There was this Japanese teacher at my school, Shibata-sensei -- an understated, intellectual man with a quiet power about him. He was in his fifties but he was in excellent shape. I heard that each day he got up at 5am, walked up the mountain behind his house to the temple up there, practised his karate and then meditated, presumably silhouetted against the rising sun behind him. He also ran the Kendo club. He was big on the very traditional Japanese arts but also very modern in his attitudes.
He invited me round to his place one winter's night and we were served an impressive series of dishes, followed up by warm sake. He was something of a philosopher, being a practising Buddhist, and liked to discuss customs and beliefs in our respective countries. This particular night we were sitting under the kotatsu, that is a table with a quilt sitting underneath the table-top that you drape over your legs; underneath there is a little heater that creates a toasty-warm oven for your lower regions. It's, as far as I know, only in Japan that these are used. (In part this is simply a cheap solution to flimsy old-style Japanese houses with about as much insulation as a cardboard box.)
Anyway, as we drank our sake he told us how he loved the Kotastu, for "the legs are warm but the head is clear." Classic Shibata. The phrase always stuck with me and formed the basis for this song.From the chorus (using the Roman alphabet):
Ashi ga atatakai, atatakai ga [My legs are warm, they're warm but]
Atama o sukkiri sasete kuru [my head is clear]
Boku wa ureshii, ureshii [I am happy, happy]
Kotastu no shita ni [under the kotatsu]
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