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)
Ondo Boat Song
The sound of rowing serving as a kind of accompaniment—this is the “Ondo no Funauta.” This boatman’s song has long been passed down by the boatmen who plied the Ondo no Seto strait between Kure City and Kurahashi Island on the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture.
In particular, this funauta is one of the most famous in Japan, and it is said that many people sang it during the Edo period.
It’s so renowned that it’s counted among Japan’s three great boat songs.
The lyrics describe the treacherous waters that challenge boatmen, portraying their struggle as the fierce current threatens to wrench away the helm.
It’s a boat song in which bravery emerges amid tension.
Please go sleepy-bye.
Known as an old lullaby from the Chugoku region, “Nenneko Shassharimase” is said to have originated in Okayama Prefecture and been passed down through generations.
The reason this song, still sung today, came to be widely known is that Takanori Ueno—who later became famous as a vocalist—introduced to Kosaku Yamada, a pioneer of Western music in Japan, the lullaby his mother used to sing to him when he was a child.
From there, Kosaku Yamada arranged and adapted it, and it has been carried into the present through cover performances by Hibari Misora, Ryoko Moriyama, Hiromi Iwasaki, and Rimi Natsukawa.
It is also said that commercial TV stations in the Chugoku region used to play this lullaby at the end of their broadcast day.
Song of the Aogiri
For people from Hiroshima Prefecture, “Aogiri no Uta” is a song they surely sang as part of peace education in childhood.
The aogiri (Chinese parasol tree) sung about in this piece is one of the bombed trees that grow in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
The song’s lyrics and music were written by Nanase Morimitsu, an announcer for Hiroshima Home TV, who composed it when she was in the second grade of elementary school after learning about the bombed aogiri.
The bombed aogiri survived the atomic bombing, and second-generation trees continue to live on in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
The song is said to express the feelings she had when she saw the tree’s deeply gouged trunk, and although it is a gentle, peaceful song to listen to, it pierces the heart so deeply it can bring you to tears.
Kure Ondo
The ‘Kure Ondo,’ still beloved today at local Bon Odori festivals, is a familiar presence for people in Japan.
Bon Odori varies from region to region, yet even when you hear an ondo from an area you don’t know, the melody often feels somehow similar, so it doesn’t feel out of place even on first listen—that’s where you can sense the spirit of being Japanese.
It’s said that the ‘Kure Ondo’ originated in the postwar period, created out of a strong desire to energize the city with music and dance as Kure was rebuilding.
Today, arrangements of the song—such as those used in the ‘Yosshakoi Festival’—are also popular with children, and the tradition is being carried on in new forms.
Kiyari song
Kiyari, one type of work song, was originally sung during labor and later came to be performed as a folk song at festivals.
This ‘Kiyari Song’ was once sung while hauling timber, but it is said to have evolved into a celebratory song used when pulling boats and the like.
In Hiroshima today, it is passed down in local communities as a celebratory song for autumn festivals.
Although the era in which the original tune was created is unknown, it is based on the Ise Ondo and is truly a song synonymous with celebration.
Listening to this kiyari, you can deeply feel the Japanese spirit—such is this folk song.
Song of Brush-Making
Kumano brushes, known as a traditional craft of Kumano Town.
Every September at the Brush Festival, women holding brushes dance in a circle to the “Song of Brush-Making.” It is said that the festival began in 1935 at Sakakiyama Shrine, the village shrine, to express gratitude for the toil of the predecessors who made the area Japan’s leading brush production center, and to pray for continued prosperity.
Even now, the same event is carried on in the same place without change.
The people of Kumano still cherish the “Song of Brush-Making” today—I believe it’s their soul song.
Rice-Washing Song
“The Rice-Washing Song” is also a kind of work song.
Back in the days before sake brewing was mechanized, it was reportedly used as a measure of time for tasks like washing rice and mashing the starter.
I’ve heard there are similar songs sung for other kinds of work as well.
Don’t work songs feel powerful? By singing them, workers could rally their exhausted bodies; beyond ensuring accuracy, the songs were said to improve efficiency, keep people awake, prevent accidents, and even strengthen camaraderie.
Encountering traditions that have been passed down in Japan really makes you bow your head in respect, doesn’t it?