Amami Island Folk Songs: An Introduction
by
Naoshi KORIYAMA

The chain of islands between Kyushu of Japan and Taiwan is called Nansei Shoto (Southwestern Islands). It consists of four groups of islands: Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, and Yaeyama. These islands have a cluture distinct from that of the Japanese mainland. Their dialects are quite different from standard Japanese, unintelligible to the mainland Japanese. But if we listen to the island dialects carefully, we can notice many Japanese words that have supposedly come down from ancient Japanese. The dialects spoken on those islands can be called the "Ryukyu dialects" of the Japanese language.

The four island groups between mainland Japan and Taiwan are rich in folk songs. They can be called a "treasure house" of folk music of the world. As dialects are replaced by standard Japanese and fewer people speak their native dialects, the folk songs are in danger of disappearing into the flow of time. People in their 50s or older may speak dialects at home, but the island children are now totally immersed in Japanese TV programs all the time. Fortunately, the folk songs are so closely tied to the hearts of the island people that there are many avid folk song lovers.

The Amami Islands were ruled by the kings of Ryukyu in Okinawa from 1266 to around 1609. In the latter year, they were invaded by the forces of Satsuma. Taken away form Ryukyu, the islands were rulled by the feudal lords of Satsuma until 1871. The people of Amami had to work hard to produce cane sugar for Satsuma under the most difficult conditions. Their only pastime was singing folk songs. The people made up their songs and sang. Life being hard, most of their songs were filled with plaintive strains. Some of them were beautiful, like the American blues. Some were light and humorous. The island people made melodies out of the sound and rhythm of the ocean waves breaking on their native shores. Some cried out the words of their songs, gazing on the rain clouds over the hills of their islands and thinking of their loved ones. They spontaneously composed some truly beautiful love songs, as the men and women sang reciprocally to the accompaniment of the sanshin (samisen) during their singing parties by the shore in the moonlight. We don't know when these folk songs were made up or who the composers were. Several different singers composed them, each adding his or her verse as they sang. Let me quote a few verses from one of the most beautiful Amami Island songs, "Shunkane Bushi:"

The bridge of the sanshin stands,
Propping up the strings on its head.
As for me, I stand by the road,
Longing for my loved one.

When I first listened to Mr. Kazuhira Takeshita's singing of this song on the cassette tape, I was utterly fascinated by the beauty of the lyric and music. A few more verses in the same song go like this:

To the boat sailing at night
Hidden shoals are her enemies.
When I wait for my loved one at night,
My friends are my enemies.

This is a charming piece of lyric poetry. Countless are the lyrics in the Amamai island folk songs, some passionate, some romantic, others didactic, sarcastic, or humorous. They are indigenous, but at the same time universal.

As for the form, most Amami folk songs, like many Okinawan songs, have four lines and thirty syllables, arranged in an 8-8-8-6 syllable form. Another well-known song, "Yoisura Bushi", has an 8-8-8 syllable form. "Ikyunnya Kana Bushi" has a 5-8-5-8-5 syllable form. So there are some variations in form among Amami folk songs.

Many folk songs of other countries have been introduced to Japan. We learned them and sang them in translation in primary and middle schools. In contrast, how many Japanese folk songs are known to other countries of the world? How many folk songs of Amami Islands are known in the world? None at all.

Okinawa has a women's vocal group named "Néenées" (lit. Elder Sisters) who are quite active and have sung their native Okinawan songs on tours even in Europe. One of their favorite numbers is "Kurushima Kuduchi (kudoki)", a traditional Okinawan folk song. I have an American friend in Tokyo who is a "Néenées" fan. There must be many "Néenées" fans among Americans in Okinawa.

There are no such professional vocal groups in Amami. Due to the language barrier, few people in mainland Japan know the folk songs of Amami and other Nansei Islands, although some Japanese scholars have been doing research on the folk songs of this area.

In the past, three singers from Amami won grand prizes in All-Japan Folk Song Contest; Shunzo Tsukiji in 1979, Mitsuyo Tohara in 1989, and Rikki Nakano in 1990. Shunzo Tsukiji has sung Amami folk songs in France, Romania, and America together with his partner, Rikki Nakano. Ikue Asazaki and her Amami folk singers' group presented their songs in New York's Carnegie Hall in 1990.

