Ifumuke - Ifumuke

...The former is a song in which a mother literally rocks her baby slowly and rhythmically in a cradle, while the latter refers to a song that repeats meaningless syllables such as "aruru-ru," "la la la," "dodo," "na-na," "nani-nani," and "nin-ni." This type is the same as Japanese phrases such as "Nenne korori yo..." and "Ororonkororon," and Ainu phrases such as "Horororo..." and "Oho, lulu, ohohe" found in Ihumuke (lullabies), and can be interpreted as a vestige of the ancient magical function of calming the soul and warding off evil, rather than the practical effect of inducing a child to sleep by repeating the same syllable phrase endlessly. In this type of lullaby, words that come to mind at the time are often inserted into the repetitive phrases in an improvised manner.

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "Ifumuke" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…前者は母親が文字通りゆりかごをゆっくりとリズミカルに揺すって幼児をあやす歌であり，後者は〈アルールー〉〈ララーラー〉〈ドードー〉〈ナーナー〉〈ナニーナニー〉〈ニンニー〉のような意味のない音節群を反復する歌を意味する。このタイプは日本の〈ねんねんころりよ……〉とか〈オロロンコロロン〉のような句やアイヌのイフムケ(子守歌)に聞かれる〈ホロロロ……〉や〈オホ，ルル，オホヘ〉の句と同類で，同じ音節句を際限なく繰り返して子どもの眠りを誘うという実際的な効果以前に，太古における鎮魂･除厄の呪術的な機能のなごりと解釈することができる。この種の子守歌ではこれら反復句の間にそのときどきに思い浮かんだ言葉を即興的に投入してうたわれることが多い。…

※「イフムケ」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報