"Even the grass and trees say, 'Let's go to Sado, let's go to Sado.' Is Sado a nice place? Is Sado a good place to live?" Every year from July 25 to 27, there is a "Gold Mine Festival" in the town of Aikawa on Sado Island and this is the song that is sung as people dance in a parade. In 1896, the Meiji government sold off the gold mine and the establishment of this festival celebrated the event. The words of the song reflect the feelings of the people who first came to Aikawa. At the beginning of the 17th century, there was a gold rush in Aikawa since officials opened up the region to gold exploration, allowing the finder to take the gold to defray the expenses of the search. Instantly a town with a population of thirty thousand sprung up from nowhere.
The song originates in Haiya Bushi from Kyushu which became popular in the pleasure quarters of the Sado port town of Ogi and was sung at the parties of the workers in the Aikawa gold mine. When the festival began in 1896, it was called "Selecting the Mine Dance" and the dancers wore round straw hats and sand this as they danced in a parade. Gradually the way of singing the song became unified after the appearance of Murata Bunzo, the most famous singer of this song and finally, in 1926, when it was recorded, it got its familiar name of "Sado Okesa."

Performers:
Aikawa Tatsunami Group

This folk song is from Toyama Prefecture and is sung and danced in the Bon festival from September 1 to 3. The music seems to originate in a boat song from Kyushu called Hirado Bushi. "Owara" was originally a work song that was sung by the women of this region as they raised silk, picking mulberry leaves and pulling the thread from the cocoons of the silkworms. Apparently, as early as the beginning of the 18th century, this song was used as part of a ceremony where people sang and danced in a parade through the town. There are over one hundred different lyrics in old versions of the song and even today, every year there is a competition for new compositions. When it is danced, there are different styles for men and women. Men wear short Happi coats and women wear kimonos with long flowing sleeves and straw hats as they dance through the streets.

Performers:
Owara Folk Song Preservation Society, Toyama Prefecture

This kind of singing comes from the Tsugaru region in the distant northern province of Aomori. It began with the songs of performers who went from door to door and the lyrics often were the stories of the love suicides and scandals told in famous kabuki plays. The lively shamisen music is especially distinctive and attractive (see JTRAD 081 as well). This particular recording describes the beauties of the Tsugaru region.

Performers:
Asari Miki

This is a folk song from the northern island of Hokkaido. It begins with a horse drivers song from the central mountain prefecture of Nagano which became popular with the courtesans in the inns of Oiwake and by the early 19th century became popular in the pleasure quarters of Niigata as "Oiwake Bushi." Finally in the 1830's, this song traveled to Hokkaido and it was sung in many different ways all around the region of Esashi. But even though the song originated far away, the lyrics reflect life in Hokkaido. After many struggles between the local Ainu and the Japanese, fishing was allowed in a certain region sacred to the Ainu, however, to prevent the Japanese from settling there permanently, women were forbidden to go beyond a certain point. The lyrics of the song describe the plaintive feelings of a woman who wants to accompany her husband and begs him to allow her to go as close to the forbidden point as possible.

Performers:
Sasaki Motoharu

This is a folk song from the town of Yasugi in Shimane Prefecture. It originated in Sanko Bushi, a kind of long ballad sung all around Shimane Prefecture which in turn, comes from Izumo Bushi, a kind of song sung all along the Japan Sea coast. When Yasugi Bushi came out on records early in the twentieth century, it became familiar throughout Japan as the music of "Dojo Sukui," a humorous parlor dance where the dancer imitates a man scooping up dojo or loaches, which are small eel-like fish.

Performers:
Kuroda Sachiko

"I will drink and drink this sake. If I drink, I will get the finest spear in the land of the rising sun. If I can drink enough to win this spear, then truly I will be a warrior of Kuroda." This is one of the most familiar folk songs in Japan and comes from the domain of Kuroda in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu. It is the story of a warrior who was challenged by his lord to drink and the prize was a precious spear. This is an example of Etenraku Imayo where a verse in Imayo form is sung to the melody of the Gagaku piece Etenraku (see JTRAD 007).

Performers:
Akasaka Koume