Folksongs, children's songs, and nursery rhymes of Fukushima: the heart of our hometown passed down in song
The Tohoku region has traditionally been rich in folk songs.
Since ancient times, there have been festival songs and the like that are rooted in the local land.
Many of these songs are ones that everyone from the area would know, but this time we’ve gathered pieces to help more people appreciate the beauty of folk music.
Younger people and others may not be very familiar with it nowadays, so I’d be happy if this sparks your interest!
- [Songs of Fukushima] Thinking of my hometown | A heartwarming collection of classic songs celebrating the beautiful “Fukushima”
- Folksongs, children's songs, and nursery rhymes of Fukushima: the heart of our hometown passed down in song
- Beautiful Folk Songs Passed Down in Miyagi Prefecture: A Collection of Masterpieces that Play the Heart of the Hometown
- [Folk Songs of Yamagata] The Heart of Our Hometown Passed Down in Song: Feelings Woven into Nostalgic Melodies
- Ranking of Popular Folk Songs
- [Folk Songs and Children's Songs of Akita] A curated selection of local masterpieces that evoke love for one’s hometown
- Songs for January: Nursery rhymes and fingerplay songs we want children to grow familiar with
- Japanese counting songs: nostalgic temari (handball) songs and children’s folk songs
- Folk songs, children's songs, and nursery rhymes of Iwate: the heart of the hometown passed down through song
- Folk Songs, Children's Songs, and Nursery Rhymes of Aomori: Japanese Songs from Tsugaru and Hachinohe that Resonate with the Heart
- Niigata’s folk songs, children’s songs, and nursery rhymes: the heart of our hometown passed down in song
- Nostalgic Children’s Songs, Folk Songs, and Nursery Rhymes: The Heart of Japan Passed Down Through Song
- Folk songs, children’s songs, and nursery rhymes of Kumamoto: the enduring spirit of our hometown passed down through song.
Folk songs, children’s songs, and nursery rhymes of Fukushima: The heart of our hometown passed down in song (11–20)
Haramagama Great Catch Celebration SongKoyama Mitsuna
Since the Edo period it was known as Kita-minato or Haragama Port, and it prospered as a shipping hub for rice—the domain’s staple—and salt.
Entering the Showa era, it was also refurbished as a fishing port, and along with that an industrial park was established, which contributed to Soma’s development.
Soma lies where the cold Oyashio Current and the warm Kuroshio Current alternate with the seasons, making it a region famed as a treasure trove of fish.
In the poem, bonito, mackerel, and sea bream appear, and the song rings with the high spirits of times of big catches.
trainKobayashi Kazuo
A monument inscribed with the lyrics of this song has been installed at JR East’s Joban Line Hirono Station.
It’s said that the lyrics mention “Hironohara,” referring to Hirono Town in Futaba District, Fukushima Prefecture, which suffered heavy damage in the earthquake and tsunami.
The town’s website states that Kenkyu Owada wrote the lyrics based on the scenery between today’s Hisanohama Station and Hirono Station when the Joban Line opened; however, there is also a view that this is a popular belief and that the lyricist is unknown.
Be that as it may, it’s hardly surprising that steam locomotives once ran in Iwaki, a coal-mining city, and in an era when people rarely rode trains, they enjoyed various landscapes and sang about them.
Fukushima OndoKoume, Tsukuba Ichirou
This is a bon odori song that Yuji Koseki and Toshio Nomura created in 1954 for their hometown of Fukushima, but now, across the ocean on Hawaii Island, Maui Taiko has become popular, and this “Fukushima Ondo” is being sung and danced.
I believe that a bon song, which is not very familiar in Japan, continues to be sung by people of Japanese descent who think of their ancestral homeland.
Aizu Otsu-eYamamura Toyoko
Otsu-e refers to a set of ten designs that were reduced and standardized in the late Edo period from images originally drawn as talismans.
They functioned as a kind of amulet, featuring motifs wishing for health or for becoming wealthy.
Songs based on these designs gave rise to the Otsu-e-bushi.
As the name suggests, it originated in Otsu and later spread nationwide to Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo, but in some regions the style was adapted into different versions.
Even today, songs like the “Kyoto Otsu-e-bushi” and the “Aizu Otsu-e-bushi” continue to be sung.
Double Sōma stitchYamada Noriko
During the Edo period, the Tohoku region was struck by cold-weather crop failures, and Soma City was no exception.
Years of poor harvests led to a great famine and a tragic history of people starving to death, with the population shrinking to one third.
At that time, the Soma domain conceived a plan to revive Soma, and to attract immigrants from other domains, they enlisted Jodo Shinshu Buddhist monks to promote the merits of Soma.
This folk song was sung to draw people from the Kaga, Noto, and Etchu regions.
Jōban Tankō-bushi (The Jōban Coal Mine Song)Gei no Mushi Hozonkai
The large leisure complex now known as Spa Resort Hawaiians used to be affectionately called the Jōban Hawaiian Center.
During Japan’s period of rapid economic growth, coal was one of the country’s important resources.
The folk song “Jōban Tankō-bushi” originated from tunes sung by miners working in Jōban Sumida on the Hamadōri coast of Iwaki City, which later became parlor songs performed at drinking gatherings.
After the coal mines—once a financial backbone of Iwaki City—were shut down, Hawaiians was born.
Today, the former mining area has been turned into a museum called the Iwaki City Coal and Fossil Museum, and the folk songs continue to be passed down.
Folk songs, children's songs, and nursery rhymes of Fukushima: The heart of our hometown passed down in song (21–30)
Soma Earth-Ramming SongKaneyama Takeshi
This folk song contains three meanings: a practical one about firming the ground, which is necessary when building a house; a religious one about sealing powerful spiritual forces within the earth; and a celebratory one that regards the master who built the house as the central pillar of the household.
The famous “Hanagasa Ondo” and “Hanagasa Dance” originated from the Soma Tsuchitsuki-uta (earth-tamping song).