Tea picking song - Chatsumiiuta

Japanese: 茶摘歌 - ちゃつみうた

These are work songs sung while picking tea leaves in the tea fields. In the past, new leaves were picked by hand during the so-called 88th night season, from late April to early May. These songs were hummed by women employed to pick tea leaves from nearby areas while they were working. Therefore, there are no specific tea-picking songs, and many are adapted from tea-rolling songs and other work songs. Tea-rolling songs are songs sung during the tea-making process after rolling, and are sung while steaming, rolling, and twisting the picked tea leaves. Many of the tea masters who had the skill to roast the rolled tea leaves had beautiful voices, and since the masters were traveling craftsmen employed by tea fields as seasonal workers, the songs were carried to various places and took root as tea-picking songs and tea-rolling songs in the places they visited.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

茶畑で茶の葉を摘む作業のときにうたう仕事歌。4月下旬から5月上旬ごろの，いわゆる八十八夜の季節に昔は手で新しい葉を摘んだ。近在から茶摘みに雇われた女たちが仕事中に鼻歌風にうたった歌である。したがって特に決まった茶摘歌はなく茶揉（ちやもみ）歌やほかの作業歌を流用したものも多い。茶揉歌は茶揉み後の製茶工程の作業にうたわれる歌で，摘んだ茶の葉を蒸して，揉んで〈より〉をかける仕事の際にうたわれるもの。その揉んだ茶の葉を煎（い）る技術をもったほいろ師(お茶師)に美声の者が多く，ほいろ師は季節労働者として茶場に雇われた旅職人であったから，その歌が各地に運ばれて，行先の土地の茶摘歌，茶揉歌として根を下ろしたりした。

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

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