Seemingly out of nowhere, an elderly man appeared. He was accompanied by men bearing a specially licensed Hōsenji palanquin,5 a slipper bearer dressed all in black, a shop boy in his early teens, and a great many shop hands and clerks besides.
The man straightened the folds in his ceremonial vest, made himself formally presentable, and said, “Now, we are in the service of Izumiya-Seiza, maker of clear saké, who has resided for many long years in Hatchōbori in the Kanda District. Seiza, our master, has become old and infirm and still has no children. This year he became a Buddhist monk and adopted the clerical name Bunzui. He has been searching for an heir and had the good fortune to be blessed with a revelation by the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, the deity he has worshiped devoutly these many years. He has learned that you would be here on your journey in quest of a high station in life, and so we came here. We hope you will accede to the wish of our master, Bunzui.”
Kinbei was forced into the palanquin and didn’t know where they were taking him. Strange, indeed! Kinbei was quite mystified, for he had been taken completely by surprise. But he recalled such proverbs as “The Good God of Fortune smiles but once every three years” and “Cakes plop into mouths held wide open,” and he felt a buoyancy that could float him up to the heavens. He let himself be borne on the palanquin, though to where he didn’t know.
[CLERK]: Good! Good! We’ve finally found the young master.
[SHOP BOY]: This is probably what they mean when they say, “Why search for something when it’s bound to turn up during spring housecleaning?”
3. The men carried Kinbei along, and they soon arrived at the gate of Izumiya, where he was allowed out of the palanquin. The clerks and shop hands led him through the house, and Kinbei gazed at its magnificence with amazement. Indeed, “staircase of jade” and “curtains of emerald” would be apt epithets for what greeted his eyes. The folding screens and sliding partitions were speckled with gold and silver dust. The portable partition was adorned with solar disks of gold, and the sliding screen-door was graced with lunar disks of silver.
Shortly there appeared the venerable master of the household, Seiza, a maker of clear saké, his brows no longer furrowed with care. He bestowed his own name on Kinbei, who would be known thereafter as Izumi-ya Seiza, maker of clear saké. He relinquished to him possession of the seven rarities and myriad treasures and then brought out saké so fine as to warrant the label “nectar of heaven.” Thus began the feast to celebrate the new ties between father and son, master and servants.
3. The residence of Izumi-ya Seiza, or Bunzui. Three contiguous rooms are depicted in the style of a “perspective print” (uki-e), a novel effect created by the adaptation of the linear perspective found in Western painting, which heightens the sense of grandeur and provides a view as far away as the two storehouses in the garden—all symbolizing Bunzui’s wealth. Bunzui, wearing a flat black cap with a round crown (daikoku zukin), best known as the cap worn by Daikoku, the god of wealth, sits in front of an extremely large metal brazier with lion faces on the legs. Kinbei, his hands to the floor, bows to Bunzui, and the other clerks dressed in ceremonial dress sit respectfully behind him. A maid carrying a wooden stand with sake cups (for a celebratory banquet) enters from the right. A single-panel screen depicting the rising sun among the waves stands to the left. All the sliding-door panels are covered with a chrysanthemum pattern, alluding to a similar celebratory scene in the nō play Kantan. (From SNKBZ 79, Kibyōshi, senryū, kyōka, by permission of Shōgakukan)
[BUNZUI]: We were brought together by an odd fate. You must take exceptionally good care of yourself from now on.
[CLERKS]: The succession of the mastership came off very well. We offer you our heartiest congratulations.
[MAID]: Our new master looks exactly like Raishi in the role of Lazy Tarō.6
4. Because Kinbei, as head of the household, had everything he wanted, he gave himself up more and more to extravagance and began devoting all his time, night and day, to carousing. In contrast to his earlier appearance, the crown of his head is now shaved stylishly, right down to the sidelocks, and the remaining lock—about the size of a rat’s tail—is done up in a Honda topknot. Notable was the lavish use of heavy black silk in his clothes; and he sported sashes of velvet, Hakata silk, or Mogul weave. He was modish in every possible way.
As usually happens, birds of a similar feather came flocking to him. Genshirō, the shop hand, acted in collusion with Manpachi, the professional jester, and Guichi, the blind minstrel; and the three did their best to urge Kinbei along a path of profligacy.
Taking his former name of Kanemura-ya Kinbei, someone coined the nickname Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold, and everyone addressed him this way, pandering to his vanity. The shop hand Genshirō called in a few geishas to get him excited.
