Abstract
This composition consists of 142 short entries treating the historical changes in a vast array of eighteenth-century topics: kimono fashions and women’s hair styles, street vendors, city shops, old and new headgear, food and housing, children’s games, pleasure boats, raconteurs, prostitutes, festivals, Confucianists, fiction writing, and plenty more. This information is based on the memory of a relatively open-minded samurai named Shibamura Morimichi (1722–?). Unlike many writers of his day, Morimichi evaluates many of the transformations he experienced in the course of almost nine decades in a largely positive light and expresses doubt that things were any better in the past.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
On Shibamura’s biography see Mori Senzō, “Asukagawa no chosha.” Kansei chōshū shoka-fu (vol. 7, p. 638) gives the reading of the name as Morimichi, though Morikata may also be possible.
- 2.
The name “Asukagawa” is best known from poem 933 of the Kokin wakashū (p. 291), which remarks, “What remains constant in this world? Yesterday’s tranquil pools of the Asuka River have today become rapids” (see also Helen Craig McCullough, trans., Kokin Wakashū, p. 205).
- 3.
The Nihon zuihitsu taisei edition cuts the preface found in both the Enseki jisshu edition and the Mikiki-gusa version.
- 4.
The Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 213) erroneously gives Bunsei instead of Bunka.
- 5.
This style was fashionable among warrior-class youths during the early Edo period.
- 6.
In most cases the tatekake or tatekake-gami style, in which a bundle of hair from the top of the head was made to stand upright as a topknot, refers to a male hairdo, one supposedly invented by the jōruri reciter Edo Handayū (?–1743). Perhaps the author is referring to the “Hyōgo mage” or “Tate-hyōgo” hairstyle, at first particularly favored by Yoshiwara courtesans, but eventually worn by middle-class women.
- 7.
The back-hair bun supporter (tabosashi or tabusashi) was an implement introduced into the back hair (tabo) in order to make it appear fuller and to keep it from touching the kimono collar. In the printed text the term I render as “large back-hair bun supporter” reads oshitafu mawashi, which makes no sense. The Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 214) gives ō-tabushi, which I take to be a copying error for ō-tabusashi. On bun supporters see also “The Spider’s Reel,” vol. 2, no. 3; and Rekisei josō-kō, pp. 303–304; Hōryaku genrai-shū, vol. 1, p. 36; and Kanazawa Yasutaka, Edo keppatsu-shi, pp. 144, 292.
- 8.
Mitsutori normally refers to the mitsu-ori or mitsu-orikaeshi style, a male hairdo popular among laborers during the 1710s (see Waga koromo, p. 15). The author was presumably referring to an analogous women’s hairstyle in which the hair was folded over twice or shaped into three segments or parts.
- 9.
Regarding inflated terms of address see also Chirizuka-dan, p. 276 (no. 21).
- 10.
On “summer raincoats” and extravagance in appellations see also Chirizuka-dan, p. 269 (no. 2), p. 276 (no. 21).
- 11.
Concerning kamishimo see also “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” note 13. Such outfits were originally usually made of ramie fabric, so silk was already considered luxurious. Chau, or more fully chau-jima, was a taffeta-like silk fabric brought to Japan by the Portuguese from Chaul in India. From the 1690s it was also produced in the Nishijin district of Kyoto. Ito santome was a lustrous cotton textile into which twisted silk thread was woven. Santome was originally manufactured and imported from São Tomé (today Mylapore in southeastern India, at the time a Portuguese outpost) and later replicated in Japan.
- 12.
From the early eighteenth century Hachiōji (today Tōkyō-to) was an important market for plain-weave silk (hira) and other fabrics.
- 13.
This term is problematic. All copies give Kogane hira (“plain-weave from Kogane”). Although a post station on the Mito highway called Kogane existed, it was not known for its fabrics. Based on the Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 215), I take the word to be an orthographical error (with the character sha written in abbreviated form) for shakin (also called kinsha), a fine and light chirimen-style silk crêpe popular for summer wear.
- 14.
On tsumoji see “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” note 143. Onimoji was a coarser fabric of a similar type.
- 15.
Kawagoe (Saitama Prefecture) was famed for plain-weave silks but later earned a reputation for producing its own version of tō-zantome (see also notes 11 and 16).
- 16.
Tō-zantome could refer either to santome proper or more broadly to various imported fabrics from south Asia. By stipulating “authentic” (hon) tō-zantome the author was probably referring to the former.
- 17.
Printed texts give tsukishima for the last-mentioned fabric, but the Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 215) indicates tsuki to be a misreading of dō (i.e., “same as above,” here “Gunnai”) shima (stripes). On Gunnai silk see “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” note 21.
- 18.
Echigo crêpe (Echigo chijimi) is discussed at length in Suzuki Bokushi’s Hokuetsu seppu (pp. 24–29). In English see Jeffrey Hunter and Rose Lesser, trans., Snow Country Tales, pp. 62–78.
- 19.
For more on head coverings see “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” no. 8.
- 20.
The silk fabric also called kohaku-ori (literally “woven amber”) was originally either a thin or thick version of the chau fabric known as tō-chau (fine-textured and with a diagonal structure). Thick kohaku was first produced in Japan at Nishijin in Kyoto during the 1680s. For “Sendai plain-weave silk” (Sendai hira) from the north (Miyagi Prefecture) the woof was made of scoured silk thread and the weft of untwined semi-scoured silk thread. The weft is soaked in water and struck twice to render the texture of the fabric more dense. Seigō hira is a high-quality silk textile in which scoured thread is used only for the stripes. Ryūmon was originally imported from China and Korea, but during the Edo period the term referred to a Japanese-made plain-weave silk, usually but not always unfigured, with thick threads.
