Takeda No Komoriuta

The Lullaby of Takeda

This is probaby Japan's most famous lullaby; the gentle song of a child longing for home. But the underlying story is heartbreaking; in the olden days children were sold by their poor parents into often harsh domestic service and couldn't return home until they were twenty years old, by which time their parents were usually gone. It's a story that crosses Asia.

See also an English Nursery song