Japan monster reading response

O ne H

undred M onsters in Edo of O

ur Tlm e

BAl:sA B U

N K

0 Penalties for violating the publication law

s that w ere repeatedly

issued ranged

from official reprim

ands and fifty days

in handcuffs to confiscation of assets and exile. T

he m ost extrem

e case w

as B aba B

unko (1718-1759), the only w riter through-

out the entire E do period to be executed for the crim

e of violating publi- cation law

s. H e began his career as a guard in the shogun's household but

w as dism

issed follow ing the death of the eighth shogun Y

oshim une ( 1684-

1751) and the beginning o f the new

adm inistration of the ninth shogun

Ieshige (1711-1761). A s did m

any other ronin, he first sought success as a B

uddhist clergym an and then as a fortune-teller. It w

as only as a popular lecturer that he gained notoriety. H

is entertaining renditions of the classics and reports on current events appealed to the E

doites' insatiable curiosity and their desire for personal enlightenm

ent. H e becam

e such a huge success that he established his ow

n hut in A sakusa for his perform

ances. BunkO

did not hesitate to criticize individuals w ho in his view

w ere

inept, corrupt, or hypocritical, w hether shogun or kabuki actor, m

an or w

om an. H

e w as also dem

ocratic in his praise of m orally upright individu-

als w hether they w

ere m agistrates, scholars, or prostitutes. H

e w as particu·

larly harsh on figures of authority w ho failed their responsibility. T

he strong sense of good and bad and equally extrem

e language of love and hatred

104 G

H O

S T

S , M

O N

S T

E R

S , A

N O

O E

t'T lE

S

seem s to have appealed to a dow

ntow n E

do audience. H e studded his lec-

tures w ith juicy pieces o

f contem porary gossip as w

ell as loud invective against ineffectual and hypocritical authorities, expressions o

f frustration to w

hich E doites could readily relate. G

enerally, he found ethical m odels in the

leaders during the reign ofY oshim

une and bem oaned the decay o

f earlier principles in leadership under leshige's rule.

P erhaps B

unkO w

as off-guard since the enforcem ent o

f publication law s

w as neither cohesive nor system

atic at the tim e. H

e took advantage o f a loop-

hole in the law forbidding th

e "printing" of m aterials concerning the fam

i- lies o

f ruling sam urai o

r contem porary sociopolitical events by distributing

handw ritten copies o

f his lectures. H is dow

nfall had to do w ith the so-called

K anam

ori Incident, w hich involved a series o

f peasant uprisings against the rigid financial policies and corrupt practices ofK

anam ori Y

orikane (1713- 1763 ), lord of G

ujo D om

ain in M ino. U

prisings resulted after the peasants had sent petition after petition to the dom

ain authorities as w ell as to the cen-

tral shogunate, until the K anam

ori household w as dissolved and the adm

itl- istrators and peasant leaders variously and quite vigorously punished. T

he num

ber ofindividuals punished in the K anam

ori Incident w as m

uch greater than in any other E

do peasant uprising, and the inquisition w as carried out in

such thorough detail that it inspired curiosity and excitem ent n

o t unlike the

W atergate incident in the U

nited States from 1972 to 197 4. It is easy to im

ag- ine how

E do citizens, w

ho got w ind o

f the violent events as w ell as o

f the later official inquisition, rushed to hear B

unko's description and com m

entary. H e

w as arrested by a tow

n constable w ho had hidden him

self am ong the audi-

ence gathered at a certain m erchant's house w

here he heard the entire first lecture. B

unkO 's crim

e w as to sell to his audiences and to give aw

ay as prizes handw

ritten copies of his lecture "D ew

drops in the W oods" (H

irakana m ori

no shizuku). T h

e title looks innocuous but the nam e K

anam ori is hidden i11

it, "w oods" giving the im

pression o f dark secrecy and "dew

drops" suggest- ing the fragm

ented and sparse inform ation that w

as available. In addition to B

unkO 's execution, lending library ow

ners w ere punished for supplying new

s to him

and for distributing his w ritings. B

unko had tw o faces: one o

f a frus- trated and angry critic o

f society w ho w

as out to educate the public, and the other o

f a sm art entertainer w

ho knew how

to excite his audience and m ake

m oney. H

e w ent too far in both directions.

