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Sakura Sakura on the ocarina

Updated 2026-10-29

Sakura Sakura starts A, A, B, then A, A, B again, slow and even, one note for each syllable of its name. Here are all fourteen bars of the tune in A minor, from low B up to high C, with no sharps or flats. Low B needs a sub-hole, so this is a song for a 12-hole ocarina.

What are the notes for Sakura Sakura on the ocarina?

Sakura Sakura, played here in A minor, 4/4 time, bar by bar: A, A, B | A, A, B | A, B, high C, B | A, B, A, F | E, C, E, F | E, E, C, low B | A, B, high C, B | A, B, A, F | E, C, E, F | E, E, C, low B | A, A, B | A, A, B | E, F | B, A, F, E. Press Play to hear the tune.

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  1. A
  2. A
  3. B
  4. A
  5. A
  6. B
  7. A
  8. B
  9. high C
  10. B
  11. A
  12. B
  13. A
  14. F
  15. E
  16. C
  17. E
  18. F
  19. E
  20. E
  21. C
  22. low B
  23. A
  24. B
  25. high C
  26. B
  27. A
  28. B
  29. A
  30. F
  31. E
  32. C
  33. E
  34. F
  35. E
  36. E
  37. C
  38. low B
  39. A
  40. A
  41. B
  42. A
  43. A
  44. B
  45. Bkeep holding
  46. E
  47. F
  48. B
  49. A
  50. F
  51. E

What is the tricky spot in Sakura Sakura?

The leap from low B at the end of the sixth bar up to A at the start of the seventh, the widest jump in the tune; it comes again after the tenth bar. On a 12-hole, Sakura Sakura goes from low B to A: you lift the left ring, right index, right middle, right ring, right pinky and right sub-hole.

Low B is every main hole plus the right sub-hole, so seal them all before you blow, and blow very gently; then lift the fingers for A together, not one at a time. The tune moves in two-bar phrases that each end on a long note, B, F or low B, and on E at the very end: breathe after the long note, never in the middle of a phrase. The quick pairs, B and A, E and C, are slurred in the 1888 printing, so tongue only the first note of each pair and let the second follow on the same breath. Near the end that printing has a beat of silence before the E and F in bar 13; our tabs hold the B through it, but you can stop the B early and take your last breath there.

Which ocarina can play Sakura Sakura?

A 6-hole or 4-hole ocarina cannot reach low B, so play Sakura Sakura in this key on a 12-hole ocarina in C. On an ocarina in G or F, use the same fingerings: the tune sounds in a different key, which is fine when you play alone. The linked chart has every fingering, and you can check your notes with a tuner such as our free ocarina tuner.

Where does Sakura Sakura come from?

Not from ancient times, as many people think: it was a popular urban tune of the Edo period, and it uses a Japanese five-note scale called the in scale, here the notes E, F, A, B and C. The oldest printing we found is the Tokyo Academy of Music's Collection of Japanese Koto Music, published by the Department of Education in October 1888 as a first book for koto students, where Sakura is the second piece. Our tabs follow its voice part, an octave higher. A songbook printed in Leipzig in 1904 gives the tune with a piano part by Georg Capellen and credits it to "Poet and Composer unknown". The 1888 book's preface says some tunes were newly made and that "the best originals are left entirely untouched in regard to their tunes"; the musicians who compiled it all died by 1943, so Sakura is public domain either way. We show the melody only. Music: traditional Japanese tune of the Edo period, as set down in 1888 by the music committee of the Japanese Department of Education.

More ocarina songs

Next medium song: Can-can. More: all the songs.