4. Kinbei, dressed as a dandy, wears a black double-layer jacket over a striped robe. Genshirō (with the “gen” on his sleeve) holds a sake container, urging Kinbei to have more to drink. Manpachi (with the “hachi” on his back), the professional jester, urges him on with a fan. The blind Guichi (with the “go” on his sleeve) massages Kinbei as he leans on an armrest. The geisha sings a parody of the Itako-bushi boatman’s song on her shamisen while the men drink sake and eat broiled sea bream (tai), an auspicious fish. The surrounding walls evoke the fishing port of Itako, in Ibaragi Prefecture. (From SNKBZ 79, Kibyōshi, senryū, kyōka, by permission of Shōgakukan)
5. Kinbei and his entourage set out for Yoshiwara, seen in the far distance, marked by rain barrels on the rooftops (for fighting fires). Customers approached the licensed quarter by boat from the Sumida River and then walked along the Nihonzutsumi embankment to Yoshiwara or went by carriage. Kinbei wears a black hood, a black cloak, and a striped silk robe. Genshirō is on the left, and Manpachi, without a cloak (indicating his lower status), is on the right. The blind bard Guichi, behind the group, wears wooden clogs (geta), indicating his even lower status. (From SNKBZ 79, Kibyōshi, senryū, kyōka, by permission of Shōgakukan)
[GEISHA]:
Yo-tsu-yaa,-yaa, Shinjuku . . .
Never did I dream of finding
Courtesans, flowering with such beauty,
Amid heaps of horse manure.
He comes, he comes, he comes—
Konpira, deity of Sanuki.7
[MANPACHI] (mimicking a kabuki actor): Who should make an appearance this very moment but Arashi Raishi! Without mistake, this is what he said . . .
[GENSHIRŌ]: There’s just one thing, sir. It’s not all that fun just staying home and making all this racket. Tomorrow, why don’t you go up to the North Country.8
5. Egged on in this way, Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold tried going to the Yoshiwara quarter and, from that time on, became intimate with a prostitute named Ka-keno. Turning a deaf ear to admonitions from his adoptive parents, he frequented the pleasure quarter in the company of the shop hand Genshirō and Manpachi even on nights so dim that the next step would lead into a world of complete darkness.9
6. On the night before the beginning of spring (setsubun), Kinbei scatters from a measuring box gold and silver coins instead of the customary roasted beans. Manpachi and Guichi ecstatically gather up the money, but the courtesan Kakeno looks the other way in disinterest, smoking her pipe. This is one of the first suggestions that Kinbei, while fashionable in dress, is lacking in inner sophistication (tsū). Seasonal decorations, above the al-cove, include a straw festoon decorated with paper strips and yuzuriha evergreen leaves. (From SNKBZ 79, Kibyōshi, senryū, kyōka, by permission of Shōgakukan)
The attire of Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold: a haori cloak made of figured silk from Hachijō Island, a padded kimono of striped crepe silk, and an underrobe embellished with patterns favored by kabuki stars. He went about deeply hooded, with only his eyes Mr Glittering—the better to be somewhat inconspicuous.
[MANPACHI]: The figure you cut is too much for words. A fantastic getup!
Book 2
6. Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold was carried awa
y by the courtesan Kakeno. The year drew quickly to a close, and it was the night before the New Year. At the urging of Genshirō, who suggested that roasted beans were passé, Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold filled a boxed tray with gold and silver coins—his gift to celebrate the change of seasons.10
7. Kinbei visits an elegantly appointed teahouse with the sign “Miyamoto,” an actual teahouse that stood in the large precincts of the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine in Fukagawa, the unlicensed pleasure quarter on the east side of the Sumida River. It is very early spring, and everything is covered in snow. Manpachi waits at the entrance as Kinbei appears in the dandy style for bad weather, wearing a straw hat and a Kaga straw rain cape and holding a cane. A young attendant accompanies him, holding a furoshiki that contains his spare clothes, a practice of wealthy commoners at the time. (From SNKBZ 79, Kibyōshi, senryū, kyōka, by permission of Shōgakukan)
[MR GLITTER ‘N’ GOLD]: In with the good fortune and out with the devil! In with the good fortune and out with the devil!
[GUICHI]: What a crow-bird mountain of luck! With this money, I’ll be on my way to achieving the rank of Master Bard.11
[MANPACHI]: This is wild! Just like Satsuma-ya Gengobei. It’s a takeoff on Umegae.12
7. Having exhausted the many pleasures of the North Country, Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold next went to the Dragon-Serpent Quarter and had all the fun there was to have there.13 But his suave manners were put on and were not well received. The blessings dispensed by the Amida Buddha are in direct proportion to the amount of gold one gives the priest. Because he scattered the yellow stuff about liberally, everyone called him Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold and played up to his vanity.
