Silk tree flowers in bloom at garden related to Empress Michiko’s lullaby

June 26, 2009

Silk tree flowers in bloom at garden related to Empress Michiko’s lullaby


A silk tree, or nemu-no-ki in Japanese, blooms from late June to July at the small Tokyo garden named after a lullaby written by Empress Michiko. This overlaps the tsuyu rainy season in Japan. The silk tree, with filament-like pink and white flowers, was on hand to receive a group of about 10 tourists on an occasionally sunny day in late June. (Readers may be advised to see the April 28 post on this blog site.)
The garden was opened at a site formerly occupied by the residence of the parents of Empress Michiko in 2004. “You can see the silk tree right up there. Tha tree is the same as the tree which was sung in Nemu-No-Ki-No-Komoriuta (Silk Tree Lullaby), the song based on the lyrics written by Her Majesty.” the guide of the group said. Silk tree flowers have a good fragrance. “The flowers lie scattered there. You can pick up some,” the guide said.
The lyrics of the lullaby were written by the Empress when she was a high school student. The song was published after she got married to Emperor Akihito, then the crown prince, in 1959. The song was quite different from old Japanese lullabies, and its warm melody and words quickly became popular.
Most of the famous old Japanese lullabies were songs sung by baby sitters in dialect. Baby sitting used to be a job mainly for small girls from poor villages. Separated from their families, they sang of their loneliness and the hardness of their jobs.
The Lullaby of Itsuki, one of the best known lullabies in Japan, was originally sung in a certain area in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan. The song was collected by a local school teacher in the 1930s and became widely known in the 1950s. The most commonly heard version of the song follows:

/I’ll have to be here until the Bon, but no more after the Bon.
If the Bon comes early, I can be home early.
/I’m a poor person, but they’re rich.
Rich people with good sash and good clothes.
/If I died, who would cry for me?
Cicadas in a pine tree mountain in the back would cry for me.
/If I died, bury me by the roadside.
Passers-by would serve flowers for me.
/What flower to serve? Camellias readily available there.
Water would be obtained from the heaven.
(A personal translation)

There exist old lullabies in the true sense of the term, nursery songs sung by mothers, but the baby sitters’ songs are more widely known in Japan. Their sad songs have been seen as a negative trace of the Japanese history and culture and failed to be studied properly. But researchers stress the need to preserve a wide range of indigenous lullabies as part of Japan’s cultural assets before they disappear.
An NPO calls for taking a fresh look at the importance and effectiveness of lullabies for child-raising. It is said that Japanese mothers sing lullabies for their kids less frequently than ever and some mothers know few to sing.
Japanese mothers should not be totally accused for their unwillingness to sing lullabies. The situation is becoming harder for families with small children in Japan. Their income is on the decline amid the current global economic plight. The situation is even worse for fatherless families. A bill for reinstating a special welfare benefit for single-parent households is before the parliament, but it is far from certain if it will be enacted.
Mothers who raise their children singlehandedly are apparently too busy and tired to sing songs for their children. Their situation must be improved to give them a solid base for living and time to sing lullabies for their kids.

An author’s note: The Bon summer festival, usually observed in mid-August, is one of the happiest holiday seasons in Japan, especially for people like boys and girls sent as servants for unpaid domestic service, a practice seen until early last century. Servants were allowed to return home on a once-a-year leave in the Bon season.