- 21.
Ueda-jima was a striped pongee (tsumugi) known for its strength. It was manufactured from the eighteenth century in the Ueda area of what is today Nagano Prefecture.
- 22.
In shima-chirimen the threads used for the stripes are taken from wild silkworms (Antheraea yamamai). The threads do not dye easily and thus a natural pattern results.
- 23.
See also Chirizuka-dan, p. 303 (no. 106, VI).
- 24.
The shop of Suzuki Echigo-no-jō is listed in the 1824 Edo kaimono hitori annai as sanctioned by the emperor and serving as an official supplier to imperial messengers to Nikkō. “Kikyō-ya Kawachi” was already in business in 1698 and was still operating in 1809. “Torikai Izumi-no-jō” is listed in 1824 as standing on the third block of Honchō. This shop supplied confections to the Tayasu and Hitotsubashi branches of the Tokugawa clan.
- 25.
Izukura-ya Kichiemon, who lived in Kyoto, was vending silk fabrics at his shop on the fourth block of Honchō in Edo from at least 1692 and his successors were still active in the Meiji era. By 1824 the shop was also selling cotton cloth, candles from Kyoto, and other products. See also Chirizuka-dan, pp. 289–290 (no. 79).
- 26.
In 1673 the Ise merchant Mitsui Takatoshi (1622–1694) founded a minor draper’s shop at the first block of Honchō. At his business any length of cloth could be purchased for a set amount of cash. After the great conflagration of 1682/12/28, this outlet was moved to Suruga-chō (Map 7). The enterprise eventually turned into the Mitsukoshi department store and the gigantic Mitsui conglomerate.
- 27.
“Daikoku-ya” may refer to the shop founded by Kokubu Kanbee IV (?–1739) of Izawa Village in Ise Province (today in Matsusaka-shi, Mie Prefecture). Later Kanbee went into the soy-sauce business in Hitachi Province (Ibaraki Prefecture) and amassed a fortune. The Takekawa (or Takegawa) house, later active mainly in money-changing, stemmed from the same location in Ise.
- 28.
After the 1660s the third block of Ōdenma-chō became Tōri-hatago-chō (Map 8). The shop of Urokogata Magobee was in business from the late 1650s until the early nineteenth century. At first Magobee published jōruri books and distributed “Hachimonji-ya” books from Kyoto (see note 113), but later he took to issuing illustrated fiction, guides to Yoshiwara, and kibyōshi novellas.
- 29.
Daimaru-ya Shōemon founded his enterprise at Tōri-hatago-chō (Map 8) in 1743. “Daimaru,” the same company in a different guise, still exists today.
- 30.
Regarding “Echigo-ya” see note 26 above. The “Shiroki-ya” had been founded as a haberdashery by 1662. After many relocations and expansions, it entered the eighteenth century as one of the largest silk-cloth merchants in Edo.
- 31.
Perhaps this refers to the fire that broke out on 1801/11/26 at Kanda Rōsoku-chō close to Kamakura-gashi. It burned some fourteen wards.
- 32.
Precisely in 1797. On the Yushima Seidō see also “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” no. 68 and note 177.
- 33.
“Nara fans” (nara uchiwa), originally manufactured in Nara, were made of oblong paper glued to ribs attached to a thin wooden handle. Designs of such fans were often cut out of the fan paper. See also “The Spider’s Reel,” vol. 1, no. 2.
- 34.
The name “wildcat manipulator” refers to performers who offered puppet shows on the streets and then, to the delight of children, manipulated a stuffed object that resembled a weasel or wildcat. See Groemer, Street Performers and Society in Urban Japan, pp. 224–229.
- 35.
For a discussion of Yojirō and tataki see Groemer, Street Performers, pp. 79–81.
- 36.
See “An Eastern Stirrup,” note 104.
- 37.
The “Single-word Kannon” granted one-word requests. It counted as the twenty-seventh Kannon in an Edo circuit of thirty-three such deities (see the 1735 Zoku Edo sunago, p. 466). In 1927, after the great Kantō earthquake, it was moved some twelve kilometers to the northeast to the Ichikawa Betsuin (or Genkōji; today at Ichikawa-shi Kōnodai 5-26-12 in Chiba Prefecture).
- 38.
See “An Eastern Stirrup,” Illustration 2.13.
- 39.
The Komadome Bridge spanned a narrow canal running east/west slightly to the north of the eastern foot of Ryōgoku Bridge.
- 40.
The reference is of course to Chūshingura , a puppet theater and kabuki version of the 1702 vendetta of forty-seven loyal retainers (see Donald Keene, trans. Chūshingura ). In the play Ōishi was the leader of this revenge. Takase boats were small flat-bottomed vessels often used to transport cargo.
- 41.
According to legend, at the Komadome Bridge a beautiful maiden named Okoma was murdered by one Tomezō, whose advances she had refused. After amputating one of her arms and legs, he threw the corpse into the canal. Thereafter “one-sided rush” (kataha no ashi, “rush” [ashi] is roughly homonymous with “leg”) supposedly grew in the area surrounding the location.