8. Lying in bed, Kinbei enjoys his time with Omazu, drinking sake and eating fish. The tall folding screen, adorned with plovers flying above the waves (a winter motif), gives the two a sense of privacy, and the robe placed over the screen indicates, as was the custom in the Fukagawa pleasure quarter, that the space is occupied. A teahouse hostess approaches Omazu to tell her that Omazu’s true love, Genshirō, is expecting her. (From SNKBZ 79, Kibyōshi, senryū, kyōka, by permission of Shōgakukan)
[MR GLITTER ‘N’ GOLD]: My, how it has snowed! And how cold it must be for those without status in this world. Snowflakes swirl about like goose down, and a man clothed in a paper robe is about to leap into the river . . . oh, the hell with it all.14
[MANPACHI]: There you stand, clad in a straw coat from Kaga, forgoing the palanquin despite the snowstorm. I’m reminded of the line—how did it go now?—“Though skiffs are to be had in the Dragon-Serpent village, it is only because I love you that I’ve come barefooted.”15 You’re terrific! Simply terrific!
8. Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold fell deep in the clutches of a courtesan named Omazu in the Dragon-Serpent Quarters. He went to see her daily and spent a tidy sum on her. So far as Omazu was concerned, however, she was merely performing her duty. Outwardly she behaved as if she had fallen deeply in love with him, all the while carrying on behind his back and having fun with Genshirō.
9. The wavy line on the right border indicates the passing of time and a change of scene. Genshirō and Manpachi try to calm the angered Kinbei while the teahouse hostess protects Omazu. The agitation is expressed through the overturned sake container. (From SNKBZ 79, Kibyōshi, senryū, kyōka, by permission of Shōgakukan)
Here is how the girls at the teahouse would speak to one another in make-believe Chinese whenever they ridiculed Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold.
[TEAHOUSE HOSTESS]: Geken-shiki-rokō sakaiid tokoo yokoo tokoo cokome.16
[OMAZU]: Tekell hikim tokoo wakait akand akaill bekee thekere sokoon. Be sure to tell him now.
9. Until then, Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold knew nothing of what went on. He had believed that Omazu was completely sincere, and he had fallen for her. But he sensed something suspicious in Omazu’s behavior that night, and he raised a big fuss and broke off their relationship.
[MANPACHI]: Come now, sir. Take it easy. What went wrong?
[MR GLITTER ‘N’ GOLD]: It’s not important; let’s forget the whole thing. It’ll turn up during spring housecleaning.
[TEAHOUSE HOSTESS]: Don’t bother with him, Omazu. You don’t have to stay around. He’s such a nincompoop!
10. Near the great southern gate to Edo, at Takanawa, with the ocean to the left, two boats are tied to the embankment, and boat sails appear far out at sea. Kinbei comes across a palanquin being carried energetically by two men. A professional male entertainer accompanies the palanquin, carrying a furoshiki full of spare clothes. Kinbei looks on bitterly as he reflects on his reduced state. A rural samurai emerges from the stone wall at the right, with two swords, a towel cap on his head, and an Ichimatsu- (checkered) design dress, which was out of fashion at the time. Priests and low-ranking samurai, serving in the nearby domain residences, were frequent visitors to the unlicensed pleasure quarter in Shinagawa, which was cheaper and lower in status than that in Fukagawa. (From SNKBZ 79, Kibyōshi, senryū, kyōka, by permission of Shōgakukan)
10. Having been royally fleeced at various places, Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold lost his sheen. Those who used to bow and scrape before him would pretend not to know him and would avoid him. Although he felt bitter to the core, there was nothing he could do. He was without the resources to ride even a plain rattan palanquin. He cut a pitiful figure—the pair of plain wooden clogs clinging to his feet. He appeared quite forlorn as he ventured nightly, alone, to Shinagawa.17
[MR GLITTER ‘N’ GOLD]: Only yesterday everyone was calling me Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold and making a fuss over me. I was able to ride in skiffs and rattan palanquins. Here I am today wearing a patchi underwear and fair-weather clogs. What an uncertain world we live in. Dammit all!
[PASSERBY]: Come on, boys! Let’s hear you shout. And move a little faster.
[COUNTRY SAMURAI]: Edo is one rip-roarin’ town.
