代々木もちつき唄
| Cultural property name | Yoyogi Mochi Pounding Song |
|---|---|
| Commentary | In Yoyogi, mochi pounding was done collectively by units, and each of these units consisted of five to six farmer households. These units were formed in the area comprising Hatsudai, Yoyogi, Nishihara, and Uehara of present-day city of Shibuya. Mochi pounding took place at the end of the year, and it began early in the morning. Preparing one portion required about two hours of pounding, and the unit had to work until early evening to make all portions. People sang the mochi pounding song while they were kneading the mochi before pounding it. However, after around 1955, due to the decrease in the number of farmer households, farmlands becoming residential areas, and people buying mochi from stores, residents gradually began to not have a mochi pounding. Those who did not want the mochi pounding and the mochi pounding song to be forgotten became a group, and in 1968, the Yoyogi Mochi Pounding Song Preservation Society was created. Each year, at the Setsubun Festival of Yoyogi Hachimangu Shrine, the shrine gives visitors mochi, and the Yoyogi Mochi Pounding Song Preservation Society pounds and prepares these mochi. 1. Happy, happy, happy, dear young pine Your branches flourish, and you sprout many leaves 2. In the garden, in the garden, a crane, a turtle, and a five-needle pine Under the pine are grandfather and grandmother 3. You, you, until one hundred years old Me, until ninety-nine years old Until we both have gray hair |