This is sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle…

 

Below you can hear the tune of Yankee Doodle…

•  MP3 Recording of アルプス一万尺

•  MIDI TUNE of アルプス一万尺

 

Below you can see the handclapping game for this rhyme…

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Thanks!

Notes

*This can be literally translated as "10,000 Shaku". Shintaro Tominaga wrote me, "One foot is almost identical to one Shaku; this is an old length measurement unit in Japan."
**The Japanese Alps

Here's a singable translation in English:

10,000 feet up the Alps
High up mount Koyari
Let's all do the Alpine dance,
High up mount Koyari
Hay!

Lalalalalalala
Lalalalalala
Lalalalalalalala
Lalalalala
Hay!

*****

Romanji

arupusu ichiman jaku koyari no ue de
arupen odori wo sa odorimasho
la lalala lan lan lan lan
la lalala lan lan lan
la lalala lan lan lan
lan lan lan lan lan lan he!

Note to English Speakers: The 'jaku' or 'shaku' seems to be a sound phonetically somewhere between the [j] [ch] [sh] sounds; pick one and amend the lyrics accordingly!

*****

Here's another YouTube version of this rhyme:



Here's one more YouTube video of this rhyme. The girl is doing the hand movements nice and slowly, so you can learn how to play this hand clapping rhyme!

Comments

Below is a longer version of this song in Japanese. If anyone would like to translate any of the verses, and/or if anyone would like to send me the Romanji of the above verses, please email me at lisa@mamalisa.com - Thanks! Mama Lisa

アルプス一万尺
小槍の上で
アルペン
踊りを踊りましょう
ヘイ

ランラララ　ララララ
ランラララ　ラララ
ランラララ　ララララ
ラララララ

２
お花畑で
昼寝をすれば
ちょうちょが
飛んできてキスをする（ヘイ）

３
１万尺に
テントを張れば
星のランプに
手が届く（ヘイ）

４
お花畑で
昼寝をすれば
かわいいあのこの
夢を見る（ヘイ）

５
槍や穂高は
かくれて見えぬ
見えぬあたりが
槍穂高（ヘイ）

６
槍はムコ殿
穂高はヨメご
中でりん気の
焼が岳（ヘイ）

7
いのち捧げて
恋するものに
なぜか冷たい
岩の肌（ヘイ）

８
岩魚釣る子に
山路聞けば
雲の彼方を
竿で指す（ヘイ）

９
ザイルかついで
穂高の山へ
明日は男の
度胸試し（ヘイ）

１０
名残りつきない
大正池
またも見返す
穂高岳（ヘイ）

１１
まめで逢いましょ
また来年も
山で桜の
咲く頃に（ヘイ）

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Ayako Egawa for pointing out this rhyme to us, the YouTube video, for helping with the English translation and the Japanese text! Thanks to Jason Pomerantz for helping with the singable translation. Thanks to Shintaro Tominaga for information about "shaku". Thanks to Lucy Smith for sending the Romanji lyrics.