- DAT番号
- 1413
- 曲・解説順番号
- 6
- 曲名・解説タイトルよみ
- コモリウタ
- 曲名・解説タイトル：副題
- Lullaby
- 曲名・解説タイトルよみ：副題
- ララバイ
- 注記2
- 雑資料「JAPANESE NURSERY & CHILDREN'S SONGS」五頁に「F. KOMORI UTA (NURSERY SONGS OR LULLABIES)」「6. Komori Uta (Lullaby) 40"」「起きて泣く子はつらにくい[手書き]」、四十三頁に「F. KOMORI UTA (NURSERY SONGS OR LULLABIES)」「Komori means taking care of a baby or a small child, or a person who does so, that person not usually being its parent but a woman employed exclusively for the purpose. Women working as komori were usually either past middle age and known as uba (nursemaid), or very young girls from poor families.」「This is a very old custom in Japan, and was already being employed by the ancient noble class or among the samurai families in the middle ages. Their babies and small children were nearly always taken care of by the families of the mothers' relatives or those of their servants. There was even a special official appointed exclusively for the task of taking care of the masters' children. Such a custom was handed down among wealthy people until the 1930's.」「In the most common cases of komori, the daughters of poor farmers and fishermen were employed by rich businessmen and landowners in neighboring districts usually on a one year contract. As they were very young girls of only twelve or thirteen, their employers did not pay them money. At best they provided them only with a sleeping place, meals and necessary clothes. Since these girls were from extremely poor families, their parents were more than happy to be thus relieved of that much financial burden, and were also grateful for the opportunity to have their daughters trained in good manners while they were living with higher class people.」「A young komori usually wore a cotton towel around her head tying the ends in front so that her hair wouldn't get into the eyes of the baby or small child she carried on her back. The custom of employing komori is so old that we can find it depicted in paintings done in the eighth century.」「Komori uta are the songs sung by these girls, and since the custom is old and most of the songs were composed by the girls themselves, their number is great and they are found almost everywhere in Japan in an amazing variety. Since these girls usually gathered in the precincts of nearby shrines, temples or other public places to spend their time together while carrying the babies on their backs, they naturally came to sing certain lullabies whose melodies and words were particularly appealing to them as a group. Hence the emergence of highly indigenous lullabies in certain prefectures, towns or even villages.」、四十四頁に「These numerous lullabies can be classified roughly into two categories - the lullabies sung for the purpose of putting the babies to sleep, and those sung to amuse them.」「The marked characteristics of the nemurase uta (putting-the-baby-to-sleep songs), particularly in view of their purpose, is that their tempo is usually slow, and becomes even slower as the babies get sleepy, and that they are naturally sung in a very gentle way.」「The words of nemurase uta songs usually begin with words that go something like: "You're a sweet baby, so go to sleep", and go on with, for instance: "If you'll be a nice baby and go to sleep quietly, I'll buy you whatever you like best", or "I'll take you wherever you like best". Whatever the phrasing, these songs are usually filled with warm affection and contain gentle words such as "You are the sweetest baby in the world".」「However, since most of the komori were very young and came from extremely poor families, they naturally wanted to play rather than work as komori. They must have grieved over their misfortune, and felt vexed, especially when the babies on their backs continued to complain and would not go to sleep. They would then snarl at the babies, and sing songs with such threatening words as "If you're not going to sleep right away, wolves will come and eat you up", "Fiends will come and get you" or "I'll kill you and chop you up and throw the pieces away".」「On the other hands, there were lullabies sung by komori girls grieving over their sad destiny. These were filled with pathos; the words of some go: "Who will cry for me even when I die except the cicadas singing on the pine hill at the back of the village."」「Now, let us turn to the lullabies which belong to the other category - lullabies people sing when they play with babies or small children. These songs are also found in a great variety. Since they are sung for very small children, they include counting songs in which numbers are added one by one, songs that tell a story, songs with rhymed words, and capping songs. When compared with lullabies of the other category - those sung to put babies to sleep - the rhythms of these songs are more clear-cut, and they are generally more light-hearted, cheerful and fun to sing.」「However, there are some lullabies which express the girls' anger towards their sad fate through scolding the babies or children and abusing their mothers in bitter words such as: "What a hateful crybaby is this! Is it a skylark or a chick? Can't believe it's a human child! " or "This baby's parents are persimons which even birds won't eat, for they taste so bitter even though they look so very nice!"」「As the social system in this country has changed drastically since the end of World War II, and mothers, instead of komori, have come to take the responsibility of looking after their own babies, lullabies which had been handed down for generations among komori girls have become totally forgotten. Japanese mothers today put their babies to sleep either without singing a lullaby or by just humming whatever songs happen to come into their minds, rather than any of the traditional komori uta.」、四十六頁に「6. Komori Uta (Lullaby)」「This lullaby was sung by the people in Taisho Town in Hata County, Kochi Prefecture. Kochi lies in Shikoku Island, which faces the southwestern part of Honshu across the Seto Inland Sea．Taisho Town is situated in the southwestern part of Shikoku, however, and faces the Pacific Ocean.」「The remarkable characteristic of this lullaby is the incredible cruelty of its words, some of which go something like:」「"Sweet is the baby who is asleep, / But the one who will not go to sleep is disgusting. / How I wish I could put it on a chopping block, / Chop it fine just like a garden radish, / And when it's finely chopped, / I want to blow it away up into the sky on the wind."」「This song has long been very popular among komori and is indeed one of the most representative Japanese lullabies which belong to the genre dealing with threatening words expressive of the girls' pent-up frustrations.」「The words of this song consist of stanzas each containing 26 syllables divided into 7-7-7-5; and the last syllable of the last line of the stanza, comprising five syllables, is capped to the first word of the first line of the next stanza. And this is repeated over and over again. In earlier days this song consisted of the first two lines (7-7) alone, which were repeated for any desired number of times.」と記載。雑資料「JAPANESE NURSERY & CHILDREN'S SONGS」四十五頁に子守の絵図あり。
- 分類番号
- koizumi26_中国漢民族
クリックで分類地域オープンリール一覧を表示
- テープ副標題
- 子供の歌
- 録音年
- 1978年