- 42.
Nagai Iori was perhaps Nagai Naokado (1739–1792), a bannerman who worked his way up to the position of Nagasaki town magistrate. Naokado’s father Naoyoshi (1708–1782) and son Naotaka (1766–?) also assumed the name Iori.
- 43.
Tōdō Izumi-no-kami (Takatora, 1556–1630) was a major bakufu figure during the city’s earliest years. His chief residence stood near the Izumidono Bridge (Map 3) on the Kanda River, but the house in question here was located immediately to the north-northeast of the Komadome Bridge.
- 44.
Aoyama San’emon was probably the bannerman Aoyama Nobutada (1734–after 1796), though his father Yoshinaga (1708–1760) served in the identical position. Tsuru Buzaemon is most likely the bannerman Tsuru Nobutsugu (1723–1768), who was promoted to inspector of river shipping in 1759, a position earlier held by his father Tsurutō (1678–1759), who also assumed the name Buzaemon.
- 45.
The quarter immediately to the north of Ryōgoku Bridge was also called Fujishiro-chō (literally “alternate ward of Fuji,” with Fuji being another reading of the ideograph “Tō” in Tōzaemon). The land was granted as “substitute property” to one Mōri (or “Iseya”) Tōzaemon whose real estate in Sarue Village (“Mōri Shinden,” today Mōri and Sumiyoshi in Kōtō-ku) had been confiscated in 1734 for the purpose of constructing a lumber storehouse.
- 46.
I have rendered Chaya-machi literally as “area of teahouses,” though in other regions of the city, such as spots before the Kaminari Gate of Sensōji (Map 10), at Yanaka (Map 2), or at Kōjimachi (Map 2), “Chaya-machi” was a proper name. Other books also speak of a “Chaya-machi” near Ryōgoku Bridge. Hitotsume Bridge, to the southeast of Ryōgoku Bridge, spanned the Tatekawa, a canal running perpendicular into the Sumida River.
- 47.
Unlicensed prostitutes known as “silver cats” and “golden cats” were active in the area. See also “The Spider’s Reel,” note 15 and vol. 1, no. 17, section 26.
- 48.
This refers to an important element of the “township agencies” (machi kaisho) established to supply disaster relief. The agencies were set up after the riots attending the famines of the 1780s. See also Chirizuka-dan, p. 290 (no. 81); and “Disaster Days,” 10/13. Granaries stood at Asakusa Mukō-yanagiwara (Map 7), Fukagawa Hashitomi-chō (close to Tokiwa-chō and immediately to the east of Shin-ōhashi, Map 7), and Kanda Sujikai-bashi uchi (Map 3).
- 49.
See also Chirizuka-dan, p. 279 (no. 31).
- 50.
See also vol. 1, no. 5 of “The Spider’s Reel.” Though various dates have been proposed, construction seems to have begun in 1771 and was completed after 1773. For a detailed English-language study see Timothy Clark, “The Rise and Fall of the Island of Nakazu.”
- 51.
Along with the Meguro Fudō and the Mejiro Fudō, the Shingon-school Yagenbori Fudō (today Yagenbori Fudō-in at Higashi-nihonbashi 2-6-8), legendarily founded in 1585, counted as one of the “three Fudō” of Edo. It was moved several times but eventually reverted to its old location. After 1892 it became the Tokyo branch of the Shingon-school Kawasaki Daishi, a temple based in Kawasaki (Kanagawa Prefecture). Fudō or Fudō Myōō (Skt., Acala-vidyārāja), a protective deity and destroyer of obstacles, is often portrayed with a highly wrathful expression. See also no. 34 below.
- 52.
Before being partly filled in 1699 and again in 1771, Yagenbori turned northwards at a ninety-degree angle at the spot where Map 8 indicates its end, and continued for some three times this length.
- 53.
This was a type of window grille (kōshi) made of thin, densely spaced wooden slats carved in a triangular manner to allow those inside to see out but not vice versa. E’ichi-ya Sōsuke supposedly contrived this device during the late seventeenth century. See Kiyūshōran, vol. 1, p. 31.
- 54.
From around the Muromachi period such pilgrims deposited a copy of the “Lotus Sutra” at sixty-six holy sites. During the Edo period pilgrims assuming the same name (sometimes abbreviated to “pilgrims of six sites” [rokubu]), lugged around a case containing a holy image, sounded a hand gong or sistrum, and begged for coins.
- 55.
Modern editions include garbled ideographs. I follow the Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 218).
- 56.
The Tennō Bridge was more formally called Sugabashi. It took its popular name from the fact that a Gozu Tennō Shrine stood nearby. Since the bridge led, among other things, to the city’s execution grounds, it was also nicknamed “the bridge to hell” (Jigokubashi). The second bridge was erected in 1772.
- 57.
For a good illustration of the Yoshiwara lanterns see Tōto saijiki, vol. 2, pp. 178–179. Yoshiwara niwaka were originally impromptu theatricals. They flourished in the nineteenth century, though by this time they had become lavish parades with floats, female dancers, and musicians. In English see de Becker, The Nightless City, pp. 334–348; Seigle, Yoshiwara, p. 108; Allen Hockley, The Prints of Isoda Koryūsai, pp. 127–128.
- 58.
