Читать книгу Folk Songs of Japanese Children - Donald Paul Berger - Страница 9

INTRODUCTION

FOR CENTURIES Japan was divided into many small provinces each having its own ruler, ruling class, customs, and, of course, its own songs. This isolation gave rise to a large variety of folk music. The warabe uta (children's songs) of Japan, being a part of the folk-song repertoire, accordingly differ from district to district in textual and melodic content. But at the same time there is a degree of similarity in some of the texts and many of the play songs. This points to the fact that children are really very much the same all over Japan and indeed, the world over.

The localization of certain songs began to fade to some degree with the crumbling of the feudal state and with the rapid advances in communication during the Meiji era. Since that time the songs of one district have freely flowed to another, so that today songs which were once only locally known are sung and enjoyed throughout the islands of Japan.