Page:Japanese Peasant Songs.djvu/35

You Are a Sharp Sword

Kuma Rokuchōshi

These three songs are sung in Suye as an integral part of Rokuchōshi, usually following right after Songs 1 to 3. This second trio is probably not local to Kuma because some of them are found quite independently in other parts of Kyūshū. The verses are not included as part of Rokuchōshi 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 Rokuchōshi. In form, Songs 5–7 are regular 7-7-7-5 dodoitsu.

5	Omaya meiken Washa sabi gatana Gatana gatana to[1] Omaya kirete mo Washa kirenu Yoiya sa koi sasa!	Thou art a sharp sword I a rusty sword. A sword, a sword; You may cut[2] I never.
6	Kōyu goen ga Mōichido araba Araba, araba to Kami no mamori ka Arigataya Yoiya sa koi sasa!	Such a relationship Another if there be, If there be, if there be; To the protection of the gods Let us give thanks.
7	Omaya hyaku made Washa kujuku made Made made to Kami ni shiraga no Haeru made Yoiya sa, koi sasa!	Till you reach a hundred And I ninety nine,[3] Should reach, should reach; Until our hair Turns white.

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1. See Song 1, note 6.
2. That is, terminate; ‘our love’ is understood.
3. 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 growing old together. The song is well known in other parts of Kyūshū, and Hearn collected it as noted above; it is regarded in Suye as a local Kuma song.