Shank's Mare
Page 39
To wash their feet with. Footgear is removed on entering a Japanese house.
Page 12.—Comestibles.
To eat with the sake. Such comestibles are called 'sakana,' now the usual word for 'fish,' though one may suspect that it was originally associated with all kinds of food eaten with sake.
Page 15.—seized a teacup.
The sake cup is very tiny and hardly holds a mouthful.
Page 15.—kamaboko.
Made of fish pounded to a paste. The white kind is only steamed; the red kind is both steamed and baked. The best kind of 'kamaboko ' is made of bream and flatfish; the cheap kind of shark.
Page 15.—shiso berries.
'Shiso' is the 'perilla nankinensis.'
Page 15.—saké cup.
It is the Japanese custom to use only one sake cup and pass it from one to another.
Page 15.—drained the cup of saké.
Kita's idea was that the maid would give the cup back to him as a signal of her agreement to his desires. Hence his anger when she gives it to Yaji.
Page 16.—brought in the rice.
This is the real meal, to which the sake drinking is but the pre-liminary, though often the rice stage is never reached.
Page 16.—divine favour of the thousand-handed Kwannon.
Kwannon is the goddess of mercy, who in one form is represented as having a thousand hands. The name is therefore appropriately used for lice, a pest which seems to have been very common in feudal times.
Page 16.—In the bamboo.
Sparrows among bamboos was the crest of the Daimyō of Sendai, and it was from this crest that the song originated.
Page 16.—Over Hakoné.
The climb of twenty miles across the Hakoné range was one of the noted parts of the journey between the two capitals. There is a well known poem which reads.
Hakoné hachi ri uma demo kos'u ga
Kosu ni kosarenu Ōi-gawa,
which means that it is possible to cross the Hakone range even on horseback, but it is not always possible to cross the River Ōi.
Page 17.—a ballad-singer.
'Chongare-bōzu.' The more usual name now for these ballads is 'Naniwabushi.' While resembling 'jōruri' they appeal to the less educated and are supposed to be of use in keeping alive the martial spirit. A Minister of State once drew attention to the moral value of 'Naniwabushi' and was consequently nicknamed 'Chongaré-daijin' (Minister). We must imagine the ballad-singer chanting his requests to Yaji and Kita.
Page 17.—loin cloths.
In the original 'Etchū fundoshi.' The original loincloth took six feet of material, but the-lord of the Province of Etchū devised a loin cloth which only required half this length. This was called the Etchū 'fundoshi.'
Page 18.—Torii.
These are the arches, formed of two uprights and a cross piece, either in stone or wood, which are erected outside Shinto shrines.
Page 18.—Jizō.
The Buddhist deity who is supposed to help those in trouble.
Page 18.—Hetanasu.
This is a comic name, something like 'Spotty-face.'
Page 18.—Kusatsu.
A celebrated mineral spring in Gumma Prefecture.
Page 18.—Daifukuchō, etc.
These names are all invented by Kita and Yaji. 'Cho' means both street or town and account book. 'Daifukuchō' is thus literally 'ledger; ' 'Tozachō,' current account book; 'Hantorichō,' receipt book; 'Tanachinchd,' rent book; 'jidai' is ground rent, and 'soro-ban ' is the abacus.
Page 19.—Take a kago.
'Kago' is literally'basket.' Here it is used in the sense of a wicker chair in which travellers were carried. The 'kago' was slung on a stout pcle and carried by two men, the traveller having to squat down inside. Kago are still in use in Japan in places where other means of travelling are not available.
Page 20.—The master's rather hard.
The word translated 'hard' suggests both heavy and hard in a metaphorical sense,—hard with his cash. The answer of the other carrier also suggests in the original that Yaji is not very free with his cash.
Page 20.—guide-book.
'Dochu-ki,' travel-diary. Japan in feudal times had probably the best guidebooks in the world.
Page 20.—Yoshitsuné.
The celebrated brother of Yoritomo, the first of the Kamakura Shō-guns (1147-1199). Yoshitsune helped to establish his brother in his position of Shōgun, but his ability was so great that his brother feared him as a possible rival and encompassed his death. There are many superstitions connected with Yoshitsuné.
Page 20.—Saigyō.
Died 1198. Described as an eccentric monk and a famous poet.
