by Osamu Dazai
"It won't bother me. I intend to get drunk tonight, too. Let's take our time."
"Why don't I recite a poem? You've probably never heard me recite. I seldom do. But tonight I want to recite one poem. Hey, you can recite one, too."
"I guess I'll have to listen," I said and prepared myself.
N closed his eyes and softly began to recite the usual poem by Bokusui about going to mountains and rivers. It wasn't as bad as I imagined. I listened without a word and was touched.
"Well? Was it weird?"
"No, it was a bit sentimental."
"Well then, another."
Now, this one was awful. His startling, harsh voice shouted, "Did I come to an inn at the tip of Honshu, and my heart swelled?"
He began to recite the poem by Ishikawa Takuboku On a rocky beach on a small island in the eastern sea, but his loud, grating voice canceled the sounds of the wind outside.
If I said, "Horrible," he'd say, "That bad? Well, I'll try again," take a deep breath and raise his grating voice again.
"On a small island on a rocky beach in the eastern sea."
This time he jumbled the poem and, for some unknown reason and with no warning, launched into the tale Masukagami as if written in the present and the past. He seemed to groan, shriek, and scream. It was awful. I was nervous and thought it'd be better if the old woman inside didn't hear. As I expected, the sliding door opened wide and the old woman came in.
She said, "Oh, you are reciting a poem, but it'll soon be time for bed."
She brought in a tray and deftly spread out the futons. His generous but harsh voice scared the wits out of her. I thought about drinking more, but that turned out to be a stupid idea.
"That was bad. The poem was bad. One or two are enough. More than that would shock anyone," I said displeased but meekly acquiesced.
The next morning, I listened in bed to the enchanting singing voice of a little girl. The winds had quieted down, and the morning sun shined into the room. The girl was on the street in front singing the handball song. I raised my head to listen.
Se-se-se
Summer is near
Eighty-eight nights
In the fields and in the mountains
Waves of wisteria blooms in winds of green leaves
Time for having fun
I found it irresistible. Until now, I never thought I would hear an invigorating song with these beautiful tones in the northern tip of Honshu thought of as the land of the Ezo and held in contempt by people from the center of the country. According to an explanation by Professor Sato:
To speak of the people of current-day Oshu, the pent-up power of emergence seen in Italy before the Renaissance must be recognized in the land of Oshu. In culture and in industry, the generous heart related to the education of the gracious Meiji Emperor permeated all of Oshu in no time. The sounds peculiar to the people of Oshu are unpleasant to hear. Reduction in the nasal sounds and adoption of the standard language are promoted. The light of civilization is given and already seen in the lands that are home to the uncivilized, savage tribes of the Ezo who sunk to their previous primitive state.
I felt light resembling dawn filled with hope in the singing voice of that lovely girl and found it irresistible.
Chapter Four
* * *
The Tsugaru Plain
Tsugaru The former name of the region at the northeastern end of Honshu bordering the Sea of Japan. In the age of Empress Kogyoku (642-645, 655-661), the provincial governor of the Koshi province administered the Ezo lands in the Dewa region, the home of Abe no Hirafu; his reach extended to Akita, Nushiro (today's Noshiro), and Tsugaru, and eventually reached Hokkaido. This was the first appearance of the name Tsugaru, that is, the chief of this land ruled the Tsugaru district. On this occasion, the Japanese envoy to Tang Dynasty China, Sakaibe no Iwashiki, mentioned the Ezo to the Tang emperor.
The accompanying government official, Yuki no Muraji Hakatoko, described the Ezo tribes in response to questions. The closest of the three tribes was called the Nigi Ezo, next the Ara Ezo, and the furthest the Tsugaru. Naturally, the other Ezo were recognized as distinct tribes. The name of the Tsugaru Ezo was seen here and there at the time of the rebellion of the Ebisu of Dewa in the second year of the Gangyo era (878). At that time, Shogun Fujiwara no Yasunori put down the rebellion, reached Watarijima island from Tsugaru, and previous generations of mixed natives never returned and all came under the jurisdiction of the state. Watarijima is today's Hokkaido. In Mutsu in Tsugaru, Minamoto no Yoritomo controlled Ou and came under the protection of Mutsu.
