sparrows To go to sleep together 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 Kyūshū 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 Okorori yo Bōya no omori wa Doko ni itta Ano yama koete Sato e itta Sato no miyagi[7] ni Nani murota[8] Den den taiko ni Shō no fue Okiagari-kobushi ni Inuhariko

Go to sleep Rock a bye. Little boy’s nurse Where did she go? Over that mountain She went to her birthplace. From her birthplace what gifts Did she bring? A rub a dub drum, A trumpet, A toy daruma[9] And a paper dog.

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1. For: Doko e ikareta.
2. Or: Naka tokya uma kōte.
3. Or: Mai no sendan no ki.
4. Perhaps a way of mildly scolding a child by calling it Yezo, i.e., Ainu or barbarian.
5. The opening two lines found in lullabies of various regions of Japan.
6. For: nemuroto.
7. For: miyage.
8. For: morota.
9. A tumbler. The word comes from Boddhi Dharma, a Buddist Saint (sixth century A.D.).