Page 20.—Mongaku Shōnin.
This is the Buddhist name of Endō Moritō, cousin of Kesa Gozen. Kesa Gozen was a beautiful woman who was already married to another when her cousin fell in love with her and tried to persuade her mother to give her to him. Kesa Gozen, fearing for the safety of her mother, whom her cousin threatened to kill if she did not consent to his desires, pretended to agree to his wishes but laid down the condition that he must first kill her husband. At the time arranged for the assassination she took the place of her husband and was killed by the cousin, who was so horrified at what he had done that he forsook the world and became a monk under the name of Mongaku Shōnin.
Page 21.—Because we're good-goers—geegees.
In the original the answer is 'Do-do da kara.' 'Do-do 'is the Japan' ese equivalent for 'gee-up' and also means 'going together.'
Page 21.—Because there are two of us.
This is a punning answer. Kitahachi answers 'Buta ni nagara kyan to,' which means 'Two pigs and ten dogs,' but also resembles in sound 'Futari nagara Kwanto,' which means 'Two from the Kwanto,' the name given to the eastern provinces.
Page 21.—lover who undoes his girdle, etc.
This joke turns upon the word ' toku,' which means both 'to undo ' and ' to solve.'
Page 22.—Because you undo it when you hang it up, etc.
The joke here turns not only upon the two meanings of 'toku,' but also on two meanings of ' kaké,' to hang up and to answer a riddle.
Page 22.—One room of ten mats.
The sizes of Japanese rooms are conveniently described by the number of mats that can be put on the floor, the mats being standardised at (about) six feet long and three feet wide.
Page 22.—Jōdō sect.
One of the Buddhist sects.
Page 23.—What time's the funeral?
Buddhist temples are associated in Yaji's mind with funerals, these presumably being the chief occasions when he had visited temples.
Page 23.—Uirō.
This is a kind of medicine sold at Odawara and also of a kind of rice-cake sold in Edo.
Page 23.—their hats.
Their hats are described as 'sando-gasa,' specially designed to pre vent travellers hurting their noses should they fall from their horses. The pace of the horses was so slow that travellers were in constant danger of falling asleep in the saddle and losing their balance.
Page 24.—the place in the tobacco-box made to hold it.
This is an earthenware jar filled with ashes in which a live piece of charcoal is placed.
Page 24.—boiled rice.
The joke is lost in the translation. Boiled rice is 'meshi,' which is also used in the sense of ' meal.'Yaji uses it in the sense of 'meal.' Kita takes it literally as boiled rice.
Page 24.—if the bath's hot.
In the original,'If the hot water is heated.' The Japanese language has separate words for hot water and cold water and the word for hot water is commonly used to designate a hot bath. Yaji's correction reads literally,' If the cold water has been heated to become hot water I'll go in.'
Page 24.—Goemon bath.
Goemon was a celebrated robber who lived in the time of Hideyoshi (1536-1598). He was caught and condemned to death with his son, and was executed by being boiled alive in oil in a large cauldron in the bed of t
he river at Kyōto. Goemon is regarded as a sort of Robin Hood, who robbed the rich but succoured the poor. It is recorded that he charged Hideyoshi with being a greater thief than he, since Hideyoshi had taken the whole country, whereas he had only despoiled a few Japanese, and that he evinced his spirit by holding his son out of the boiling oil as long as his strength lasted. The Goemon bath in its proper form is simply a large iron cauldren which is heated from underneath. The one in which Kita met with his accident was an attempt to imitate it.
Page 25.—Her tears fell like dew.
Yaji is chanting from a 'jōruri' or 'jewel song,' a kind of ballad which has now been replaced by the 'Naniwabushi,' Since the beginning of the nineteenth century it is stated that the writing of joruri has almost altogether ceased.
Page 26.—Do you not feel sorry for Ishidōmaru?
Kita is singing a line from a 'jōruri.' Ishidōmaru was the son of a samurai who had left his home before his son was born and had become a monk in the famous monastery on Mt. Kōya. The boy and his mother go to find the father, but as women were then not allowed to climb the mountain she had to wait at the foot while her son ascends the mountain alone. He meets a kindly priest whom he instinctively knows to be his father, but the priest is bound by his vows not to reveal himself, and the boy returns down the mountain alone to find his mother dead.
