The den-den daiko is a small Japanese rattle drum used for distracting and entertaining babies and young children. It works for me, too. : )
The accompanying words quote the third section of the most well-known lullaby in Japan-- a song called the Edo Lullaby, from which, it is said, all other Japanese lullabies originate. A rough English translation (which loses all the sweet rhythm of the original), borrowed from Wikipedia, goes like this:
Hushabye, Hushabye! My good Baby, Sleep!
Where did my boy's baby-sitter go? Beyond that mountain, back to her home.
As a souvenir from her home, what did you get? A toy drum and a sho flute.
I drew the outline and the words with a ruined bamboo quill pen (that is now nothing more than a stick with a dull point) dipped in sumi ink.
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Love this piece. The diagonal composition with all the brush style lettering is awesome. Well done!
ReplyDeleteA delightful painting. I like these drums also.
ReplyDeleteLovely piece with a nice lullaby to accompany it! The Chinese people also have the same traditional toy and it's called 拨浪鼓 (Bo Lang Gu) in Chinese.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. I can hear it....
ReplyDeleteVery cool Deb! .... and informative. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're on IF...it's like getting postcards from Japan when I visit your blog. Beautiful work, as always. You always compose the page beautifully.
ReplyDeleteLOVE this, Debbie! I love the way the taiko looks like it is still in motion! My Japanese has gotten so rusty, I feel so ashamed I don't recognize all of the kanji. . . Gambatte ne!
ReplyDeleteEach illustration is a litle bit of information about Japan culture...so good!
ReplyDeleteI love your style! Asian art has always fascinated me. :-) Thank you so much for stopping by my blog.
ReplyDeleteWonderful!! And the translation made me giggle :)
ReplyDeleteAww, how lovely! Your blog is fantastic, great illustrations and so fascinating :)
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