Songs for Children Sung in Japan

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hildren all over the world love to express themselves, or to have their naïve feelings expressed for them, in simple and spontaneous verses. The children of Japan, like their brothers and sisters in other countries, are fond of reading, reciting, or singing their characteristic, simple lines.

Contemporary poets in the Island Empire have realized the importance of children’s literature, and have thus distinguished these little verses by recognizing them as a special category of poetry—the dōyō. The dōyō poets such as Hakushū Kitahara, Yaso Saijō, Ujō Noguchi, Katsura Shimizu and others are indeed the idols of the youngsters in the country.

These children’s poems are written either by the children themselves or for them by mature poets. They are usually very rhythmic so that they can be put into simple melodies to be sung or danced to.

The fifty pieces selected and translated in this little booklet are popular and representative works of some of ​the poets of to-day, and are truly familiar to the children in every nook and corner of Japan.

For those readers who understand Japanese, the Japanese text has been given along with the translation, and to show the rythm of the original lines, the text has also been given in Romanized Japanese script.

These translated verses are dedicated to English-speaking children. It is hoped that they will enjoy these verses which appeal to their friends in the Far East.

I wish to express my gratitude to all those Japanese poets who have given me permission to translate their works into English and to publish them. My acknowledgments are due also to Mr. Shunshi Takagai and Prof. Eiichi Kiyooka whose kind mediations and assistances were particularly valuable when the translator lived far away from Tokyo. Again my acknowledgments are due to the publisher for securing the fine drawings which have added much to the attractiveness of the book.

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