N o copy of"D

ew drops in the W

oods" is extant. T he other w

orks attrib· uted to B

unko and available only in handw ritten copies feature a style replete

w ith cutting sarcasm

an d

outrageous m etaphor. O

ne H undred M

onsters in Edo of O

ur Tim e (Todai Eda H

yaku Bakem ono, w

ritten 1758) consists o f

tw enty-three "lectures" concerning tw

enty-seven scandalous figures o f E

do society, sam

urai and com m

oners alike, w ho w

ere the talk o f the tow

n. H e

G H

O S

T S

, M O

N S

T E

R S

, A N

O D

E IT

IE S

105

calls each o f them

a m onster and pulls no punches in castigating their hypoc-

risies and ill·doings. In this sense, he m akes satirical use o

f the biographical profile, w

hich cam e to flourish as a genre of w

riting. A s he says in the preface,

"m onsters" refer to those w

ho appear and disappear, tricking people. P

resented here arc five episodes selected from

the w ork. E

ach is prefaced by short notes w

ritten by the authors of this introduction to pro- vide the reader w

ith necessary contextual inform ation for the appreciation

o f the episodes.

TH E

C A

S E

O F

A N

A U

N TIE

M O

N S

TE R

[H ere is a scandal about an unfaithful husband and his jealous w

ife. T he point o

f the public's interest is that the w

ife disguised herself as an aging aunt in order to have access to the beachside brothel in Shinagaw

a w here her husband w

as spend- ing days 'tA.'ith his prostitute lover. T

he latter's beauty rem inds one o

f N akam

ura T

om ijllro ( 1721-1786), a fum

ale im personator in kabuki. T

he w ife's anger is

com pared w

ith the anguish o f the heroine o

f the no play H anjo, w

ho is deserted by her heart1ess lover, By coincidence, the prostitute's nam

e is O tsuna, resem

bling the nam

e o f the great ancient hero W

atanabe no T suna (953-1025), w

ho attacked the m

onster Iba.raki D 6ji and took aw

ay hJs arm .Just as the ogre retrieved his arm

by disguising him

self as the w arrior's aunt, the w

ife in this story took back her husband by calling herself the prostitute's aunt.]

O tsuna is one o

f the w om

en w ho w

ork at the bordello T sunokuniya in Shi-

nagaw a. A

round E do everyone know

s her by her alias, K eishi T

suna. S he

acquired this nicknam e because, as everyone says, she resem

bles the fam ous

fem ale im

personator N akam

ura K eishi, alias T

ornijiiro. A

w ealthy m

erchant from O

daw ara-cho by the nam

e o f A

m agasaki Ikko

fell in love w ith O

tsuna. H e becam

e m ore and m

ore negligent o f his respon-

sibilities in the fam

ily business. In spite o f the protestations o

f his parents and the criticism

s o f his neighbors, he w

as driven to visit her night after night. U

nlike the insincere vow s exchanged betw

een prostitutes and their clients, O

tsuna and Ikko m eant every w

ord o f their vow

s. Ikko w as a m

ar- ried m

an. H is w

ife, tw o o

r three years older than he, w as quite intelligent,

w ith n

o m

ean level o f talent. N

evertheless, her husband w as so busy visit-

ing O tsuna that the w

ife w ould be in bed all alone listening to th

e lonely autum

n night tolling of the tem ple bell. T

h e jealousy in her heart grew

ever m

ore insufferable as she com plained like H

anago o f the no play that alluded

106 G

H O

S T

S , M

O N

S T

E R

S , A

N D

D E

J T

lE S

to L ady H

an, w ho lam

ented that she had been discarded like a fan w hen

autum n w

inds blow .

