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Lullabies
81

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.


  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.