Shabondama

Shabondama (シャボン玉) (lit. "Soap Bubbles") is a Japanese nursery rhyme written by Ujō Noguchi in 1922. It is widely taught in Japanese nursery schools and kindergartens as a simple melody; it is also sometimes used in elementary school moral education courses, where students learn that it is a meditation on the death of a child.

This article is about the nursery rhyme. For the 2003 song, see Shabondama (Morning Musume song).

Noguchi's daughter Midori died at the age of just 7 days in 1908. In the Meiji period, the infant mortality rate was quite high and 20 to 30 percent of children died before reaching schooling age. It was common to have many children to aim for success of the household, but Noguchi was divorced, and he thus mourned the loss of his only child for a long time.

It is widely believed that Noguchi, seeing the girls in his village play with bubbles, was reminded of the brief existence of his daughter, and wrote this poem on that occasion. However, other than the above facts, the direct inspiration for the song is unknown.[1][2]

The tune is a modification of the Christian hymn "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know".

It is used as the melody for departing trains in Yumoto Station, Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.

Melody and lyrics
Japanese Literal translation Translation by John McLean[3]

シャボン玉飛んだ
屋根まで飛んだ
屋根まで飛んで
こわれて消えた

シャボン玉消えた
飛ばずに消えた
産まれてすぐに
こわれて消えた

風、風、吹くな
シャボン玉飛ばそ

The soap bubble flew
It flew up to the roof
But reaching the roof,
It broke and was no more.

The soap bubble broke
It broke before flying
So soon after it was born,
It broke and was no more.

Wind, wind, don't you cry
Let my bubble fly.

Little bubbles flew on up
right up to the roofs so high.
Up above the roofs they flew.
Thereupon, they broke and died.

All of them have disappeared,
each and every one of them.
So soon after they were born
all of them have disappeared.

Wind, oh, wind don't blow so hard.
Little bubbles fly, oh, fly.

\relative c' { \time 2/4 \key d \major \repeat volta 2 { \bar ".|:" a8 d16 d16 d8 e8 | fis8 a8 a8 r8 | b8 g8 d'8 b8 | a8 b8 a8 r8 fis8 fis8 e8 d8 | e8 a8 a8 r8 | b8 b8 a8 d,8 | fis8 e8 d8 r8 | } d'8. d16 d8 d8 | d8 b8 a8 r8 | d,8 d16 e16 fis8 a8 | fis8 e8 d8 r8 \bar "|." } \addlyrics { シャ ボ ン だ ま と ん だ や ね ま で と ん だ や ね ま で と ん で こ わ れ て き え た か ぜ か ぜ ふ く な シャ ボ ン だ ま と ば そ } \addlyrics { シャ ボ ン だ ま き え た と ば ず に き え た う ま れ て す ぐ に こ わ れ て き え た }

References
  1. "「しゃぼん玉」は娘の死を歌っているってウソ？ 「赤い靴」の女の子は実在した？ 『唱歌・童謡120の真実』". ダ・ヴィンチニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  2. 竹内, 貴久雄 (2017). 『唱歌・童謡120の真実』. 東京: ヤマハミュージックメディア. ISBN 978-4636910643.
  3. In the 2020 film Hiroshima Piano (94:59–95:55): 中国新聞デジタル. "国際映画祭、学生が字幕 安田女子大で通訳学ぶ30人、「プロの仕事」へ意識高める". 中国新聞デジタル (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-11-25.
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