The folk songs of the Oki Archipelago are characterized by “dossari” melodies whose origins are said to lie in Chiburijima.

During the Edo Period (1603-1868), Chiburijima prospered as a port of call to cargo vessels. One day, Omatsu, the daughter of a Chiburijima fisherman, fell in love with a young sailor from Niigata Prefecture. However, cargo ships only stopped to wait for a favorable wind. After this short wait, Omatsu and her lover were fated to separate.
Omatsu could not forget that sailor, and to ease her loneliness she would hum a song that the sailor had sung for her. The people who heard her, however, had said that her humming was a bit off from what the sailor would sing. With a lonely smile, she would reply the melody was “close enough.”
What exactly does “dossari” mean?

“Dossari” melodies perhaps relate to this sentiment of not being able to live without something, but nevertheless going on somehow
“By the sea I await a letter;
Only the rustling pine trees provide company.
The wait eats me alive;
Yet waiting is all I can do.”