is one of the most famous traditional songs and dance (''

min'yō , ''Nihon min'yō'', Japanese ''min'yō'' or Japanese folk music is a genre of traditional Music of Japan, Japanese music. Characteristics Styles Many ''min'yō'' are connected to forms of work or to specific trades and were originally su ...

'') in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is a

sea shanty A sea shanty, shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ...

that is said to have been first sung by the

fishermen A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishermen may be professional or recr ...

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

. The commonly known version of the song and dance is called and was created in 1991 at the Wakkanai Minami Junior High School. It uses the song and text of Takio Ito's ''Takio no Sōran Bushi'' from 1988, which is a modernized version of the original song with a faster rhythm and a more modern music and text. The choreography was developed by the

Butoh is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founder ...

dancer Jushō Kasuga, which includes acting ocean waves, fishermen dragging nets, pulling ropes and lifting luggage over their shoulders. The school received an honorable mention at the Folk Song and Dance Awards National Convention in 1992, and one year later the Grand Prix of the Prime Minister of Japan. This made the song and dance nationally known, so that this dance is taught in many schools across Japan as part of the curriculum. During regular intervals of the dance, the words "''Dokkoisho''! ''Dokkoisho''!" and "''Soran''! ''Soran''!" are called. Those words were used in the past to encourage the fisherman during their work.

Lyrics and translation

An excerpt from one of the many text versions of "Sōran Bushi" Japanese (

Rōmaji The romanization of Japanese is the use of Latin script to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is sometimes referred to in Japanese as . Japanese is normally written in a combination of logogram, logographic characters borrowe ...

): Yāren sōran sōran
Sōran sōran sōran (hai hai!)
Nishin kita ka to kamome ni toeba,
Watasha tatsu tori nami ni kike choi. CHORUS (''

kakegoe ''Kakegoe'' () usually refers to shouts and calls used in performances of traditional Japanese music, Kabuki theatre, and in martial arts such as kendo. Kabuki In the kabuki theatre, the term is used to refer to melodramatic calls from an audien ...

'')
Yasa e en ya sa dokkoisho
(a dokkoisho, dokkoisho!) Yāren sōran...
Oyaji tairyō da mukashi to chigau
toreta nishin wa ore no mono choi Yāren sōran...
Ichi-jō-go-shaku no ro o kogu fune mo
horeta ano go nya te mo choi Yāren sōran...
Tama no suhada ga shibuki ni nurerya
uwaki kamome ga mite sawagu choi Rough English Translation: '' Oh!!! Soran, soran, soran''
'' soran, soran, soran. (yes, yes!)''
'' When we hear the jabbering of seagulls on the high seas,''
'' we know we can’t give up our fishing lives on the ocean.'' '' CHORUS
'' Put your backs into it! Heave, ho! Heave, ho!''
'' (Heave, ho! Heave, ho!) '' Oh!!! Soran...''
'' Boss, I tell you, the size of this catch of herring''
'' is different from all the others. And it's all MINE.'' '' Oh!!! Soran...''
'' Even if I row four and a half metres,''
'' I couldn't get that girl's attention.'' '' Oh!!! Soran...''
'' A flighty seagull twitters in excitement''
'' As it sees my bare skin, glistening with ocean surf.''

References

Dances of Japan Culture of Hokkaido Japanese folk songs {{dance-stub