Ageya-chō was a block in Yoshiwara once containing many houses of assignation (ageya), where customers met high-grade courtesans. Such houses disappeared during the middle of the eighteenth century after lower-ranking prostitutes had largely superseded the high-class courtesans who required or desired the mediation of the ageya. Ageya-chō then became a block of small businesses and residences.
- 59.
During the Edo period Yoshiwara burned to the ground more than 20 times (see the “incidental note” at the end of no. 5 of “The Spider’s Reel”), so it is difficult to determine which fire is meant here. Perhaps the author is referring to the blaze of 1771/4/23, which began at a shop at Ageya-chō and reduced the entire quarter to ashes. See Tōkyō-shi shikō, hensai-hen, vol. 4, pp. 1005–1006.
- 60.
See also Chirizuka-dan, pp. 297–298 (no. 103).
- 61.
Date Tsunamune was the third lord of the Sendai domain. Takao was an inherited name (myōseki) transmitted through many occupational generations. The Takao in question here is probably Takao II (see also no. 39 below, and “The Spider’s Reel,” vol. 2, no. 15), who was employed by the “Miura-ya.” The dating “Keian period” can hardly be correct, for Tsunamune would only have been twelve years old at its close. Instead, the murder allegedly took place in 1660, during the Manji period (1658–1661). The incident has, however, been viewed as apocryphal at least since Santō Kyozan debunked it in 1847 (see Rekisei josō-kō, pp. 290–295). In any case, Tsunamune was ordered into retirement at the age of twenty-one for his alleged debauches. This then triggered the political struggles known as the “Date disturbances.” For details on Takao and Tsunamune see Ihon Dōbō goen, p. 223, Kinsei kiseki-kō , pp. 343–345, Takao-kō, p. 25, Chirizuka-dan, pp. 297–298 (no. 103), and Toen shōsetsu, pp. 219–220. In English see de Becker, The Nightless City, pp. 373–378; and Seigle, Yoshiwara, pp. 58–61.
- 62.
Probably Takao VI, also known as Sakakibara Takao or Echigo Takao. In 1741 Sakakibara Masamine, third lord of the Harima-Himeji domain, ransomed her for an astronomical sum. That this Takao was the last is doubtful, though in 1720 the Ihon Dōbō goen also enumerates precisely seven generations (p. 223). In 1804, however, Santō Kyōden could list a total of eleven generations (Kinsei kiseki-kō , pp. 343–345).
- 63.
For the layout of Yoshiwara see Ihon Dōbō goen, p. 227. In English see Seigle, Yoshiwara, p. 54. Suidojiri (or Suidōjiri), literally “end of the aqueduct,” stood at the southern end of the main street leading down the middle of the quarter.
- 64.
The 1824 Edo kaimono hitori annai still lists an Igarashi Heigorō, perhaps related, as running a pomade and cosmetic shop, “the first in Edo,” at Ryōgoku Yoshikawa-chō (Map 8).
- 65.
These cakes (ikuyo-mochi), made from pounded glutinous rice, were baked and then covered with sweet bean-paste. Honchō seji danki, published in 1734, states (p. 445) that the shop stood at the western end of Ryōgoku Bridge, but in earlier years the owner had already been selling mochi at Teppōzu (Map 7). His sister Kamon had married a wealthy peasant from Warabi-juku (today Warabi-shi in Saitama Prefecture) who was placed in charge of the shop from 1704. The business flourished, other branches sprung up here and there, and imitators even appeared as far away as Osaka (Morisada mankō, vol. 5, p. 71).
- 66.
See also Chirizuka-dan, pp. 280, 289, 296 (nos. 38, 78, and 96).
- 67.
See also Chirizuka-dan, p. 287 (no. 67).
- 68.
“Tentokuji ” were substandard futon with a paper covering. The name supposedly derives from the fact that they were originally sold at shops before Tentokuji, a temple at Shiba Nishikubo in Edo.
- 69.
The shape is that of a bent rectangle. See also “The Spider’s Reel,” vol. 1, no. 2; and Chirizuka-dan, p. 289 (no. 78).
- 70.
Modern editions skip the next sentence so I follow the Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 219). Honryūin, a branch temple of Sensōji (also named Kinryūzan) supposedly founded in 595, contained a sanctuary dedicated to Shōden (or Kangiten, Skt.,Vināyaka) and the entire complex was popularly known as the Matsuchiyama Shōden. The proper name of the temple was actually Matsuchiyama. The complex stood on a slight hill some 500 meters northeast of Sensōji. Legend had it that this hill suddenly appeared out of the ocean along with the celestial protective golden dragon (kinryū) that gave Kinryūzan its name. Today Honryūin stands at Asakusa 7-4-1.
- 71.
Shiso normally blooms in September. Today shiso ears or seedpods are often served as a garnish for raw sliced fish; or else they are turned into tempura . This section is included as part of no. 50 in the Mikiki-gusa copy (pp. 219–220). Yōjitaru might be translated as “it serves the purpose.”
- 72.
I follow the Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 220), for modern editions state, entirely improbably, that nobody in the commoner-class districts uses these hairdressers. On women’s hairdressers see also “The Spider’s Reel,” vol. 1, no. 4.
- 73.
Again, I follow the Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 220), since modern editions of this entry contain evident misreadings.
- 74.
