Children’s songs, school songs, and nursery rhymes with a river theme. Beloved classics about nostalgic watersides.
Children’s songs and school songs that entrust the babbling and flow of rivers to music are filled with a unique sentiment that deeply resonates with the Japanese heart.
From nostalgic tunes hummed in childhood to memorable songs learned at school, many people still remember river-themed pieces even as adults.
In this article, we introduce works that sing of the river’s beauty as it changes with the seasons and of the creatures that live in and around it.
Please enjoy as you bask in fond memories.
- Children’s songs, school songs, and nursery rhymes with a river theme. Beloved classics about nostalgic watersides.
- [February Songs] Introducing children's songs, folk songs, nursery rhymes, and hand-play songs about Setsubun and winter!
- Children’s songs, folk songs, and nursery rhymes for March: fun spring hand-play songs.
- Lullabies: children's songs, folk songs, and nursery rhymes. Nostalgic songs for putting children to sleep.
- Nostalgic Children’s Songs, Folk Songs, and Nursery Rhymes: The Heart of Japan Passed Down Through Song
- [Warabe-uta] Beloved Classic Songs Passed Down Through Generations
- [Sea Nursery Rhymes] Fun children's songs themed around the sea
- Ranking of Popular Folk Songs
- [Children’s Songs of Autumn] Autumn songs, school songs, and traditional children’s rhymes. A collection of classic pieces to sing in autumn.
- [For Children] Recommended Nursery Rhymes and Traditional Children’s Songs to Sing in April
- Ministry of Education songs, children's songs, and nursery rhymes. The heart of Japan passed down in song.
- Children’s songs, folk songs, and nursery rhymes about insects
- [Children’s Songs] Let’s Sing of Spring! A Fun Collection of Nursery Rhymes, Folk Songs, and Children’s Songs
Children’s songs, school songs, and nursery rhymes themed around rivers. Beloved classics of waterside scenes (41–50).
maple leavesYoko Seri
Like “Spring Brook” and “Furusato,” this is a school song with lyrics by Tatsuyuki Takano and music by Teiichi Okano.
It first appeared in 1911 in “Elementary School Songs (II),” and in 2007 it was selected as one of the 100 Best Japanese Songs.
The second verse depicts a scene of autumn leaves floating on a mountain stream.
At the spring riverFuyuki Hizuki
In March 1965, a performance by the Nishirokugo Children’s Choir was broadcast on NHK’s “Minna no Uta.” It was a piece to which Aoki Sawa had added Japanese lyrics, set to “Très jolie (My Beloved)” by composer Émile Waldteufel, who was known as the Johann Strauss of France.
Suwannee RiverNHK Tokyo Children's Choir
Foster wrote the lyrics and composed the music for a blackface minstrel troupe in New York to perform.
The sheet music was published in 1851 under the title “Old Folks at Home,” and in 1935 it became the state song of Florida, where the Suwannee River is located.
In Japan, both Katsu Tsuguo’s translation “Furusato no Hitobito” (Old Folks at Home) and Onoen Ryoko’s translation “Suwanee River” are well known.
In conclusion
We’ve introduced a wide range of river-themed songs, from nostalgic children’s songs and school anthems to heartwarming nursery rhymes.
From gentle flows to powerful mountain streams, the many faces of rivers are depicted in song as if accompanying our lives.
When you feel you need a bit of comfort in your day, why not listen quietly? You’ll surely feel your heart grow calm.