Ikko's w ife repeatedly sent m

essengers over to Shinagaw a to the T

su- nokuniya Inn to have them

bring her husband back to her. lkko, how ever,

w ould not return. She even sent letters directly to O

tsuna: "W hy in the w

orld have you stolen m

y husband and now refuse to send him

hom e? If you truly

loved him , you w

ould send him back to m

e, taking into consideration his w or-

ried parents and the fam ily's financial burdens, not to m

ention the scandal." B

ut no m atter how

m any letters appealing to her com

passion and sense o f

propriety that O tsuna received, she denied that Ikko w

as ever w ith her, all

the w hile keeping him

in the inn. In the end, the m essengers could find no

one at the inn to receive them . T

he distraught w ife did not know

w hat to

do. W hen she realized that no letter w

ould bring back a reply and no m es-

senger w ould be m

et by anyone, she resolved to m ake a visit to T

sunokuniya Inn, m

eet O tsuna face to face, reason w

ith her, and bring Ikko back. A s she

w as leaving for Shinagaw

a, she thought, "N o, no. IfI com

e as I am , they w

ill schem

e to avoid m eeting w

ith m e:' So she m

ade a plan for herself: she w ore a

lined cotton kim ono w

ith a narrow black satin sash. T

his outfit m ade her look

older than she actually w as, and in this attire she set out for T

sunokuniya Inn. O

n her arrival at the front entrance of the inn, she called to a m

anservant and said to him

, "If you do not m ind m

y troubling you for a m om

ent, I w ould

like to m eet a w

om an o

f this establishm ent w

ho goes b y

the nam e O

tsuna. A

ctually, you see, I am her aunt. I have com

e from Shiba M

ita. O tsuna calls

m e her 'auntie from

M ita: It's been such a long tim

e since I have seen m y

T suna, so I really m

ust see her now . W

ouldn't you be so kind as to tell her I am

h eret W

hen he took the m essage to O

tsuna, the servant found her in bed w

ith Ikko. O tsuna said to him

, ''.A ctually, I do have an aunt in M

ita. S he m

ust have com

e to ask m e for m

oney again. W ould you please just send her aw

ay?" O

verhearing the conversation, this "auntie" pretended to be offended and said in a loud voice, "Y

our old auntie has com e all this w

ay to see you. H

ow cruel, your w

ay o f speaking! W

hen you w ere a little child, left behind

by your deceased m other, it w

as I w ho brought you up, D

uring the m idsum

- m

er heat, I cooled you off w ith a fan. In the dead o

f w inter, I w

arm ed you

w ith m

y ow n body. W

as the care I gave you all in vain? O h, how

regrettahle! T

he little sw allow

w ho took food from

m y m

outh has forgotten the care her auntie provided for her now

that she has left the nest:' W

h en

A m

agasaki Ikko heard "auntie" pleading, he said, "A fter hearing

her w ords, how

can w e throw

her back on the street? L et your auntie com

e in. I w

ill reason w ith her and offer som

e assistance." Just as he w as speaking,

the w om

an w ho called herself O

tsuna's aunt grabbed Ikko by his collar and pulled him

out o f the bed.

G H

O S

T S

, M O

N S

T E

R S

, A N

O O

E !T

!E S

107

"W hy didn't you com

e hom e w

hen I sent a stream o

f m essengers? 1

had to com e all this w

ay to get you." She then stam ped over the bedding

and dragged her husband out o f the inn. O

tsuna w as dum

bfounded at w hat

had happened. Since she w as in service to the brothel and couldn't leave the

prem ises, there w

as nothing she could do but stand by and let lkko be taken hom

e by his w ife.