Torioi , literally “bird-chasers” were female hinin (outcaste ) street musicians who dressed in attractive clothing, played the shamisen and sang auspicious songs. They tended to be called onna-dayū when they performed after New Year’s. “Daikoku dancers,” usually men, were also normally of the hinin class. They exhibited a lively, felicitous dance before doorways. Daikoku or Daikokuten (Skt., Mahākāla) is one of the “seven lucky gods,” often portrayed standing on a bale of rice while shouldering a hefty sack on his left side and wielding a small mallet in his right hand. On torioi and “Daikoku dancers” see Groemer, Street Performers, pp. 79–93.
- 75.
Ark shells were attached to ends of two cords to form a “shell horse” (akagai-uma). The child stepped onto the shells, held the cords in the hands, and clip-clopped around pretending to be grasping a horse’s reins.
- 76.
Ken is similar to the “rock-paper-scissors” game and exists in many variants. For “basic ken” each of two players simultaneously extends the fingers of one hand and calls out a number. If the number shouted out equals the total number of fingers of both players, that player is ruled the winner. For detailed explanations and illustrations of the ken game from 1809 see Ken-sarae sumai zue. For an English-language introduction see Sepp Linhart, “Some Thoughts on the Ken Game in Japan.”
- 77.
For a transcription and discussion of the piece see Gerald Groemer, Goze, pp. 92–95.
- 78.
The “Sanja festival,” still celebrated today, honors the deities of the Sanja Shrine (today Asakusa Jinja), which lies within the premises of Sensōji.
- 79.
The author labels the candy kudari gyōsen. Kudari refers to an item imported to Edo from Kyoto, and gyōsen is a dialect pronunciation of jiōsen (the medicinal plant Rehmannia glutinosa). The candy, which evidently contained the juice of this herb, counted as a specialty of shops standing before the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. The 1690 Jinrin kinmō zui notes (p. 229) that another famous maker of this item, the “Kikuichi-monji-ya,” was located before the Rinzai-school Tōfukuji in Kyoto (today Hon-machi 15–778 in Higashiyama-ku). For a detailed discussion see Oroka oi, pp. 102–106.
- 80.
These items were called nishime-gashi and eventually turned into what is today known as oden. Typically each piece, selected by the customer, cost four coppers.
- 81.
Ōji was a village located to the northwest of Edo (today in Kita-ku). Perhaps “Ōji Canal” referred to the Shakujii-gawa (sometimes known as Ōjigawa), a waterway that flows through Ōji into the Sumida River (today at Horifune in Kita-ku). Or else the Ōji Canal was identical to Kamiya-bori or Jinbee-bori (Kamiya 1 in Kita-ku, today no longer extant). Some seven kilometers separate either site from Ushijima.
- 82.
The boat seems to have seated about thirty passengers.
- 83.
The Tendai-school monk Tenkai (1536–1643) and his idol, the famous Tendai priest Ryōgen (912–985), were considered the two great priests (daishi) who founded Tōeizan (Kan’eiji). A monthly ceremony took their statues on a tour of the thirty-six halls of the temple. On the Yagenbori Fudō, see note 51 above.
- 84.
Toyotake Hizen-no-jō was a jōruri reciter from Osaka. In 1738 he founded the Hizen-za at Sakai-chō in Edo, where he worked as owner, manager, and chief reciter. He helped to diffuse the gidayū-style of jōruri to Edo. His theater lasted until the 1780s.
- 85.
On Shidōken see also Chirizuka-dan, pp. 293–294 (no. 88). In English see Groemer, Street Performers, pp. 245–249; and W. Puck Brecher, The Aesthetics of Strangeness, pp. 111–115. Umamichi was divided into a northern “Kita-umamichi” and a southern “Minami-umamichi.”
- 86.
On Keshinosuke see Groemer, Street Performers, pp. 218–222.
- 87.
Tatsumatsu Hachirōbee (?–1734) was a renowned puppeteer. He arrived in Edo from Osaka in 1719 and founded the Tatsumatsu-za at Sakai-chō.
- 88.
On maki-bin see also “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” no. 59.
- 89.
The gelatinous mass known as tokoroten was forced with a plunger through a small, long rectangular wooden strainer (tentsuki) to form noodles.
- 90.
On daikagura see “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” no. 2; and Groemer, Street Performers, pp. 162–169. Some juggling was already performed with drumsticks in the early eighteenth century, but in time daikagura performances became increasingly acrobatic.
- 91.
Izumi-chō would seem to refer to Sakurada Izumi-chō (today Shinbashi 2 and Nishi-shinbashi 1 in Minato-ku). More probably, however, this is an orthographical error for Izumo-chō, slightly to the west of Hachikan-chō. For more on nun-prostitutes, see Groemer, Street Performers, pp. 126–135. See also “The Spider’s Reel,” vol. 1, no. 17, section 23.
- 92.
See also Chirizuka-dan p. 282 (no. 46).
- 93.
Perhaps a reference to the anti-prostitution law of 1797/12. See Edo machibure shūsei, vol. 10, pp. 216 (no. 10505) and ibid. pp. 243–244 (no. 10550 from 1798/3/25). Similar laws had, however, already been promulgated in earlier decades. See also “The Spider’s Reel,” vol. 1, no. 17.
- 94.