11. Kinbei, disowned and weeping, leaves Bunzui’s house. Even though he still has his Honda hairstyle, Kinbei now wears the traveling clothes that he originally had when he appeared at the millet store. Genshirō, on the right, points at him contemptuously. Bunzui holds a robe (with the “kin” on the sleeve) that he has just stripped off Kinbei. (From SNKBZ 79, Kibyōshi, senryū, kyōka, by permission of Shōgakukan)
12. The wavy line on the right border indicates a change of scene. Kinbei, his hair disheveled, yawns and stretches, waking from his dream. The tattered fan is nowhere to be seen, and the line on the low platform has disappeared, indicating that Kinbei has truly awakened from his dream. (From SNKBZ 79, Kibyōshi, senryū, kyōka, by permission of Shōgakukan)
11. Because the family fortune seemed to be tottering with Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold’s indulging daily in wanton extravagances, his adoptive father, Bunzei, became furious. At the urging of the shop hand Genshirō, he stripped Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold of his finery and drove him out dressed as he was when he first came.
[GENSHIRŌ]: Serves you right.
12. Having been driven out, Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold had no place to go. He was sobbing with grief, not knowing what to do or where to go, when he was startled by the thud of millet being pounded. He arose and realized that he had been dreaming while the millet was being cooked. The millet cakes he had ordered were not yet done. Kinbei clapped his hands to register the amazing discovery. “In a dream I became the son of Bunzui,” he thought to himself, “and thirty years passed while I enjoyed the ultimate in splendor. I can only conclude that a lifetime of pleasure is as brief as the time it takes to grind a mortarful of millet.”
[WOMAN]: Your millet cakes are done, sir!
[Kibyōshi, sharebon shū, NKBT 59: 34–46, translated by James Araki]
SANTŌ KYŌDEN
Unlike Koikawa Harumachi and other first-generation kibyōshi writers, who were low-level samurai serving in Edo, Santō Kyōden (1761–1816) was an urban commoner, was much younger, and exhibited an unrestrained sensibility and humor not found in the works of his samurai predecessors. Kyōden first made a name fo
r himself when he was twenty-one, with the publication of Things for Sale You Know About (Gozonji no shōbai mono, 1782). But it was Grilled and Basted Edo-Born Playboy (Edo umare uwaki no kabayaki, 1785), with his own illustrations under his painter name Kitao Masanobu, that is considered one of the masterpieces that brought him lasting fame. Kyōden’s comic depiction of a conceited, spoiled youth in contemporary Edo was so successful that the word Enjirō became synonymous with conceit, and the image of Enjirō, with his pug nose, became a Kyōden trademark.
GRILLED AND BASTED EDO-BORN PLAYBOY (EDO UMARE UWAKI NO KABAYAKI, 1785)
Grilled and Basted Edo-Born Playboy appeared in three volumes, each with a cover illustrated by Kyōden himself. The title contains puns on the word kabayaki, or basted eel, a famous Edo dish. Relying on money to make up for what he lacks in physical charm, Enjirō, the son of a wealthy merchant, sets about to acquire a reputation through a series of publicity stunts: he tattoos the names of fictitious lovers on his arm, pays a courtesan to beg his parents for permission to marry their son, employs newspaper boys to distribute tabloid sheets about his exploits, hires a mistress to act jealous, and finally commits a fake double suicide with a courtesan from Yoshiwara, but each ruse is exposed and he is shown to be a fool. The two friends whom he hires to help him seem to profit from his repeated failures. Like Koikawa Harumachi’s Mr Glitter ‘n’ Gold’s Dream of Splendor, this kibyōshi draws on the conventions of such sharebon as The Playboy Dialect (Yūshi hōgen), which humorously reveals the protagonist to be a fake and not the sophisticate (tsū) he claims to be. But in Edo-Born Playboy this narrative convention becomes more complex and unrestrained, turning into a series of deliberately planned performances in which the protagonist is consumed by the heroes and images found in various popular performing arts: shinnai-bushi (romantic ballads), kabuki, and jōruri. Enjirō attempts to play all these imagined roles, with each increasingly radical act bringing more mockery to the unbowed and indefatigable protagonist. The high point of the narrative is an elaborate parody of the michiyuki, the poetic and lyrical travel scene that forms the climax of the love suicides found in jōruri and kabuki. Edo-Born Playboy thus provides a metacommentary on the function and effect of performance, including, implicitly, that of the tsū as the ultimate performer.
Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900 Page 98