P oor O

tsuna! O f all her custom

ers, lkko w as as im

portant to her as her ow

n arm s. It w

as m ortifying to

lose him to som

eone calling herself her aunt. lkko"s w

ife, thus disguised, w as like the dem

on in the w ell-know

n story about the w

arrior W atanabe no T

suna w ho took off the arm

o f an ogre.

T he ogre, how

ever, tricked the w arrior by disguising him

self as his aunt to retrieve his arm

. It is interesting that a w om

an called T suna and a fake auntie

w ere involved in our current scandal. T

hose hum an beings w

ho trick others in disguise should he called m

onsters.

TH E C

A S

E O

F TH E

M O

N S

TE R

W H

O

G O

E S

FR O

M Q

U E

E R

TO S

TR A

IG H

T

[M iw

guchi N aoatsu ( 1714-1780), the ruler of Shibata D

om ain in northern

E chigo, w

as notorious for bis involvem ent w

ith actors w hen theater w

as conw sidered a place of vice and actors beneath all class.es of legitim

ate citizens. For a daim

yo, paying respect at the grave of ru:1 actor w as an appalling breach of deco-

rum . To scandal·m

ongers' delight, this lord patronized top stars on the kabuki stage, including Segaw

a K ikujiro ( 1715-1756) and later his nephew

Segaw a

K ikunojo II (1741-1773). N

icknam ed O

ji RokO , the latter w

as an idol for young w

om en in E

do, w ho im

itated his fashion. L ove affairs am

ong actors, their w tves

1

and their com m

oner patrons w ere central to scandal sheets, satirical poerns

1 a.nd theater review

s, but a daim yo's relationship w

ith a sttlr actor's w idov.· m

ust have raised the

of respectable sam

urai. K ikujirO

's w idow

O ryii;

m ore com

m only called O

m atsui w

as know n for her talent in m

usic and other arts as w

ell as m anagerial skills. Suitors w

ere m any as soon as she becam

e a w idow

in her

but she m arried Id1ikaw

a D anjU

r01\'; w ho becam

e the virtual father to the boy w

ho w as to becom

e the great K ikunojo 11. A

s she com blned the

tw o glorious theater fum

ilies 1 she w

as naturally a topic of tow n gossip and theater

review s. Ffhe book of com

ic poem s m

entioned in the beginning o f this piece w

as published in 1753.]

M izoguchi N

aoatsu, lord o f Shibata D

om ain, is com

m only know

n by his alias B

aiko. A haiku in the collection titled "O

ne H undred G

reat Fools in H

aikai" rails at this lordly poet: ·w h

a t an idiotic face!/ H

e m ust have seen

the spattering/ O f his pow

der falling into the flam es in the brazier:' A

gainst

108 G

H O

S T

S , M

O N

S T

E R

S , A

N D

D E

IT IE

S

the custom of m

en in his class, he alw ays paints his face w

ith pow der and

goes out on the prow l fur erotic adventures.

R ecently, B

aik6 bas been inclined tow ard yuung boys, and be has been

enam ored of the actor Segaw

a K ikujir6 of the H

am am

uraya troupe since the tim

e K ikujir6 w

as still young and healthy. B aiko, illustrious daim

yo indeed, w

ould sponsor ;um ptuous banquets and other pleasurable diversions at

K ikujirO

's house. K ikujirosnephew

, Segaw a K

ikunojo II, w as also B

aik6's favor- ite from

the tim e he w

as a nine-year-old child called K ichiji. BaikO

lavished his favors on the boy and provided a great deal of m

oney as the boy's spon- sor w

hen he w as cerem

onially invested w ith his stage nam

e K ikunojo. A

t the opening of the theater season w

hen K lkunojo m

ade his debut, B aik6 took care

of all of his financial needs. H e spent quite a large sum

of m oney so that the

actor could be introduced in the style appropriate for the nam e of K

ikunojo. T

he year before last, K ikujir6 becam

e deathly ill. A t the tim

e, B aiko paid

for the services of a physician and brought the prescribed ginseng root and other m