Daikoku-ya Chōzaemon (Tsunefusa, ?–1814) was the eighth head of the Daikoku(-ya) Jōze house, which oversaw the silver mint. Reforms of the mint were enacted around 1799, and in the process the institution and its managers were subject to bakufu investigations. Irregularities were discovered and Tsunefusa was placed under permanent house arrest. In 1800 the Edo silver mint was relocated to Kakigara-chō (at today’s Nihonbashi Ningyō-chō). Ōsaka-chō is presumably Moto-ōsaka-chō, today part of Ningyō-chō 1.
- 95.
To aid the reader, I have drawn in this bridge on Map 7. In 1769 two commoners successfully appealed to have a 150-meter bridge built across the Sumida River immediately to the southeast of Sensōji. The “Take-chō ferry” (connecting what is now Komagata 2 in Taitō-ku and Higashi-komagata 1 in Sumida-ku) was thereby replaced. Construction was completed in 1774 and all except warrior-class individuals were charged two coppers to cross.
- 96.
The Sōtō-sect Reiun’in was located at what is today Kiyosumi 1, immediately to the south of the Mannen Bridge (Map 7). After World War II it was moved to distant Fujimi-chō 5-10-53 in Higashi-murayama (Tōkyō-to).
- 97.
The Pure Land temple Hōjuji stood at Yanaka Sansaki-chō, at what is today Yanaka 2–5. The temple was also called “Shin Banzui’in” (“the new Banzui’in”) because it was established by the priest Ryōseki (?–?, mid-Edo period) who served as the head priest of Banzui’in, a powerful Pure Land temple initially standing at Shitaya Ikenohata, and in 1659 relocated to Asakusa Kamiyoshi-chō (today Higashi-Ueno 5–23 and 5–24). Today Banzui’in stands at Koganei-shi, Maehara-chō 3-37-1 in Tōkyō-to.
- 98.
Mizoguchi Naoatsu was the seventh lord of the Shibata domain of Echigo Province.
- 99.
See also Chirizuka-dan, p. 293 (no. 87).
- 100.
This refers to candy vendors called tokkaebei (“exchangers”). See Groemer, Street Performers, pp. 301–303.
- 101.
Tatsumatsu Hachirōbee, who manipulated the puppet of Ohatsu in the premiere of Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s Sonezaki shinjū, was particularly famous for his handling of female puppets. In 1719 he moved to Edo where he founded the Tatsumatsu theater and taught many pupils. Today’s puppetry, in which one man operates the head and right arm, another the left arm, and a third the feet, was, however, first seen in 1734 in the play Ashiya Dōman ōuchi kagami.
- 102.
According to the 1831 Hōryaku genrai-shū (jō, pp. 24–25), these puppets, considered to be of a superior grade, had no feet and wore gorgeous clothing, often of brocade. Before the catastrophic Edo fire of 1772, performances with Tosa puppets could still be seen at a theater on the grounds of the Yushima Tenjin Shrine (see Illustration 6.7).
- 103.
I follow the Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 223). Other texts give Anjirō instead of Chūjirō. Nishikawa Masayoshi (or Seikyū, common name Chūjirō, 1693–1756) was the son of the astronomer Nishikawa Joken (1648–1724). Like his father, he was an astronomer and calendar maker. He was promoted to the post of head of the Bureau of Astronomy (tenmongata) in 1747.
- 104.
I follow the Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 223). Other texts give Agata instead of Yoshida, probably a copying error. The man in question is Yoshida Hidenaga (1703–1787), better known as Sasaki Bunjirō and in later years Shirōsaburō. He was appointed head of the Bureau of Astronomy in 1764. His son, Yoshida Hidenori (common name: Yukie), succeeded his father to this position in 1779.
- 105.
In 1782 the observatory was moved from Waradana in Ushigome (today Fukuro-machi in Shinjuku-ku) to the area of Asakusa centering on what is now Asakusa-bashi 3–21 to 24 (somewhat south of Hottawara, as indicated on Map 7).
- 106.
The igakukan was constructed in 1765. The fire in question is that of 1806, but the relocation was to Asakusa Mukō-yanagiwara (Map 7) rather than Shitaya.
- 107.
Setsubun (literally, “division of the seasons”) was calculated according to the solar calendar. New Year’s, by contrast, was more commonly reckoned according to the lunar calendar, and though this was also often taken as the first day of spring, the two days rarely coincided. On setsubun and yakuharai , see also Chirizuka-dan, p. 288 (no. 72). On yakuharai , see Groemer, Street Performers, pp. 73–76, 97–98.
- 108.
Perhaps this refers not to the famous Kyoto festival, but to the far smaller one known for its disaster-prevention dumplings (sasa dango) fashioned by parishioners of the Gozu Tennō Shrine in Asakusa and offered to the deity on 6/8. For an illustration of the festival, see Edo meisho zue, vol. 3, pp. 436–437.
- 109.
This somewhat cryptic sentence is given differently in all three texts. I follow Enseki jisshu (p. 21). The Mikiki-gusa version (pp. 224–225) suggests that the elevation depended on the street, rather than the warrior residence, in question.
- 110.
Toraya Eikan (?–?) recited his eikan-bushi in Edo from around the 1660s. Tosa-bushi was a style of jōruri recitation devised from the 1660s by Tosa no Shōjō Tachibana no Masakatsu. Tosa no Shōjō (see also “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” no. 27) founded his own puppet theater in Edo in 1671. After a long period of inactivity, the Tosa-za reopened in 1761 as one of five major Edo puppet theaters. On geki-bushi see “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” note 120. Ōzatsuma-bushi was invented during the 1720s by Ōzatsuma Shuzen-dayū (1695–1759). Gidayū-bushi refers to the style of chanting of Takemoto Gidayū (1651–1714) who was active in Osaka from the 1680s. Later his version of jōruri became popular throughout the land.
