“Nanatsu no ko” is one of Japan’s most familiar children’s songs.

It is also well known as music played by local authorities to encourage children playing outside to return home in the evening.

The song depicts the universal love between parents and their children through the image of parent crows that descend to the village in search of food for their chicks waiting in the nest in the mountains. Notably, the song portrays crows, often seen as pests, as affectionate parent birds. This perspective, which sympathetically captures the fact that crows have parenting feelings no different from humans, is a significant reason for the work’s great popularity.

The original Japanese title is “Nanatsu no ko,” and there has been controversy over whether this is “seven children” or “seven-year-old children.

The prevailing theory was that a seven-year-old should already be an adult bird as a raven, so why not seven children? The prevailing theory was that “seven-year-olds” should have already reached maturity as crows, so why not use the title “seven children”? Wouldn’t that be more natural? There was an objection that “seven children” would be more natural. It is also said that crows do not raise as many as seven chicks at a time. This led to the theory that “raven” was a metaphor. The lyricist, Noguchi, was the first to suggest that the word “crow” was a metaphor. The lyricist, NOGUCHI Ujyou, was separated from his mother when he was 7 years old. Another theory is that Ujyou was born and raised in Kitaibaraki City, which used to be a prosperous coal-mining town, and the miners who worked in the dust were called “crows,” so he sang about them working for their families.

On the other hand, Ujyou, who could not adapt to his political marriage, took custody of his two children after the divorce. However, as the children cried every night longing for their mother, he decided to return them to her. It is said that he expressed his torn feelings as a father in a song during that time.

Incidentally, crows in Japan were often regarded as sacred birds. Yatagarasu, the symbol of the Japan Football Association, is a three-legged raven that is said to have guided Emperor Jinmu, the founder of Japan. In the Shugendo sect, which originated from mountain worship, the crow has also been regarded as a messenger of the gods.Crows also play an important role in the anime “Kimetsu no yaiba.

WolfgangMichel – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC 表示 3.0, リンクによる

Karasu-no-nureba-iro,” used to describe a woman’s beautiful black hair, refers to the deep, glossy, dark purple color of a crow’s wet feathers.

“Bonfires” are now rarely seen from the perspective of disaster prevention,
In the 1940s, it was sometimes held in the streets of Tokyo and in general parks.

The place where TATSUMI Seika, the lyricist, lived and wrote the lyrics,
It is a residential area about 5 minutes from “Arai Yakushi” station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line.

This song, contrary to its cheerful melody, walks through a history of adversity. It first appeared in 1941, scheduled for a three-day consecutive radio broadcast, but at the same time, Japan entered the Pacific War. The broadcast was forced to stop on the second day. There seemed to be a directive from military sources stating, “Even fallen leaves are valuable fuel sources. Burning anything that can be used to heat baths or cook in a bonfire is unacceptable.” As the war intensified, bonfires were said to become targets, leading to their complete suppression.

Even after the war, the broadcasting permission was withheld due to concerns about provoking riots from the perspective of maintaining public order, but it is said that by gradually accumulating small established facts, approval was finally granted retroactively.

Bonfires gather people in the cold season. Conversations are born when people gather.

If this kind of scenery is born again, I think that the enjoyment of the area will increase.

Interestingly, while older generations tend to associate campfires with roasting sweet potatoes, younger people nowadays are more likely to think of toasting marshmallows.

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