Origin of Aomori Prefecture The land of this prefecture is a unified province consolidating the lands of the Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima Prefectures until the first year of the Meiji era and called Mutsu. In the first year of Meiji, the Mutsu Province had the five domains of Hirosaki, Kuroishi, Hachinohe, Shichinohe, and Tonami. In July of Meiji year 4, many feudal clans were abolished, and all became prefectures. In September of that year, the administration and jurisdiction districts were abolished and reorganized. All five districts were temporarily combined into Hirosaki Prefecture, but Hirosaki Prefecture was abolished in November, Aomori Prefecture was established and given jurisdiction over the domains mentioned above. Later, Ninohe was made a part of Iwate Prefecture and remains so today.
The Tsugaru Clan This clan originated in the Fujiwara clan. The eighth generation Hidei from Shogun in Defense of the North ruled over the land of Mutsu, Tsugaru District during the Kouwa era, and later came to live in the castle in the harbor on Lake Jusan in Tsugaru. Tsugaru became the clan. During the Meiou era, Masanobu, the son of Konoe Hisamichi, became the heir. The clan achieved distinction with Tamenobu, the grandson of Masanobu. The grandson created a branch family and was the origin of various families mainly in the domains of Hirosaki and Kuroishi.
Tsugaru Tamenobu A shogun during the Sengoku (warring states) period. His father was Oura Jinzaburo Morinobu. His mother was a daughter of Takeda Shigenobu, the lord of the Horikoshi Castle. He was born in January of Tenmon year 19 (1550). His childhood name was Ougi. In March of year 10 of Eiroku (1567), when he was eighteen years old, he was adopted by his uncle Tsugaru Tamenori and became a nephew of Konoe Sakihisa. His wife was a daughter of Tamenori. In May of year 2 of Genki (1571), he fought and killed Nanbu Takanobu. On July 27 in year 6 of Tensho (1578), he attacked Kitabatake Akiramura, the lord of Namioka Castle, consolidated the domain, plundered nearby villages, and unified Tsugaru in year 13. Two years later, he sought an audience with Toyotomi Hideyoshi and left for Edo. Abe Sunesue, the mediator at Akita Castle, blocked the road and turned him back.
In year 17, he gifted a hawk and a horse to Hideyoshi in goodwill. And during the Siege of Odawara in year 18, he supported Hideyoshi's army and provided relief to Tsugaru, Ainoura, and Sotogahama. During the Kunohe Rebellion in year 19, he dispatched soldiers. In April of Bunroku year 2 (1593), he had an audience with Hideyoshi and an audience with the Konoe clan, and in January of year 3 given the lower rank of Jushii Ugyou no Daifu. In the fifth year of Keicho (1600) in Sekigahara, he dispatched soldiers and accompanied the army of Tokugawa Ieyasu and went west to fight in Ogaki, and was given a stipend increase of 2,000 koku and Odate in the Kozuke Province. On December 5 of year 12, Tsugaru Tamenobu died in Kyoto at the age of fifty-eight.
Tsugaru Plain This plain is located in the Mutsu Province extending over the southern, central, and northern Tsugaru districts and forms the river valley of the Iwaki River. The east is fenced in by the mountains forming the backbone of the Tsugaru Peninsula running north and west of Lake Towada. The south demarcates the watershed from Yatatetoge and Tateishigoe in Ugosakai. The west is protected by the mountain cluster of Mount Iwaki and a belt of sand dunes (called Mount Byobusan) on the coastline. Iwaki River flowing from its foundation in the west, Hira River flowing from the south, and Asaseishi River flowing from the east meet north of Hirosaki City and flow due north and into the sea after pouring into Lake Jusan. The expanse of the plain runs
thirty-six miles north to south and twelve miles east to west and narrows in the northward direction. The seven miles along the line from Kizukuri to Goshogawara and just two miles when the shore of Jusan is reached. The low-lying land in this plain threaded by a network of tributary canals produce most of the rice in Aomori Prefecture.
(from The Great Encyclopedia of Japan)
Few people know the history of Tsugaru. Some believe Mutsu and Aomori Prefecture are the same as Tsugaru. Understandably, we glimpse the noun Tsugaru in only one place, in the textbooks on the history of Japan we learned from in school. A description of the conquest of Ezo by Abe no Hirafu reads, "Upon the death of Emperor Kotoku, Empress Kogyoku ascended the throne. The Imperial Prince Nakano no Oe succeeded her. As crown prince, he assisted in governing and appointed Abe no Hirafu to subjugate the lands of what is now Akita and Tsugaru."