- 111.
On bungo-bushi, see “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” note 121.
- 112.
Kinpira-bon were initially illustrated texts of kinpira-style jōruri as recited by Edo Izumi-dayū (see “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” note 119). The first one was published in 1658. The Taiheiki is a late fourteenth-century battle tale well known during the Edo period. Many of its episodes served as plots for jōruri texts. For a partial translation, see Helen Craig McCullough, trans., The Taiheiki .
- 113.
Hachimonji-ya was a publishing house in Kyoto run by Hachimonji Jishō (?–1745). The two books mentioned were written by Ejima Kiseki (1666–1735). A short excerpt from the former has been translated in Howard Hibbett, The Floating World in Japanese Fiction, pp. 99–111. On Hachimonji-ya books, see also Chirizuka-dan, p. 289 (no. 77). For a complete edition of Hachimonji-ya books, see Hachimonji-ya zenshū.
- 114.
A five-volume work by Jōkanbō Kōa (?–1769?) lampooning worldly ways and Edo townspeople. It sparked many imitations.
- 115.
A comic work initially in eight volumes by Jippensha Ikku (1765–1831). For an English translation, see Thomas Satchell, trans., Shank’s Mare.
- 116.
In 1819 the shop of “Kamiya Gorōbee” is listed as located on the fourth block of Bakuro-chō. He relocated in later years. This outlet marketed paper and books of fiction, and engaged in money exchanging at least until 1857.
- 117.
A reference to skirmishes in October 1806 in which the Russian ambassador Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov (1764–1807) ordered the naval officers Nikolai Khvostov and Gavril Davydov to attack settlements in the Kurile islands. See Frederik L. Schodt, Native American in the Land of the Shogun, pp. 222–226.
- 118.
This incident took place on 1779/8/3. See Zoku dankai, vol. 2, p. 267 (Book 62 of original); also Tōkyō-shi shikō, shigai-hen, vol. 29, p. 164.
- 119.
For a detailed account, see “The Spider’s Reel,” vol. 1, no. 28.
- 120.
Inagaki Sadakazu was adopted into the house of Inagaki Sadakazu, third lord of the Sendai domain. He became the fourth lord of the Yamakami domain in Ōmi Province (Shiga Prefecture).
- 121.
See also Chirizuka-dan, p. 269 (no. 2).
- 122.
Yuki no akuru hi [wa] ma-otoko no sentaku. The day after a snow was thought to be marked by warm weather. Perhaps because either in jest or in reality typical paramours of commoner women were so poor they owned but a single set of clothes, in winter they could only do laundry on such a day.
- 123.
The Kasai region covered Katsushika and Saitama counties in Musashi Province (today mostly Saitama Prefecture), and Katsushika County in Shimōsa Province (today Edogawa-ku in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture). The shogun was on a falconing expedition. Ichihashi Shimōsa-no-kami was Ichihashi Naokata (1689–1760) fourth lord of the Nishōji domain in Ōmi Province (Shiga Prefecture). Ōban-gashira were normally hereditary vassals (fudai daimyō), which the Ichihashi house was not. A similar tale is related for 1720/7/29 in the Tokugawa jikki (vol. 8, pp. 200–201) and in Kansei chōshū shoka-fu, vol. 5, p. 820, where the appointment to ōban-gashira is noted as having taken place on 1730/3/28.
- 124.
The Nihon zuihitsu taisei edition (p. 19) presents a note specifying that this addendum was written by Suzuki Hakutō.
- 125.
Hayashi Saishu, better known as Hayashi Jussai or Hayashi Taira, was a Confucianist who served as the eighth head of the Hayashi school. He was also an important figure in the bakufu’s Bureau of Records. Tokugawa Yoshimune is here identified as Yūtokubyō (i.e., Yūtokuin).
- 126.
In case of a downpour while on the road the raincoats stored in these containers were taken out and worn.
- 127.
Ina Hanzaemon was a hereditary name held by several men serving as intendants of the Kantō provinces during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
- 128.
Shinba (literally “new place”) was not an official Edo ward but rather a fish market established in 1674 around Hon-zaimoku-chō (Map 7) by fishermen resisting the monopoly of the wholesellers at Nihonbashi.
- 129.
For more on Aoki Kon’yō and sweet potatoes, see Chirizuka-dan, p. 291 (no. 83).
- 130.
Benizuri-e were popular from the 1740s until the early 1770s; nishiki-e were first produced after 1765.
- 131.
See also no. 9. All editions contain the term kami-tsuki omote (literally, “paper attached in front”), whose sense I cannot grasp. I have guessed that it is an orthographical error for mon-tsuki omote (“crest in the front”).
- 132.
The Nihon zuihitsu taisei copy gives “Kansei period,” probably in error.
- 133.
Naitō Rosen was the lord of the Iwaki Taira domain, though he gave up his position in 1682 on account of poor health. He was famed as a poet, as a host of parties at his Roppongi residence in Edo, and as the teacher of many pupils.
- 134.
All copies give “Hai,” no doubt in error.
