Foundation Pounding Songs
(Dotsuki or Jitsuki)
In rural Japan, when a building of 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 coöperative 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 himself, while the recurrent refrain is sung as a chorus by the pullers. This organization 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 work. 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 significance, being simply the order in which 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 pounding songs from Kyūshū, 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 of five- and seven-syllable lines, and songs 82–3 irregular dodoitsu.
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