edicines to the invalid. T he m

em bers of his com

pany w ere grateful

for his kindness. A fter K

ikujir6's death, be continued to provide for the fam ·

ily and arranged for K ikujir6 to be buried at the O

shiage D aiunji T

em ple in

H onjo district. For K

ikujiro's seventh-day m em

orial service, B aik6 accom

- panied K

ikujiro's w ife, O

ryii, to the grave. A gentlem

an of the upper class visiting tbe grave of a m

ere entertainer is outrageous, indeed. T his alone can

qualify him to be called a "m

onster:' Even w

orse than that, he calls on the fam ily claim

ing to be the new

K ikunojo's guest, but his latest inclinations are not tow

ard young boys, it seem

s. B efore w

e knew it, he had hooked up w

ith O ryii and nobody seem

s to have stood in the w

ay of their nightly trysts. W hen fire broke out in the

vicinity of the Y aesu riverbank and partially destroyed B

aiko's residence, he m

oved in w ith the late K

ikujiro's w ife. W

hat a big m onster! R

ecently, K

ikunoj6's com pany has had an influx of young apprentice actors w

ho, peo- ple say, w

ere provided by B aiko. O

n top of that, 1G kunoj6's stage costum

es are now

all designed by B aiko. T

his m akes the great daim

yo no better than a low

ly entertainer him sel£ C

ould anything be m ore m

onstrous than being a daim

yo and an entertainer at the sam e tim

e?

TH E

C A

S E

O F A

M O

N S

TE R

M A

G IS

TR A

TE

[B unko here pa)'ll tribute to M

asuho Z.nko ( 1655-1742 ), a Shinto scholar and popular speaker of the tim

e, B unkO

, a dedicated adm irer of the shogun Y

oshim une

and Ed o's m agistrate O

oka Tadasuke, lord ofEchizen ( 1677-17 51), harshly criticiz- es the adm

inistration of the shogun Ieshlge. O oka Tadasuke was a hard act to follow

as he w

as a paragon of justice and kindness w hose judgm

ent show ed the brilliance

G H

O S

T S

, M O

N S

T E

R S

, A N

D D

E IT

IE S

109

of Sherlock H olm

es. M ost of the popular stories surrounding this m

agistrate ha:ve proven to be fiction spread by speakers like B

unk6 and in theater and literature. H

ere, B unko rails against Tsuchiya M

asasuke, lord of Echizen ( d. 1768 ), w ho served

as m agistrate o

f E da betw

een 1753 and 1767. T his m

agistrate 1 the unscrupulous

im itation of the great judge, m

ust have represented in B unko's m

ind the corrupt reign of the shogun leshige. The w

ord of adm onishm

ent from Sakai Tadam

ochi, lord of Sanuki ( 1719-177 5), before M

asasuke becam e Ed o's m

agistrate turned out to be in vain. J

"T he w

ise sage kings of C hina, Y

ao and Shun, as w ell as B

uddha, w ere quite

successful at appearing to be virtuous, even if deep dow n they w

ere nothing of the kind," w

rote M asuho Zanko a w

hile back. A person w

ho spends his w hole

life im itating virtuous people transform

s him selfw

elJ, w e m

ight say. W

e now have a city m

agistrate, T suchiya M

asasuke, lord of E chizen,

w ho tries to im

itate at every opportunity the m ore fam

ous city m agistrate

w ho also held the title oflord ofE

chizen, O oka Tadasuke. T

suchiya seem s to

be lenient w hen presiding over court cases, and he is a bit on the sw

eet side w

hen sentencing crim inals. A

s far as his ability goes, Tsuchiya is as different as night and day w

hen com pared w

ith the great O oka, because be is m

erely a poor im

itation. W hile hearing cases he m

im ics so w

ell O oka's gesture of

pulling at his beard that he m anages to look very m

uch like his m odel. B

ut w

hen a great person m akes an appearance before him

, Tsuchiya's fake fai;ade evaporates, and the "m

onster" is unm asked.