The name Tsugaru appears no more. In grammar school textbooks, middle school textbooks, and high school textbooks, the name Tsugaru never appeared other than with references to Hirafu. The dispatch of governor-generals in the 573 years of the imperial era reached north to the area of today's Fukushima Prefecture. For the next two hundred years, the pacification of the Ezo by Yamato-takeru of Japan reached north to the Hitakami Province, which is now the northern region of Miyagi Prefecture. After five hundred fifty years passed, the Taiki Reform came. Through the subjugation of Ezo by Abe no Hirafu, the name Tsugaru began to float up but then sank. The name Tsugaru does not promptly emerge except in discussions of the construction of Taga Castle (now near Sendai City) and Akita Castle (now Akita City), and the subjugation of Ezo during the Nara period.
When the Heian period (794-1185) was entered, Sakanoue no Tamuramaro advanced far north and destroyed the Ezo base and built Isawa Castle (now the neighborhood of Mizusawa-cho in Iwate Prefecture) as the garrison but did not go as far as Tsugaru. Later, the expedition of Funya no Watamaro took place during the Konin years (810-824). And in year 2 of Gangyo, Dewa and Ezo revolted, and Fujiwara Gensoku went to pacify them. The Tsugaru Ezo were said to have aided in the revolts. We may not be experts, but in the subjugation of the Ezo, Tamuramaro is mentioned. The next two hundred fifty years flew by. Its roles are taught about only the Former Nine Years War and the Later Three Years War at the beginning of the Gempei period.
These wars took place in Iwate Prefecture and Akita Prefecture. Only the Abe clan and the Kiyohara clan, the so-called Nigi Ezo, were active. Little is written in our textbooks about the actions of trueborn Ezo in the backcountry called Tsugaru. Then for three generations of the Fujiwara clan, over one hundred years, was the golden age of Hiraizumi. In the year 5 of Bunji (1189), Oshu was pacified by Minamoto no Yoritomo. From that era on, our textbooks finally reach beyond the Tohoku region. During the Meiji Restoration, various clans of Oshu stood up, straightened the hems of their kimonos, and sat back down. The gumption found in clans of the provinces of Satsuma and Choshu was not seen in them.
Although it is written they took advantage of the spirit of the age with no major blunders, they had no choice. As a result, there is nothing. Our textbooks tell of ancient times from Emperor Jimmu until modern times, sadly, the name Tsugaru can only be found once, Abe no Hirafu. What happened in Tsugaru during that time? Only the straightening of kimonos and sitting down again and again. For two thousand, six hundred years, did they never take one step outside and only blinked their eyes? No, that's not so. If the parties involved were asked, they would say something like "It may look that way, but we're terribly busy."
Ou is the combination of Oshu and Dewa. Oshu is an abbreviation of Mutsu. Mutsu was the general term for Shirakawa and Nakoso north of Niseki. The name Michi no oku is abbreviated to Michinoku. The pronunciation of Michi, the name of the country, was Mutsu in the ancient regional sounds. This region received the ends of the Tokai and Toyama Roads and was the innermost country of a different race and called nothing other than the vague Michi-no-oku (end of the road). The kanji for Michi means road.
Next, Dewa is Idewa and is interpreted to mean Idewashi (go outside). Long ago, the land on the Sea of Japan side of Honshu from the central region to Tohoku was vaguely called the province of Koshi. This was also in the interior and, similar to Michinoku, was the benighted land of another race beyond imperial rule and called Idewashi. In other words, the name shows that Mutsu bordering the Pacific Ocean was remote land forever outside the emperor's rule.
That was Professor Kita Sadakichi's concise explanation. An explanation is best when concise and clear. Because the Dewa and Oshu provinces were regarded as remote lands, they may have been considered the habitats of bears and monkeys reaching to the northern tip of the Tsugaru Peninsula. Professor Kita further explains the history of Dewa and Oshu. The article is as follows.
Although after the subjugation of Ou by Yoritomo, they were unable to naturally unify under his rule. Based on the reason of "from the land of Ebisu in Dewa and Mutsu," the reforms of the field system recently implemented had to be canceled, and all the old regulations of Hidehira and of Yasuhira had to be followed.
