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’s folk songs, children’s songs, and nursery rhymes: The heart of our hometown passed down in song (1–10)
In the country where Hiroshima is
This is a song that appeals for world peace and opposes war.
It was written by Satoshi Yamamoto, a singer-songwriter from Kitakata City in Fukushima Prefecture, and released in 1983.
Some of you may even remember singing it in elementary or junior high school classes.
The lyrics are striking for their strong resolve: precisely because Hiroshima Prefecture suffered such devastating wartime damage, it is we who must extinguish the sparks of the wars now breaking out around the world.
It’s a piercing message song that worries about the fate of the Earth and humankind.
Song of Inoko (Boar’s Day Song)
It’s not very familiar in eastern Japan, but in western Japan there is a custom of making and eating rice cakes shaped like wild boars on “Inoko Day.” When the 12 months are expressed using the Chinese zodiac, the tenth month of the lunar calendar is called the Month of the Boar, which corresponds to November in modern times.
Likewise, the days of a month can be expressed by the zodiac; the first Day of the Boar is called Inoko.
On this day, people hold events to pray for good health and to wish for prosperity of descendants, hoping to be blessed with many children like wild boars.
This practice is said to have originated from an ancient Chinese ritual called the Inoko celebration, which prayed for good health.
It’s a very old custom that was brought to Japan in the Heian period.
The tradition has also been passed down as a song that children sing while playing a game where they tap the ground in front of houses.
Hi Wagyu Memorial Rice Planting
The Hiwachō “Hiwa Ox Memorial Rice Planting,” designated as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Hiroshima Prefecture.
Hiwachō is said to be a region that has inherited a great deal of tradition and the wisdom of its predecessors, even being mentioned in the Kojiki.
This event is believed to date back about 700 years as a traditional ceremony.
Accompanied by drumbeats and festive songs, people plant rice together, and it becomes a splendid festival featuring vigorous mud-plowing by several dozen consecrated oxen that have received rice-planting prayers, as well as antiphonal songs performed by saotome (young female planters).
Because oxen are treated with great care as agricultural treasures, this ceremony is also said to be a rice-planting ritual that expresses gratitude to the spirits of the oxen.
Hiroshima’s folk songs, children’s songs, and nursery rhymes: The heart of our hometown passed down in song (11–20)
Mibu’s Hanadaue (Rice-Planting Festival)
The folk song “Mibu no Hanadaue” traces its origins to a traditional local event called hayashi, a communal rice-planting ritual carried out by the entire settlement.
During the planting, under the direction of the ta-no-kami sanbai—who held a bamboo percussion instrument called a sasara—participants performed musical accompaniment with large and small drums, flutes, and hand gongs, while the saotome (young women who planted the rice) sang rice-planting songs as they worked.
Over time, the event grew more elaborate, and because the saotome—young women doing the planting—dressed in their finest for the festive day, it came to be known as Hanadaue, or “flower rice planting.”
Tosa’s ozashiki entertainment
Many overturned sakazuki (sake cups) are placed on a tray.
This is a Tosa-style parlor game where each person turns one cup face up.
If, when you turn a cup over, you happen to reveal the one with the chrysanthemum design, you must drink not only that cup but also the total of all cups that have already been turned face up.
Surprisingly, the melody used in this Tosa parlor game for the chrysanthemum is the same as Akashiya Sanma’s 1983 smash hit, “Amida Babaa no Uta.” It’s a lively party game that goes great with handclaps, and the more people there are, the more cups get drunk, so it really heats up the room.
Still, take the utmost care to avoid making people drink too much—and to avoid overdrinking yourself!
Mihara Yassa Dance
The Mihara Yassa Festival is a three-day event held each year in Mihara City, Hiroshima Prefecture, on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that include the second Sunday of August, centered around JR Mihara Station.
The dance performed there is the Yassa dance.
It is known as a foot-focused, dynamic dance, but there is no set choreography, and parts can be danced freely.
It’s a humorous dance that makes you feel cheerful.
The dance is said to date back to when the Sengoku-era warlord Kobayakawa Takakage built Mihara Castle, so it has quite a long history.
The music is lively as well, and just listening to it makes you feel happy.
Mr./Ms. Atsumori
This is a folk song handed down in Shobara City, Hiroshima Prefecture.
It sings of the Heian-period warrior Taira no Atsumori and his wife, Princess Tamaori, projecting into the lyrics the sorrow of two young people parted in this life.
For those who love history, it may serve as one key to unraveling The Tale of the Heike.
As an item of the city’s intangible folk cultural heritage, this song will surely continue to be sung, carrying the feelings of Atsumori and Princess Tamaori.
Incidentally, in a place called Kasuga in Shobara City, there is Princess Tamaori’s grave.