A School of Killifish - Japanese Children's Songs - Japan - Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs and Rhymes from Around the World  - Intro Image

Notes

*Killifish is the name for various small fish which inhabit fresh and brackish waters. The guppy and mosquito fish are two types of killifish.

**"Tooy-tooy" describes the killifish swimming.

*****

Romanized Version:

Medaka no gakkou wa kawa no naka
Sotto nozoite mitegoran
Sotto nozoite mitegoran
Minna de oyuugi shiteiruyo

Medaka no gakkou no medakatachi
Dare ga seitoka sensei ka
Dare ga seitoka sensei ka
Minna de genki ni asonderu

Medaka no gakkou wa ureshisou
Mizu ni nagarete tsu-i tsui
Mizu ni nagarete tsu-i tsui
Minna ga sorotte tsu-i tsui

*****
Orbatos wrote:

"Here is a transliteration... based on the sheet music... formatted for readability..."

Singable:
me da ka no gak, ko u wa ka wa no na ka
so,t to no zo i te mi te go ra n
so,t to no zo i te mi te go ra n
mi-n na de o yu u gi shi te i ru yo

me da ka no gak, ko u no me da ka ta chi
da re ga se i to ka se n se i ka
da re ga se i to ka se n se i ka
mi-n na de ge n ki ni a so n de ru

me da ka no gak, ko u wa u re shi so u
mi zu ni na ga re te tsu, -- i tsui
mi zu ni na ga re te tsu, -- i tsui
mi-n na de so ro t, te tsu -- i tsui

Comments

Medaka No Gakko is how you pronounce the name of this song in Japanese.

Computerized Text

(We apologize if this doesn't display properly on your screen):

一、
めだかのがっこうはかわのなか
そっとのぞいてみてごらん
そっとのぞいてみてごらん
みんなでおゆうぎしているよ
二、
めだかのがっこうのめだかたち
だれがせいとかせんせいか
だれがせいとかせんせいか
みんなでげんきにあそんでる
三、
めだかのがっこうはうれしそう
みずにながれてついつい
みずにながれてついつい
みんなでそろってつーーいつい

Listen

Download

I'm very grateful to Susan Pomerantz for playing this tune on piano.

Sheet Music

Sheet Music - A School of Killifish

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Ayako Egawa for contributing and translating "Medaka No Gakko" and for the sheet music.

I would also like to thank Masako for creating the Shodo characters at the top of this page. Thanks to Petter Mæhlum and Collier-Sanuki Yoko for the Romanized version and the computer text. Thanks to Orbatos for the simplified transliteration.

Arigato gozaimasu!