Accordingly, similar to the northernmost Tsugaru region, the predicament appeared to be most of the residents lived in the old way of the Ezo but were directly ruled by Kamakura samurai. A wealthy, local Ando clan was appointed the magistrate and suppressed the people as the administrator of Ezo.
From the time of the Ando clan, little was known of the situation in Tsugaru. Before then, the Ainu may have been loafing around. However, these Ainu cannot be mocked and are a type of the so-called indigenous people of Japan. However, the Ainu remaining in Hokkaido now seem to fundamentally have a different nature.
Looking at their relics and ruins, they were said to be far superior to all the unglazed earthenware of the Stone Age. The ancestors of the Ainu in Hokkaido today have lived there since ancient times. With little contact with the culture of Honshu, the land was isolated and had few natural resources. Thus, in the Stone Age, the same tribe of the Ou region showed no development. Especially in the modern era, since the Matsumae clan, they often suffered oppression by the Japanese people from the interior and were broken. In contrast to reaching the apex of depravity, the Ainu of Ou were actively proud of their independent culture and migrated to provinces in the interior but gradually became Yamato people indistinguishable from the other regions as more Japanese people poured into Ou.
Professor Ogawa Takuji came to the following conclusions.
The classical text Shoku Nihongi states around the beginning of the Nara era, the Sushen people and the Bokkai people crossed the Sea of Japan. The most remarkable migration was more than one thousand Bokkai people migrated in Tenpyo year 18 (1406) of Emperor Shomu and Houki year 2 (1431) of Emperor Konin. Next, a large number of people exceeding three hundred arrived in what is now the Akita region. It is not difficult to imagine they freely crossed into the Oshu region. Goshusen coins have been excavated in the Akita area. There seem to be shrines enshrining Emperor Wen and Emperor Wu of China in Tohoku. This suggests direct traffic between the continent and this region.
Present-day and old stories tell of the crossing of the Emishi ruler Abe no Yoritoki to Manchuria. By also considering archeological and ethnographic data, these stories should not be discarded as scenes from folk tales. We move one step forward. Since coming under imperial rule and the eastern advance, we are convinced based on conclusions drawn from the sparse historical data remaining in central Japan that the extent of civilization acquired by the tribes at that time through direct contact with the continent was not insignificant. Shoguns like Tamuramaro, Yoriyoshi, and Yoshiie had great difficulty quashing these tribes. They were first dispelled of the idea that their rivals were simply ignorant and not like the fearless, savage tribes of Taiwan.
Professor Ogawa found it interesting to think the names often given to these people by the officials of the Yamato court such as Emishi, Azumabito (people of the east), and Kebito (hairy people) have meanings favoring the courage or the chic, ex
otic emotions of the people of Ou. From that perspective, the ancestors of the people of Tsugaru were certainly not loafing around at the tip of Honshu but are not depicted in the history of central Japan.
From the Ando clan described above, the situation in Tsugaru is well understood. Professor Kita reasons:
The Ando clan is called the descendants of the son Takaboshi of Abe no Sadato. A distant ancestor is said to be Abi, the older brother of Negasunehiko, the chieftain who battled Emperor Jimmu, the first emperor of Japan, and given the death penalty. Abi went to Sotogahama in Oshu; his descendants are said to be the Abe clan. In any case, before the Kamakura era, this clan was powerful in northern Ou. In Tsugaru, the three districts at the entry were in service to Kamakura. The inner three districts were lands controlled by the imperial household and lands with no role and not registered in the Registry of the Nation. The influence of the Kamakura shogunate did not reach these remote interior lands, but by relying on the freedom of the Ando clan, these lands became the so-called protected and untraveled lands.
At the end of the Kamakura era, internal discord erupted among the families of the Ando clan in Tsugaru and led to riots by the Ezo. Houjou Takatori, a regent of the shogunate, sent a shogun to suppress the riots. The power of the Kamakura samurai did not lead to victory, but in the end, was saved through compromise.
As expected, Professor Kita explained Tsugaru's history with an air of scant confidence. The history of Tsugaru may not be fully known. This province at the northern tip fought other provinces and appears to have never been defeated. They appeared to have no conception of submission. The shoguns of the other provinces were astounded and pretended not to see this and acted as they pleased. They resemble literary circles in the Showa era. Aside from that, they did not make alliances with other provinces, quarreled internally with their comrades, and started fighting.