"This is a ball bouncing game. According on my childhood memory, young girls would play it as a ball bouncing game outside and than as a hand play inside, while singing the song." -Sadao

The formal name of this song is Higo Temari 肥後手まり唄. This song is from the Edo period of Japan.

Notes

Transliteration

Anta gata doko sa

Anta gata doko sa?
Higo sa.
Higo doko sa?
Kumamoto sa.
Kumamoto doko sa?
Senba sa.
Senba yama ni wa
Tanuki ga otte sa.
Sore o ryoshi ga
Teppo de utte sa.
Nite sa, yaite sa, kutte sa.
Sore o konoha de
Choito kabuse.

Ryan sent this song with the note: "I have a song I recently learned that is a Japanese kids/folk song. This is a song I discovered in my first year Japan course papers. Its called Antagata Doko Sa. Its about someone asking where someone else lives. Which is near the Senba Mountain and it goes into a little story about a hunter tracking a raccoon and how he boils it, bakes it and then eats it and covers it with a leaf.

Comments

We'd love to learn how to play this game. Please email me if you know. Thanks! Mama Lisa

Here's the full song below (verses one and two are the same as the lyrics above). If anyone would like to provide a full translation, please email me:

(1) あんたがたどこさ　
肥後さ　
肥後どこさ　
熊本さ　
熊本どこさ　
船場(せんば)さ
 
(2)   船場山には狸がおってさ　
それを猟師が鉄砲で撃ってさ　
煮てさ　焼いてさ　食ってさ　
それを木の葉でちょいと隠（かぶ）せ
 
   (3) あんたがたどこさ　肥後さ　
肥後どこさ　熊本さ　熊本どこさ　船場さ
 
   (4) 船場川にはえびさがおってさ　
それを漁師が網さで捕ってさ　
煮てさ　焼いてさ　食ってさ

Download

Thanks to Ryan Thomas for the recording.

Download MIDI Tune

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ryan Thomas for contributing this song, singing it for us and sending a score for it. Thanks to Sadao Mazuka for commenting on it.

Arigato gozaimasu!