Itsuki Lullaby (in ja, 五木の子守唄 ') is a

lullaby A lullaby (), or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowled ...

known widely in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and is a

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

representative of Itsuki Village,

Kuma District is a district located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. In 2003 the district had an estimated population of 64,552 and a density of 48.64 persons per square kilometer. The total area is 1,327.16 km2. History Economy Kuma District is noted fo ...

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to ...

, on

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

Island.

Lyrics

There are the most common version and the original version of this lullaby, sung in the Itsuki Village dialect.

Most common version

Original version

Origin

The lullaby was rediscovered by a school teacher in 1935, long after the song ceased to be sung. It has long been believed that this song was sung by babysitters from poor families. Itsuki was next to Gokanosho, where the Heike people came to settle after their defeat in the Genji-Heike War in the Heian period and later the

Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Y ...

sent their Genji samurai families to watch over them, thus creating the rich Genji families and poorer Heike families.

References

External links

* https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Julian+Lloyd+Webber+itsuki (performance for cello and piano)
The common version of Itsuki Lullaby
(Sung by

Shirley Yamaguchi was a Japanese singer, actress, journalist, and politician. Born in China, she made an international career in film in China, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States. Early in her career, the Manchukuo Film Association concealed her Japanese ori ...