A ball-bouncing game played by Japanese farmer children. The name means "rubber ball". The song is sung while each player sees how far he/she can get in a series of bounces before missing the ball. Each player takes turns, and anyone who misses can resume where they left off on the next turn. The ball is bounced on the ground for most of the song, but some words indicate a special move that must be done :
- tonde, nijyuu, and sanjyuu : The ball is bounced on the ground, then on the foot back to the hand.
- suisen : The ball is thrown in the air and caught on the back of the hand with a rolling motion.
- tsukamoo : The ball is bounced on the ground and then picked up.
- ote ni tsuite : The ball should bounce several times on the ground, in between each bounce the player must touch the side of their leg, as indicated by the line after it.
- supon-pon : This is an onomatopoeia, and a hard-to-write one at that. While the player is making this noise they must bounce the ball on the ground (during "su") , then on their toe twice (during "pon-pon"), then resume the regular bounce on the ground. By far the most difficult trick of the list.
Be forewarned, this song was translated from a
very old manuscript and the somewhat outdated form of
Romaji it was written in was
damn near confusing in portions. I have tried not to use a
literal translation, but like most Japanese some of the words vary in
context so they may have other meanings than the way I have translated them.
Hi fu mitsu nana yoka tonde One two three seven eight bounce
Hi fu mitsu nana yoka ni-jyuu One two three seven eight twenty
Hi fu mitsu nana yoka san-jyuu One two three seven eight thirty
San-jyuu hittotsu futatsu Thirty one two
San-jyuu hittotsu futatsu Thirty one two
Tonde hittotsu futatsu Bounce one two
San-jyuu suisen Thirty straight up
Tonde suisen Bounce straight up
Ni-jyuu suisen Twenty straight up
San-jyuu ittai nittai santai Thirty once twice thrice
Tsukamo mo mo Grab it again again
Kugatsu no shinkoko * September new grain
Oten'tsuite * Touch the hand
Ohidan tsuite Touch the leg
Yari kono Pass on
Supon-pon Supon-pon
Ikku hi fu mitsu One person one two three
Nana yoka tonde. Seven eight bounce.
*shinkoko = shinkoku.
*Oten'tsuite = O te ni.
The difference between each
stanza of the song is the word
tonde (bounce) is repeated as many times as the number of your turns, up to ten. On the
Sanjyuu ittai nittai santai line how many times you bounce is called, and the number of bounces increases by 3 each time you miss. (i.e. 3 times, 6 times, 9....up to 30 for 10 turns.)