[Animal Song] Fun nursery rhymes popular with children

Hey, Kaba-kun!sakushi: nakagawa itsuko / sakkyoku: nakagawa hirotaka

[Children’s Song] Hey, Mr. Hippopotamus

With its calm and gentle atmosphere, this song was released in April 2007 as a picture book with a CD, and together with illustrations by Hiroshi Abe, a former zookeeper at Asahiyama Zoo, it became a tune rooted in children’s daily lives.

Created by Hirotaka Nakagawa and Itsuko Nakagawa, the work also encourages children’s curiosity about animals through its focus on hippos.

It was featured on the TV program Hirake! Ponkikki and has long been loved by many children.

Its relaxed tempo and melody perfectly match the laid-back image of hippos, making it great for singing along with your child.

Why not hum it happily on a spring field trip or during a visit to the zoo?

The Bear of the Forest

Children’s song: “The Bear in the Forest” – nursery rhyme, round, kids’ song

The lyrics for the first half, from verses 1 to 5, are all from “Forest Bear” (Mori no Kuma-san), which you can sing by echoing like a yodel! Even if you haven’t completely memorized the lyrics, encouraging children with “Try singing after the teacher!” lets them naturally memorize the words as they sing.

Plus, since it has a solid story from beginning to end, it’s fun to learn as a narrative—another great point of this song.

It might be good to have them practice singing in rounds while expanding their imagination by showing a picture book or a paper-theater (kamishibai).

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The Hare and the Tortoise

The Hare and the Tortoise — Sachiko Iwata

“The Tortoise and the Hare” is a well-known Aesop’s fable, and it seems to have been known in Japan since around the late Muromachi period.

The song inspired by this story has lyrics written by Wasaburō Ishihara.

In Gunma Prefecture, Ishihara’s birthplace, postage stamps featuring the tortoise and the hare have even been issued.

Kagome Kagome

Hatsune Miku, Kagome Kagome (children’s song)

It’s a song sung in children’s games that features several kinds of animals.

Its mysterious lyrics seem to spark people’s curiosity, leading to various interpretations—even a theory that it points to the location of the Tokugawa buried treasure.

A monument inscribed with the song has been erected at Shimizu-kōen Station.

Red bird, little birdSakushi: Kitahara Hakushū / Sakkyoku: Narita Tamezō

Red little bird by Himawari 🌻 / with lyrics | Children's song | Akaitori kotori

In 1918, the children’s magazine Akai Tori (Red Bird) was launched by Miekichi Suzuki.

One of the nursery songs published in this magazine is Akai Tori, Kotorii (Red Bird, Little Bird).

It’s a unique song in which the color of the berries the birds eat becomes the color of their bodies.

The lyrics were written by Hakushu Kitahara, and the music was composed by Tamezo Narita.

Daikoku-sama

Nursery Rhyme / Children's Song: ♪ Daikoku-sama Song: beni9jyaku (Red Peacock)

This is also a song featuring a rabbit, created based on the Japanese myth “The Hare of Inaba.” Incidentally, the deity who helps the Hare of Inaba is Okuninushi, who later came to be identified with Daikokuten.

There is a monument inscribed with the lyrics of this song at the Shirousagi (White Rabbit) Coast.