Folk songs you’ll want to sing at karaoke: classic and popular tunes everyone can enjoy

Kanta’s Dokkoisho SoranIchijō Kanta

Kanta's Dokkoisho Soran

This coupling track, released in February 2025, powerfully revives the Soran Bushi—known nationwide as a Hokkaido fishermen’s song—in a Reiwa-era enka style.

By fusing traditional call-and-response interjections with a four-on-the-floor beat, it gives the well-known Nanchu Soran, often heard at school sports festivals, a more danceable finish.

Included on the single “Nagi ka Arashi ka,” and packaged with choreography and a lead sheet, this piece serves as a killer tune that pulls audiences in at stages and event venues.

Kanta Ichijo’s deep, rugged vocals brilliantly bridge the force of folk song with contemporary pop, making it a guaranteed crowd-pleaser for karaoke as well.

Sado OkesaMurata Bunzō

Sado Okesa (Murata Bunzo) 2

There are various interpretations of what the term “Okesa” means, and no single definition has been settled on.

However, its plaintive melody and the graceful dance performed with bird-chasing hats have become known throughout the country, and it is now one of Japan’s representative folk songs.

The dance isn’t particularly difficult, so it can be enjoyable to try dancing along while singing the song.

Kiso-bushiFujimoto Nisankichi

Kiso-bushi (Fujimoto Fumiyoshi)

It is said to be a song sung by a middle crewman aboard a boat carrying timber down the Kiso River.

It’s a bit curious why it’s the middle crewman and not the bowman, but that doesn’t really matter.

Since the melody is familiar to everyone, try singing it while picturing the scenes of the Kiso region described in the song.

Hokkai Bon UtaMitsubishi Michiya

Mitsuhashi Michiya [Hokkai Bon Uta]

It was originally sung as a Bon Odori song by coal miners, but the lyrics were sexy at the time.

In today’s terms, it had somewhat erotic elements, so later the lyrics and melody were revised.

After the great singer Michiya Mihashi performed it and it became a big hit, it spread nationwide as a Bon Odori song.

It’s a lively, up-tempo Bon Odori tune.

Kawachi OndoKawachi-ya Kikusui-maru

Kawachi Ondo, Kiku-Sumimaru of the Kawachi Family 3-1

The current Kawachi Ondo is a newly arranged version of songs that were sung in the Kawachi region of Osaka, and it became known nationwide after a record sung by Teppō Kōsaburō became a big hit.

There seem to be many schools when it comes to singing styles, but Kawachiya Kikusui-maru is particularly famous, and during the Bon Odori season you can hear this ondo everywhere.

Chakkiri-bushiZa Pīnattsu

The Peanuts, Chakkiri-bushi

Chakkiri-bushi is not a traditional folk song that has been passed down in that region since old times; it is a “new folk song” with lyrics by Hakushu Kitahara and composition by Yoshiaki Machida, yet it is treated as a folk song in Shizuoka Prefecture.

This song, which comically sings about Shizuoka’s sights and customs in several dozen verses, has also become known throughout Japan.

Kushimoto-bushiOtomaru

Kushimoto-bushi (Otomaru)

This is a parlor song that has been sung in Kushimoto, a port town in Wakayama Prefecture at the southernmost tip of Honshu.

Oshima, located off the coast of Kushimoto, is now connected to Honshu by a bridge, but in the past people traveled back and forth by boat.

As a parlor song, it is accompanied by shamisen, and its tone is similar to that of a kouta (a short song).