Folk songs, children’s songs, and nursery rhymes of Kumamoto: the enduring spirit of our hometown passed down through song.
Kumamoto has served as the setting for folk songs and children’s songs known throughout Japan, such as Otemoyan and Itsuki no Komoriuta.
These works vividly portray the grandeur of Aso’s natural landscape, the majestic figure of Kumamoto Castle, and the rhythms of everyday life.
From Taharabanzaka, which conveys the sorrow of the Satsuma Rebellion, to Higo Kome Ondo, which celebrates a bountiful harvest, each folk song passed down through the generations is deeply etched with Kumamoto’s history and culture.
In this article, we have gathered folk songs, children’s songs, and nursery rhymes from Kumamoto, imbued with love for the homeland and the joys of daily life.
Let us lend an ear to the world of song where the spirit of Kumamoto resides.
- A classic song about Kumamoto. The enduring spirit of our hometown passed down through song.
- Folk songs, children's songs, and nursery rhymes of Nagasaki: the heart of the hometown passed down through song
- Fukuoka’s folk songs and children’s rhymes: History and sentiments conveyed by the nostalgic melodies of home
- Ranking of Popular Folk Songs
- [Warabe-uta] Beloved Classic Songs Passed Down Through Generations
- [Parenting] Parent-child bonding! Hand-play songs and traditional nursery rhymes collection
- Japanese counting songs: nostalgic temari (handball) songs and children’s folk songs
- Folk songs, children's songs, and nursery rhymes of Hiroshima: the enduring heart of our hometown, passed down through song.
- [Children’s Songs of Autumn] Autumn songs, school songs, and traditional children’s rhymes. A collection of classic pieces to sing in autumn.
- [Folk Songs and Children's Songs of Akita] A curated selection of local masterpieces that evoke love for one’s hometown
- Collection of winter nursery rhymes, folk songs, and children's songs. Includes fun winter hand-play songs too.
- Nostalgic Children’s Songs, Folk Songs, and Nursery Rhymes: The Heart of Japan Passed Down Through Song
- The World of Kagoshima Folk Songs: Traditional Melodies that Carry On the Spirit of the Hometown
Kumamoto’s Folk Songs, Children’s Songs, and Nursery Rhymes: The Heart of Our Hometown Passed Down in Song (41–50)
Kahoku Tea Mountain SongUeda Yuko
Kahoku Chayama-uta is a folk song handed down in Kahoku Town (now Kahoku-machi, Yamaga City), the northernmost part of Kumamoto Prefecture.
Kahoku has long been known as a tea-producing area, and from the feudal domain era onward, many tea-picking girls came to work during the harvest season.
The work song those tea-picking girls sang is Kahoku Chayama-uta.
Ushibuka Sagarin (Ushibuka San-sagari)
The Kumamoto folk song “Ushibuka Sansagari” is pronounced ‘Ushibuka Sansagari.’ Sansagari refers to tuning, specifically lowering the third string of the shamisen by one tone.
Lowering it by one tone is said to produce a stylish sound.
This song is sung as a prelude to the “Ushibuka Haiya-bushi.”
Aso Hay Cutting SongSakanashi Fumio
This is the folk song “Aso Hayslicing Song” that used to be sung in the Matoishi area of Aso, Kumamoto Prefecture.
It appears to have been sung until around the early Showa period, but then fell silent for a long time.
Fumio Sakanashi took the initiative to pass down Aso’s folk songs, revived this “Aso Hayslicing Song,” and is said to be performing it and teaching it to local children.
Higo Rice Ondobatten arakawa
This is “Higo Rice Ondo,” sung by Batten Arakawa—an actor, local TV personality, and enka singer from Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture.
He sings with confidence and vigor that “Higo’s rice is the best in Japan.” You can almost picture the faces of people wishing for and celebrating a bountiful harvest.
Ballad of a HeroSatake Mamoru
The folk song “Gōketsu-bushi,” handed down in Kumamoto Prefecture, is a folk/popular song about the Satsuma Rebellion.
The folk song “Tabaruzaka,” which also sings of the Satsuma Rebellion, is the original song, and “Gōketsu-bushi” is that original arranged in a three-string (shamisen) tuning.
The original is sometimes called “Gōketsu-uta,” and the arranged version “Shin Gōketsu-uta.”