It is the word Japanese recall their home town
Four Japanese words “ふ・る・さ・と; fu-ru-sa-to” contains, I assume, emotional and uniquely Japanese feeling about home town. When you look up its meaning in the Japanese-English dictionary, you find “home town”, “one’s home city”, “one’s land” and etc. Surely they are correct, however, it has more than those meaning for Japanese, that is, it stirs memories of mountains, fields, river, and schools people learned in the town they have grown up with friends and relatives as well as inherited activities such as traditional festivals.
The Japanese old song “Furusato”
There is old and traditional song, namely “Furusatoふるさと”.
(Lyrics written by Takano Tatsuyuki, composed by Teiichi Okano, in 1914)
うさぎ追いしかの山 The mountain where I chased rabbits
小鮒つりしかの川 The river where I fished small carps
夢は今もめぐりて I still dream of those days
忘れがたきふるさと How I miss and long Furusato, my country I spent my days
This old song created by the writer lived in the city far from his home town is haunting in Japanese hearts and can be listened at many occasion
Noto Peninsula earthquake, 1st of January, 2024
No one forget about the day, March 11th, 2011. Many people were forced to leave their Furusato collapsed by the massive earthquake and the subsequent big tsunami. Still many former residents in Fukushima continued to be forced to evacuate their home town by accident of the nuclear plant.
Also, recently on 1st of January 2024, Noto, Kanazawa prefecture in Japan, was hit by the big earthquake and still many people are evacuated and awaiting the day they could go back to their home. For them, Furusato is always in their hearts, and their hearts always looking at their Furusato’s scenery although their daily livings may look normal and convenient in the town they live now. I saw the TV news reported that residents evacuated showed their expectation of going back to their home town by singing the song “Furusato”.
BON holidays in August
Japanese have a holiday custom called “Bon-yasumi : Bon holidays” in August, but not the national holyday. For a few days or one week before and after 15th of August, many of companies and shops close their offices to make their employees away from work. Taking this consecutive holyday, many people start moving within the Japanese archipelago and their destinations to visit are mainly their “Furusato-home town”, where they meet parents, grandparents, relatives and old friends. One of key purposes of visiting there during this Bon holidays is to visit the graves of ancestors.
Bon is the custom prevailed to almost Japanese based on the Buddhism teaching, at this occasion Japanese go to the family’s graves to pray and express their gratitude for their ancestors. Kids led by their parents to Furusato and to ancestors’ graves can be aware of their family’s histories and the lands where their parents once lived.
As such, Bon holidays is the regular opportunity of meeting parents and relatives including ancestors in the graves as well as attending the local traditional festivals where local folks gather.
What is “BON” in details will be reported soon later.
Furusato for me
I was born in Tokyo, Asakusa, and grown up here from babyhood through to university and started working here, which made my “Furusato” Tokyo where my parents once lived with ancestors buried in the grave located in Tokyo. After ten years working in Tokyo, I was transferred to the subsidiary in Hong Kong, it was the first time for me to leave Tokyo. I had serving there for seven and half years, then had been transferred back to Japan but not to Tokyo, to Osaka, where I stayed for almost thirteen years. In total, I was away from Tokyo, my Furusato, for two decades. One day in these Osaka days, when I was going to the U.S. on business, I departed at Osaka Itami airport, and needed to transit in Tokyo. There are two airports in Tokyo, Haneda and Narita airport, where I had to use the bus between the two airports. During its one-hour bus trip, the scenery I saw, the Tokyo Tower, many buildings, many cars of on the highway and the Tokyo Bay, urged me to think of going back to my Furusato Tokyo.
The second verse of “Furusatoふるさと” is;
いかにいます父母 How are my parents there?
つつがなきや 友がき How are my friends there?
雨に風につけても On the day of raining, blowing wind,
思い出ずる ふるさと I miss my Furusato
In those time, I immured myself in the job of the product planning for international market with repeated business trips abroad, although was sometime agonized about business negotiation or making decision. I had feeling, however, of satisfaction in my career and the value of my job. At just that time the scenery in Tokyo reminded me the face of my mother, friends and all memories when I was there.
The third verse of “Furusato” is;
志をはたして Once I fulfill my wish,
いつの日にか帰らん At some time, I will be back
山は青き ふるさと to my Furusato with blue mountains
水は清き ふるさと to my Furusato with pure water
Anyone has “Furusato”
The scene of this song “Furusato” is different from that I have in Tokyo, but for me the sentiment of the song is same as I have in mind. Although the superficial scene of the song “Furusato” differs in other countries in the world, the feeling of anyone having to their home town may not be unalike.
Currently, in the situation where so many people are forced to be away from their Furusato, I really wish them to try to find the time of visiting their Furusato, so the scene there will , I believe , bring them something new with peaceful mind.
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