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Arirang Arirang Arariyo ~
Cross the Arirang Pass ....

Do you know the meaning of folk song Arirang representing Korean people?

I hear that the sound of Arirang means ”My husband / my lover” (l miss you) and Arariyo means ” remember me”.

Well known lyrics continuing with ”He will suffer from legs without going well” with that melancholy melody, are strong images of grudge (Talyong) who sang a woman’s grudge (Han) to the man who left her and not return.

I heard the words of nuance that they don’t want to hear now from Korean people. It could be said that the reasons are from the weight of that emotion or becoming familiar to the ear since there early childhood because it is too famous.

Arirang Pass is not a real pass but a legendary one, which is said to have been named after each pass later. Arirang folk songs are located in various places such as Jindo, Milyang, Jeongseon, Gyeonggi, Haijoo, and there are countless numbers of arrangements including contemporary arrangements.

But the origin of Arirang is simpler than ordinary Arirang. It can be said that Arirang is the raditional tune.

Last June, I visited Jeongseon, Gangneung City, which is said to be the birthplace of Arirang.

Rising up and falling in a twisty mountain road that seems to last forever. There is almost no car except occasionally passing big dumps, running by car with the view of the streams flowing deep in the green.

The history of Arirang is said to go back to the end of the Goryo period about 600 years ago, but the birthplace of the Arirang is the place where the water Seongcheon which flows from Daegwanryeog, which is the high peak of Pyeongchang County where the Winter Olympic Games will be held this time, and Korji River whichnis flows from Samcheok of Donghae(east) Sea meet.

It is a place called in meaning of ”eourojida” (mixed) in Korean, which two rivers join.

The song men sang carrying wood by raft to Hanyang (Seoul) with timber laid utilizing the flow of water, and women sang remembering their husbands who were traveling, while they were working, is ”Arirang”

When I got off the car in a mountain village Kuwi and came out to the river. The mountain streams approached to just front of the rock, and it was yellow and muddy after the rain.

It is said that when the amount of water of Songcheon River (positive water = yin-yang school) which is joined together is large in Auraji, flooding occurs, and the rainy season continues for a long time if the amount of water in the Korzi River(negative water) is large.
It is this valley that shows so many different facial expressions.

Han(grudge) is said to be a passion of Korean people. The Japanese tend to misunderstand that it is also a Korean people’s intense temper, and the Koreans themselves tend to get caught as a heavy grudge feeling.

However, I have experienced living in Korea and have been involved with Korea and Korean people for a long time. To me as a Japanese, it is never violent but heavy emotion, accepted their sad fate purified. It is felt like the will of people living stubbornly. It looks dry air just like the climate of the peninsula following the continent.

While dropping down the mountain road, I felt I listened the songs of Arirang would resonate, those were Arirang by men who raft the raft with timber laid towards Seoul (Hanyang) and Arirang women who wait with a scary feeling of their men return to this mountain.

”Hommage to Korea” Kim Yonna slipped as a theme song at the ice-skating world championship in 2012 was one of Arirang, and Arirang song that incorporated into the 2002 Japan-Korea World Cup soccer cheering song. Could it be the song or the melody flowing in Pyeongchang Olympic Games in Gangwon-do?Arirang Arirang Ararillo ~