cradles and lullabies

This is an image of an Ainu cradle, called a shinta. The Ainu are the indigenous people of northern Japan. The writing that accompanies the image is from the refrain of an old Japanese lullaby.

I sent the original etegami to my writer friend Linda Austin, whose work has inspired my etegami in the past (click here to see related post), but this image is also posted on the Mama Lisa's World website, as an illustration for a series of posts on lullabies from around the world.

Mama Lisa' World is chock full of cultural information and fun activities. If you have young children in your life, or you are involved in any way with international music and culture, you'll find lots of cool stuff there.