Folk songs, children's songs, and nursery rhymes of Hiroshima: the enduring heart of our hometown, passed down through song.
This is a feature on folk songs handed down in Hiroshima Prefecture.
Folk songs arose from the everyday lives of people in their regions and have been passed down to the present day.
What we discovered while preparing this feature is that, compared with other prefectures, Hiroshima has an exceptionally large number of folk songs bearing the name “Ondo,” and you can find many videos of Bon Odori as well.
It may be that people in Hiroshima have long enjoyed their regional traditions through songs and festivals, happily singing and dancing to them.
In this article, we introduce folk songs that have been passed down in Hiroshima since long ago.
It’s also interesting to listen to the folk songs while exploring the meaning embedded in the form known as “Ondo,” which continues to be handed down.
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Hiroshima folk songs, children's songs, and nursery rhymes: The heart of our hometown passed down through song (21–30)
Hiroshima Peace Song
Born from a strong desire to make Hiroshima the starting point of world peace, the Peace Festival was held in August 1947.
In July of the same year, the organizing body, the Hiroshima Peace Festival Association, held a public call for submissions, and Shu Yamamoto composed the piece.
This song was sung in a resounding chorus at the first Hiroshima Peace Festival.
Since then, it has been a distinguished song that continues to be sung at the Peace Memorial Ceremony.
Fukuyama Tondo Ondo
Fukuyama’s Tondo festival was originally a widely practiced New Year’s event in the surrounding area, and it is said to have begun being organized in conjunction with Mizuno Katsunari’s construction of Fukuyama Castle.
In particular, older people had the custom of concluding banquets and other gatherings by singing the Hayashi-ondo, and the content sung back then has been passed down and is still sung today.
In conclusion
We’ve introduced some folk songs handed down in Hiroshima Prefecture. What did you think? Listening to these songs, you can almost picture the way people lived back then and the local scenery—they’re truly wonderful cultural treasures. If you’re from Hiroshima, some of these pieces may have felt familiar. Folk songs like these have qualities that make them worth passing on. It might be nice to arrange them to match modern dance and keep singing them at recitals or as entertainment.