Earlier, w hen T

suchiya w as in K

yoto, the city m agistrate Sakai Tada-

m ochi saw

through Tsuchiya's m ask and forced him

into hiding. W hen and

how he m

anaged to deceive everyone no one know s, but he has resurfaced

in Edo, pulling the w ool over everyone's eyes. I don't know

how it happened

in the past, or how long it w

ill continue in the future, but at present T suchiya

successfully continues to bam boozle all ofE

do!

TH E

C A

S E

O F TH

E N

A R

U K

A M

I N U

N

[The t1ourishing econom y and lively popular culture in the city of Edo during

B unko's tim

e encouraged flam boyant H

festyles, particulady am ong affluent citi-

zens. M any flaunted their new

fashions as w ell as w

ealth at brothels and theaters to raise the eyebrow

s of sam urai and com

m oners alike. M

izoguchi N aoatliu w

as a typically vain and spendthrift daim

yo. H ere is a com

m oner w

om an, a physiciani.s

w idow

, w hose w

anton and show -off \vays w

ere frow ned upon. N

arukam i w

as the m

onstrous hero in The Tlrnnder G od and the Cherry Trees ofK

itayam a (N

arukam i

Fudli K itayam

a Zakura, based on an earlier play of 1684 and first perform ed in

1742 ). W ith the title "N

arukc.m i;' it w

as counted am ong those designated as "T

he

110 G

H O

S T

S , M

O N

S T

E R

S , A

N O

O E

:!T IE

:S

E ighteen Plays of the Ichikaw

a Fam ily.'' A

s it w as the custom

to produce different versions of the m

ost popular plays 1 this one w

as follow ed by Fem

ale N arukam

i at the W

atcifall of Longing ( O nna N

arukam i O

m oi no Jlikitsuse, first perform

ed in 1743 ), featuring the fem

aleim personator Segaw

a K ikunojo II, affectionately

called "O ji Roko." Since the best part of the fashion of the day consisted of im

itat· ing kabuki characters and actors' costum

es, w om

en naturaliy follow ed K

ikunojO 's

style. T he other play m

entioned in this episode is a puppet play com posed

by Takeda lzum o II ( 1691··· 1756) and others, The Treasury of Loyal Retainers

(K anadehon Chiishingura, first perform

ed in 1748 ), the m ost popular of sam

urai plays based on a fairly recent incident A

m akaw

aya G ihei and his w

ife O sono are

am ong the m

ost righteous and devoted supporters of the loyal ronin w ho are out

to avenge their lord. B unk6 puts a spotlight on the contrast betw

een the virtuous and licentious intentions of the sam

e ingenious 1nethod.]

In the neighborhood o f H

am a.cho there lives a w

om an w

ho is called "the N

arukam i nun:' She w

as the w ife of the deceased physician K

anem aki

G enjun ofT

achibana·ch6. A fter G

enjun died from an illness, another m

an, T

akane G enryfl, took the physician's nam

e and him self becam

e know n as

"K anem

aki G enjun:· T

he w ife o

f the deceased G enjun w

as then taken in by this new

G enjun. A

l the tim e o

f her husband's death, "the N arukam

i nun" sheared off her beautiful, raven.blackhair and becam

e a nun. E veryone tried

to stop her from being so rash. It w

as m uch too soon, they said, for her to

give up, cut her hair short, and enter a convent since she w as still so very

young. P eople at first com

m ented that she m

ust have do11e it in defense of her w

om anly chastity and out of respect for her deceased husband. H

ow

adm irable and praisew

orthy she w as!