Aiko Maeoka and her Sokyoku (Japanese harp) group presented their music at the 44th International Music Festival held in Rodez, France in August 1999. On that occasion, Aiko Maeoka sang a verse from "Ikyunnya Kana Bushi" both in the Amami language and French and won big applause. The French version was made by Chris Crochet, who was teaching English in the Kasari area of Amami Oshima around that time.

Minu samiti
yuruya yunagatu
minu samiti
wakya kana kutu umuti
niburarando
sura, niburarando.

Je reste énveillé
toute la longue nuit
Je reste énveillé.
Je pense à mon amour.
Je ne peux pas m'endormir,
    Bien sur, je ne peux pas m'endormir.

In August 2000, two young Amami folk singers, Yasuo Kijima and Kosuke Atari, toured Romania, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Italy singing Amami folk songs. Now Amami folk songs are warmly received overseas. It shows that the music of Amami Island folk songs has in its peculiarity something appealing that touches people's hearts even in foreign countries.

My book, Beautiful Amami Island Folk Songs (Hokuseido Press, 2001), aims to introduce some of the folk songs of the Amami Islands to the world in English translation. This is the first book of translations of the Amami folk songs. I had a chance to visit the Hamilton Library of the University of Hawaii in the summer of 1993, hoping to find some collections of Okinawan folk songs in English translation. I had assumed that there should be some there, since there are many people from Okinawa, of first-, second-, third-, and even fourth-generations in Hawaii. Unfortunately I was not able to find any such books there. I thought someone should start translating Okinawan folk songs into English and introduce them to the world.

I have a small book of some Okinawan folk songs translated into English by the late Professor Bntaro Taira, My Favorite Okinawan Songs (Hokuseido Press, 1955). Yoko Nishihara, a scholar of English literature from Yaeyama, published her book of English translations of short songs of Yaeyama, The Soul of Yaeyama: Tubarama and Life (1995). To the best of my knowledge, these two books are the only English translations of the Ryukyu Islands' folk songs. It has been my long-cherished ambition to publish a first book of English translations of the Amami Islands' folk songs. I was born on Kikai Island of Amami in 1926 and grew up with the folk songs of Amami.

Culturally and musically, the most important Amami island is naturally the main island, "Amami Oshima". It is about 380 km south of the southern tip of Kyushu, the southernmost main island of Japan. Amami Oshima is the birthplace of most of the Amami Island folk songs. Composed by anonymous, ancient folk musicians, these songs have spread to other islands in the Amami group such as Kikai and Tokunoshima. Over time, other anonymous folk singers have added new words to the folk melody and sang accompanied by the music of the sanshin. So, in many Amami folk songs, verses are not exactly in logical sequence. Many apparently disconnected, irrelevant verses are found in one song. A most interesting thing about folk singers of Amami is that they keep adding new words to such popular folk songs as "Kurudando Bushi" and "Ikyunnya Kana Bushi", which many people love deeply. I include a few lyrics from each of the smaller islands, namely Kikai, Tokunoshima, Okierabu and Yoron. I only wish I could have included more from these islands.

In selecting and translating the folk songs, I have most heavily relied on Nanto kayo taisei 5: Amami-hen (A Grand Collection of the Songs of Southern Islands, Vol.5 : Amami), edited by Eikatsu Tabata, Katsunobu Kamei, and Shuzen Hokama (Kadokawa Shoten, 1979) as a main source of the original folk songs. Another source I have frequently consulted is Amami Oshima min'yo taikan (A Grand Survey of Amami Oshima Folk Songs) by Eikichi Kazari. Books by Hisao Ogawa and Kouichi Nakasone have also been useful. Other references include the lyric sheets accompanying the cassette tapes and CDs produced and distributed by Central Gakki of Naze City of Amami.

The author:
Naoshi KORIYAMA, an alumnus of the State University of New York at Albany, taught English at Toyo University for nearly 40 years. His many books include Another Bridge over the Pacific (1993), Like Underground Water, with Edward Lueders (1995), Collected Poems (1996), and Black Flower in the Sky (2000). Currently professor emeritus, he is busier than ever writing and editing poetry and as a participant in several social/cultural movements.
Address: 2-15-9 Yaei, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa-ken 229-0029, JAPAN

From The Ryukyuanist,
A Newsletter on Ryukyuan/ Okinawan Studies No.54