Traditional Japanese Children’s Songs

Japan has many, many traditional songs spanning various genres. In other lesson pages, I would like to have a look at many different traditional songs, but for now let’s look at a few children’s songs.

You'll recognize the music for シャボン玉 (Bubbles) as based on Jesus Loves Me. You might know the Momotaro song (if not, I recommend starting there). And you surely know 桜 Sakura, the Cherry Blossoms song, but do you know 象さん, the Elephant Song, or 雀の学校, The Sparrow's School?

Choose a song lesson page below to hear the song recorded, see the lyrics, and learn with the vocabulary definitions.