Page 27.—If we had gone to Yoshi-chō.
Yoshi-cho is here used as a general term for the pleasure quarter. Yaji's joke turns on the phrase 'to empty the boiler (or cauldron),' a slang expression for homo-sexual relations.
Page 30.—Gongen.
Properly the term used to describe the incarnations of Buddha, especially Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa dynasty, but here actually used as the name of a temple.
Page 30.—Everywhere I look I see rustic faces.
Kitahachi is here quoting from a joruri.
Page 30.—Sai-no-Kawara.
The Buddhist Styx. The name is given to several places in Japan. It means literally the river-bed of souls.
Page 33.—Chōmei.
Kamo-no-Chōmei, the supposed writer of a sort of guide-book to the Tōkaidō, although others give the authorship to Tosa Mitsuyuki. The Tōkaidō is also spoken of as the Azumakaidō, Azuma being the poetic name for the Eastern provinces.
Page 33.—Here we have, etc.
The passage is in imitation of the No drama, where a description of the scene and the circumstances is given in the form of an opening recitative.
Page 33.—Kumano.
This is in Kishū. The Atago Shrine referred to lower down is in Kyōto.
Page 33.—Hamamatsu in Enshū.
There is a saying about Hamamatsu that although it looks large it is really small ('hiroi yō de semai'). Yaji is apparently punning on this by turning it into ' kuroi yō de amai,' the blacker the sweeter.
Page 33.'—The smoke goes up into the sky.
Fuji, it has to be remembered, was an active volcano as late as 1708.
Page 34.—a robber.
In the original 'hattsuké,' a contraction of 'hari-tsuké,' crucified.
Page 34.—Helmet-stone.
'Kabuto-ishi,' a stone shaped like a helmet. The removal of the helmet was an acknowledgement of defeat.
Page 35.—Red-bear.
'Aka-kuma,' here used as a nickname.
Page 36.—Ashikaga.
The line of Shōguns who ruled from the 14th to the 16th centuries.
Page 36.—Turtle.
This is the snapping turtle.
Page 37.—Ama kembiki.
The street cry of the blind shampooers. 'Kembiki' means the art of shampooing.
Page 37.—spirit.
This is ' shōchu,' much stronger than sake.
Page 38.—Senshū.
Now a part of Osaka-fu.
Page 38.—Gihei of the Amagawa.
This and the other names given by the travellers are taken from the famous drama 'Chushingura,' which is founded upon a real vendetta which took place in 1703. The story is told in Mitford's 'Tales of Old Japan' and in the last volume of Murdoch's 'History of Japan,' under the title of 'The Forty-seven Ronin.' A translation of the 'Chushingura' was made by the late Mr. Frederick V. Dickins. Gihei was not one of the Forty-seven Ronin who avenged their lord's death, but a retainer of the clan who secretly helped them to get armour. Yoichibei was the father-in-law of Haya-no Kampei, who was originally one of the ronin but who committed suicide before the revenge was accomplished, in the belief that he had killed his father-in-law. Karu was Yoichibei's daughter and Kampei's wife. Tanuki-no-Kakubei and Meppo Yahachi are two hunters who appear in the drama. The wild boar figures as the cause of the death of Yoichibei's murderer, who is shot by Kampei in mistake for the boar. The constant references to 'Chūshingura ' in Hizakurigé show how popular the drama was.
Page 38.—Tentsuru.
This is in imitation of the sound made by the samisen.
Page 38.—Tandon.
The 'don' is the title of address. 'Tan ' is a corruption of ' San.' The joke turns on the similarity in sound of 'Tandon' and 'tadon,' a charcoal ball, suggesting that the girl was swarthy.
Page 38.—white goods.
Courtesans. The Kisokaidō is the road from Gifu to Nagano.
Page 39.—Just about ordinary.
The Japanese expression is 'jū-nin mae,' ten people before. Kita wilfully mishears the expression as meaning 'enough for ten.'
Page 40.—same age as the moon.
This refers to the popular children's song,
Tsuki sama ikutsu
Jū-san nanatsu
'How old is the moon? Thirteen and seven.'
Page 44.—Sorry my eye.
'O ki no doku no Hitomaro sama da.'
