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Yasaburō Bushi

弥三郎節

[Genre]Min'yo
[School]Min'yo

History (Takahashi Yujiro):

"Song of Yasaburo". In 1808 Yasaburo took a bride, but his parents treated her horribly - as often happens: a new bride is an outsider to be bent to her new family's will. In this case, his bride fled within a year, and villagers produced this song criticizing the family. The song takes the form of a traditional counting song, with puns on the numbers.

One: In Kizukuri Newfields, off in a corner of Shimo-Aino Village is Yasaburo's house.
Two: Asking a few people for help, he got a bride from Mankuro of Obiraki.
Three: This bride brought the Three Objects [dowry] -
Four: She weeded the fields morning and night, but when she came home late, she was scolded.
Five: Scolded, picked on, scowled at - and denied her three meals a day.
(Six: Used harshly by unreasonable parents-in-law - blood flowed from her ten fingers.
Seven: No matter how hard she worked, the wouldn't rub soothing oil on her.
Eight: The sun doesn't shine on Yasaburo's house, yet it even shines in Mogawa Forest.)
Nine: All the parents here are devils; all the brides who come here are fools.

Yasaburō Bushi appears on the following albums

Album Artist
Play ButtonKoto Melodies of Japan - Hogaku Yonin no Kai (The Four Players Group) Koto : Yazaki Akiko
Koto : Gotō Sumiko
Shakuhachi : Kitahara Kōzan II
Koto : Kikuchi Teiko
This is sung in the Aomori Prefecture, at the eastern end of the Japanese mainland. It is a counting song ranging from No. 1 to No. 12, and it tells about how the mother of a man called Yasaburo bullied his wife. In spite of the gloominess of the words the melody is cheerful.
Play ButtonMin'yo - Folk Song from Japan - Takahashi Yujiro and friends
"Song of Yasaburo". In 1808 Yasaburo took a bride, but his parents treated her horribly - as often happens: a new bride is an outsider to be bent to her new family's will. In this case, his bride fled within a year, and villagers produced this song criticizing the family. The song takes the form of a traditional counting song, with puns on the numbers.

One: In Kizukuri Newfields, off in a corner of Shimo-Aino Village is Yasaburo's house.
Two: Asking a few people for help, he got a bride from Mankuro of Obiraki.
Three: This bride brought the Three Objects [dowry] -
Four: She weeded the fields morning and night, but when she came home late, she was scolded.
Five: Scolded, picked on, scowled at - and denied her three meals a day.
(Six: Used harshly by unreasonable parents-in-law - blood flowed from her ten fingers.
Seven: No matter how hard she worked, the wouldn't rub soothing oil on her.
Eight: The sun doesn't shine on Yasaburo's house, yet it even shines in Mogawa Forest.)
Nine: All the parents here are devils; all the brides who come here are fools.

Copyright 1999 - Dr David W. Hughes
e-mail dh6@soas.ac.uk

Shakuhachi Min'yo - Furusato no Uta - Vol 5 Shakuhachi : Yashita Isamu