So many of the stamps I write about display how a far off place is changing. Japan like so many places saw movement of people to big cities and delay of mairage to allow the female to establish a career. A song for children came out of that, perhaps to remind how things once were. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp is from a long issue of Japanese issues celebrating classic Japanese music, one song at a time. What a great idea for a series of stamps, recognizing the culture as a national treasure. This song is called Akatombo, written in 1927, based on a poem from 1921. You can hear the song here, https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=japanese+song+red+dragonfly&docid=608042600148697588&mid=7F1C6AA85CEADCDA3BD57F1C6AA85CEADCDA3BD5&view=detail&FORM=VIRE .
Todays stamp is issue A982, a 50 Yen stamp issued by Japan on September 18th, 1980. Two stamps from this long series were issued on that day. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.
The song imagines from the point of view of a young adult looking back. The fantasy/memory of a toddler boy being carried on the shoulders of his big sister back home in a small Japanese village and spotting a red dragon fly siting at the end of a bamboo pole during the colors of sunset. Adding melancholy to the memory is that the big sister at 15 was about to go off and marry never to be heard from again and the toddler was to grow up into a man who gives up his village himself. The song was part of the 1920-1930s Doyo movement in Japanese children’s music. The Doyo movement sought to address the overemphasis on patriotism and westernization in what was coming in the new public schools’ music curriculum.
The song started as a poem by Rofu Miki. His story was close to the story except it was mama that left the home never to be heard from again when his parents divorced at age 5. After the divorce Miki’s mother became a large force in the Japanese women’s movement. When she was laid to rest in 1962, her tombstone read, “Here lies the mother of the dragon fly”.
The song is still very popular in Japan and not just for children. It is often played on I guess not quite church bells at 5:00 o’clock PM signaling the end of the workday. The home village of Miki also has a monument to the song.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the village dragonfly. Who of us cannot relate. Come again soon for another story to be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.