- 135.
Iro o maze kudashi okureru hana no tsuyu. This verse plays on the name of the famous women’s pomade called “Floral Dew,” sold at shops before the Shiba Shinmei Shrine since the early seventeenth century (see Morisada mankō, vol. 2, p. 60; also “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” note 136). The “Ro” in question is also read tsuyu, meaning “dew.” Like many haikai of the age, the meaning of this verse is hard to fathom and its puns remain untranslatable. I take it that kudashi here implies something like “to brew” as well as to “submit poems” (ku dashi) at haikai gatherings; and that iro points to “cosmetics” as well as “interest” or “charm.” In that case the verse may suggest that Rosen hinted to Rogen, “You mix in all sorts of interesting expressions, so at poetry meetings it takes you as long to submit your verses as it does to brew ‘Floral Dew.’” Other interpretations are of course also possible.
- 136.
The rice and the bonito flakes were perhaps offerings in a magic ritual to ensure that this delicate operation went without a hitch. Cloth was often cut on an auspicious day, and a short spell was intoned before the procedure was undertaken.
- 137.
The guild of blind men awarded ranks to members according to the amount of money forwarded. A kōtō ranked below the kengyō, but still occupied elevated status.
- 138.
In fact tolls had already been levied on bridge crossings far earlier: for the Eitai Bridge (warrior-class individuals were exempt) from 1726/6/1 (see Tōkyō-shi shikō, sangyō-hen, vol. 12, pp. 602–606); for Shin-ōhashi Bridge from 1744/9/20 (see ibid., vol. 16, p. 660); and for Ōkawa Bridge (erected as a toll bridge from the start) from 1774/10/7 (see ibid., vol. 24, p. 620). What seems to be in question here is the approval of an 1809/2 petition by the tokumi-doiya (shipping/wholesaler association) to take over the rebuilding of these three bridges, which would otherwise have presented the bakufu with a huge expense. The necessity of refurbishing the bridges had been made evident by the collapse of the Eitai Bridge on 1807/8/19 (see no. 114 above; and “The Spider’s Reel,” vol. 1, no. 28). The result was the founding of the Sankyō Kaisho (“Three Bridge Company”), in which funds contributed by the bakufu and pooled by the tokumi-doiya were used to rebuild the bridges and eventually as capital for strengthening the guild. The “Three Bridge Company” soon became a huge financial organization. It was abolished in 1819/6 because of staggering losses and near bankruptcy resulting chiefly from lending money to the bakufu for controlling rice prices. For details in English, see Yosaburō Takekoshi, The Economic Aspects of the History of the Civilization of Japan, vol. 2, pp. 526–530.
- 139.
On these so-called yarō-jaya, see also Chirizuka-dan, p. 271 (no. 9).
- 140.
I have not been able to ascertain the precise meaning of this phrase (or two phrases). In the language of Yoshiwara ochazuke (green tea over rice) could mean sexual relations with a regular customer’s acquaintance, while umeboshi (pickled plum) was used in a number of expressions meaning “feigned connoisseurship” (sui, also connoting “sour”).
- 141.
On the “much obliged” fad, see also “The Spider’s Reel,” vol. 2, no. 8.
- 142.
Especially of Yoshiwara courtesans on display, and by extension “to tease.”
- 143.
Again, the third block of Ōdenma-chō was Tōri-hatago-chō. Ebisu was a popular lucky deity for merchants, often depicted with a fishing rod and auspicious sea bream. He was usually celebrated on 11/20 as well as on 1/20. See Tōto saijiki, vol. 1, p. 124,
- 144.
I take nen-nen in the modern editions as an error for naga-naga as suggested by the Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 228).
- 145.
A pine tree, planted after 1945, still stands at the site today (Minato-ku, Moto-azabu, 1-3-37). A stone marker notes that the tree burned down in “Meiji 9 [1876], year of the dragon.” Since Meiji 9 was a “year of the rat,” this is probably an error for Meiwa 9 (1772, a year of the dragon).
- 146.
Kasai is in today’s Edogawa-ku in the eastern region of Tokyo.
- 147.
Ōmori is in today’s Ōta-ku, some five kilometers south of Shinagawa.
- 148.
On such hairstyles, see also no. 1 above, and Chirizuka-dan, p. 285 (no. 56). These pages may have been identical with the tomo-goshō treated in “Tales of Long, Long Ago,” no. 63.
- 149.
In the Nihon zuihitsu taisei edition the ideograph for “toki” is incorrect, but the Mikiki-gusa copy (p. 228) gets it right. Date Muratoki was the fifth lord of the Uwajima domain in Iyo Province (Ehime Prefecture). He held the title Sakonoe gon-shōshō (“provisional minor captain of the inner palace guards of the left”). His “upper residence” stood at Azabu (today Roppongi 7).
- 150.
On the Shōheikō (Shōhei-zaka gakumon-jo), see no. 16 and its accompanying note.
- 151.
Utsushi oku fude ni nani ka wa masu kagami te ni torite minu inishie mo nashi
- 152.
Kono fumi no nushi wa yorozu-yo Asukagawa fuchi-se mo shirade yowai naramaji.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Groemer, G. (2019). The River of Time: Life in Eighteenth-Century Edo (Asukagawa). In: Portraits of Edo and Early Modern Japan. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7376-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7376-3_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-7375-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-7376-3
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)