Agemaki

(Probably from the sixteenth century)

Agemaki ya! Tonton! Hiro bakari ya-- Tonton! Sakarite netaredomo, Marobi-ainikeri,-- Tonton! Kayori-ainikeri, Tonton!

Oh! my darling boy! Tonton! Though a fathom apart, Tonton! Sleeping separated, By rolling we came together! Tonton! By slow approaches we came together, Tonton!

Lit., "hiro." The hiro is a measure of about five feet English, and is used to measure breadth as well as depth.

My next group of selections consists of "local songs"--by which term the collector means songs peculiar to particular districts or provinces. They are old--though less old than the compositions previously cited;--and their interest is chiefly emotional. But several, it will be observed, have curious refrains. Songs of this sort are sung especially at the village-dances--Bon-odori and Honen-odori:--