The word "yurikago" means "cradle" or "bassinet".

You can find the pronunciation to the song in the notes.

Notes

Pronunciation:

Yurikago no uta

Yurikago no uta o
Kanariya ga utau yo
Nenneko Nenneko
Nenneko yo

Yurikago no ue ni
Biwa no mi ga yureru yo
Nenneko Nenneko
Nenneko yo

Yurikago no tsuna o
Kinezumi ga yusuru
Nenneko Nenneko
Nenneko yo

Yurikago no yume ni
Kiiroi tsuki ga kakaru yo
Nenneko Nenneko
Nenneko yo

Comments

Alicia Smith wrote, "My toddler daughter learned this song at daycare, and she sings it all the time before she sleeps, rocking her dolly."

You can find more versions of Yurikago on Mama Lisa's World Blog. Feel free to add the version you know there or share your memories about this song. You can hear another version here.

Download

Many thanks to Linda Austin from Moonbridge Books for singing this lullaby for us!

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Thanks to Alicia Smith for the translation, the Japanese text and for sharing her video. Alicia wrote, "Translation between the 2 languages is so dissimilar it's difficult, but the meaning goes something like this (translation above)."

Many thanks to Debbie, aka Dosankodebbie for her etegami illustration of a Japanese cradle. Debbie has a wonderful blog featuring her etegami called Dosankodebbie's Etegami Notebook. You can also visit Debbie's etegami shop on Etsy. Here's what Debbie wrote about her illustration, "The cradle is an Ainu cradle. The Ainu are the indigenous people of northern Japan. Much of the translating (and art) I've done over the past fifteen years has been Ainu-related. This type of cradle is called a 'shinta'."

Many thanks to Linda Austin from Moonbridge Books for the second etegami illustration of loquats! Check out Linda's book about her mother's experiences in Japan during WWII.

Arigato gozaimasu!