The sentence properly ends at 'hito,' the 'maro sama' being attached to form an expression of contempt. Kakino-moto no Hitomaro was a poet who lived in the eighth century. In the original Yaji in his excitement goes on to change 'Hitomaro' into shitodaru,' a four-measure tub, and finally demands that the landlord should produce this 'shitodaru.'
Page 44.—Fuchū.
Now called Shizuoka.
Page 45.—letter-carriers.
Carrying dispatches for the Shōgun's Government.
Page 45.—Idaten.
A strong and handsome youth in the Buddhist Pantheon.
Page 45.—Ei-sassa.
These are the cries used by the carriers to bring their efforts into unison.
Page 47.—stuck by a prig.
Kita uses the word' goma-no-hai' for thief. The samurai does not understand this word, whereupon Kita uses the commoner worddorobō.' Again the samurai does not understand, and it is only when Kita uses a Sinico-Japanese word that he catches the meaning. Ikku was laughing at the high-flown expressions used by the samurai.
Page 47.—-a leather purse.
In Japanese 'Inden no kinchaku,' explained as a purse from India, or one made of Indian leather.
Page 48.—precipice at Kiyomizu temple.
This temple, which is in Kyōto, overhangs a precipice, and it is supposed that those who have full faith in Buddha can jump from the precipice without being hurt.
Page 48.—Sawamura Sōjurō.
A celebrated actor of the time.
Page 49.—Hot water.
This is the hot water in which the macaroni is boiled and which therefore contains some of its flavour and strength.
Page 50.—konnyaku.
Made from the root of the Amorphophallus rivieri.
Page 50.—rōnin.
A wandering samurai, that is one not attached to any lord.
Page 50.—Come let us eat and drink our fill.
This is in imitation of the odes sung by the chorus in the 'Nō ' drama.
Page 50.—Kwannon.
The priest is supposed to be reciting from the Sutra of the Lotus of the Pure Law, of which this is a parody.
Page 50.—the empty hole beneath the nose.
The hole ben
eath the nose is, of course, the mouth. Ikku is laughing at the priests who go round collecting contributions towards the building of some alleged temple or shrine.
Page 51.—name on earth.
After death the dead person receives new earthly and heavenly names.
Page 52.—Soga brothers.
Two youths named Soga, whose father had been killed by another man, resolved to avenge themselves when they grew up. They succeeded, but one was killed in the fighting that ensued and the other was executed (1193).
Page 53.—Hostel.
For the accommodation of dairnyō when they were travelling. Usually the mansion of a wealthy man.
Page 54.—cheap lodging-house.
For pilgrims and beggars.
Page 54.—Sushi.
Cooked rice made up into cakes with fish or vegetables. May be described as rice-sandwiches.
Page 54.—a pilgrim and two palmers.
'Rokubu' (here translated 'pilgrim') is a contraction of 'rokujurokubu,' literally 'sixty-six volumes,' especially of the ; Hokkekyō,' the great Lotus Sutra. 'Rokubu' have now almost entirely disappeared. Both sexes participated. They carried small Buddhist images on their backs and chanted as they went 'Nammai-dabu! Nammai-dabu!' a corruption of 'Namu Amida Butsu' (Praise be to the Amitabha Buddha). 'Junrei' (translated 'palmer') is especially one who visits the thirty-three holy places in the Kwansai district where Kwannon is enshrined. Such palmers wear a cloak to which the seals of the temples visited are affixed.
Page 55.—three 'go.'
About a pint.
Page 56.—large number of cats.
The skin of the cat is used as parchment for the drum of the samisen.
Page 58.—Minobu.
This is the headquarters of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism and is situated at the foot of Mount Fuji. Minobu is really the name of the village where the temple is situated but is used for the name of the temple.
Page 60.—gidayu.
A kind of ballad chanted to the accompaniment of the samisen. They are named after Gidayu Takemoto, a reciter of ' jōruri or ballads who lived in the 17th century and gave performances in Osaka. He chiefly recited the 'joruri' of the famous Japanese dramatist Chikamatsu and became so popular that the ballads came to be called by his name. The samisen used in the accompaniment of 'gidayu' has a thicker and heavier stem than the ordinary samisen so as to give a deeper tone.