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 correspond 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 regularly 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 1. 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:
Kyō 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 syllable 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