T his w

om an, how

ever, is nothing but a m onstrous fraud. A

t best, it m

ight be said that she becam e a nun because of her excessively im

pnl· sive tem

peram ent. W

hat people don't realize is that she had alw ays been

extrem ely fond of kabuki and never m

issed the opening show o

f each new

program . S

he is a w om

an ofeasyvirtue and conducts her life in every w ay as

if she w ere a fem

ale actor in a play. She w as having an illicit affair w

ith som e

m an oflow

class w hile her husband w

as still alive. A fter her husband's death

his fam ily advised her to rem

arry an honest and virtuous m an dw

elling in the countryside o

f K anagaw

a. S he w

as distressed to think that such a m ar-

riage w ould prevent her from

seeing her illicit lover. O

n e evening she w

ent to the puppet play The Treasury of I.oyal Retain- ers. S

he saw how

O sono, the w

ife of A m

akaw aya G

ihei, w as pressed by her

father to rem arry. In a trick devised by the hero O

boshi Y uranosuke, O

sono took the tonsure so that the proposal of m

arriage w as successfully canceled.

T his w

as the solution to her dilem m

a. Just as she had observed in this

G H

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111

dram a, she decided to

becom e a nun in order to avoid rem

arrying a respect- able m

an. It w as m

erely for outvnrd appearance that she cut her black hair and entered religion. It w

as all to show herself off as a praisew

orthy w om

an w

hile carrying on her illicit affair. She is a deceiver and a m onster. A

lthough dressed as a nun, underneath she w

as a w anton hussy.

E ver since she saw

the sum m

er production o f Fem

ale N arukam

i) in w

hich Segaw a K

ikunojo, affectionately called "R oko N

un," perform ed the

role o f the N

arukam i nun, her greatest am

bition w as to be called "R

oko N

un." H er attire, m

im icking K

ikunojo's costum e, consisted of a sheer black

kim ono w

ith a m atching black satin obi and a black velvet w

aist sash. H er

head w as alm

ost com pletely covered in black crepe. A

ccom panying her

w ere tw

o very beautiful servant girls, w hom

she bad dressed in w hite kim

o- nos w

ith flow er patterns cascading dow

n the skirt. O n

the shoulder o f one

o f the girls she had dyed the characters for "w

hite cloud;' and on the other girl's shoulder the characters for "black cloud." T

hey w ere, in short, dressed

like N

arukam i's disciples, H

akuun (w

hite cloud) and K okuun (black

cloud). E

very single day this fickle w om

an has been attended by these m aid-

serV ll.llts, going to serm

ons at holy places, such as A sakusa E

nm a H

all, K

ayadera, o r to the stone im

age o f M

anjusri. T his gives her occasions to

m eet up w

ith licentious m en, com

m itting adultery in broad daylight. She

has all the appearance of a w om

an w ho has set out on the path o

f the B ud-

dha and is living according to the B uddhist law

. She is indeed an unparal- leled m

onster oflicentiousness.

T H

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A S

E O

F H

A Y

A S

H I,

H E

A D

O F

T H

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F U

C IA

N A

C A

D E

M Y

dom inant intellectual thought of the period \vas the Z

hushi school of C

onfucianism , \vhich "W·as led by 1nem

bers of the I-iayashi fam ily. T

he firnt head of the fam

ily w as R

azan (I 583-1657), w ho taught the first four Tokugaw

a sho- guns as personal tutor of C

onfucian texts. A private school granted to R

azan by shogun Iem

itsu w as later called the Sh6heik0 School1 w

hich, in turn; beca1ne the shogun.ate's official school in 1793, w

henJ1.1tsusai1 the eighth-generation H ayashi)

becam e the head of learning under the shogun's governm

ent. T he Sh6heik0

School reniained the center and hotbed for C onfucian studies in the country

until the end of the E do period. T

he founder R azan

1 having succeeded in tying C

onfucianism to political and bureauctatic authority, elim

inated B uddhist faith

and thought from the public system

. B unk6, in the follow

ing lecture, accuses the contem

porary head of the school of deviating fro1n the founding principles not only of the school but also of C

onfucianism itself. B

unk6 is infuriated by the

112 G

H O

S T

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IT IE

S

effect ofN obum

itsu's display of B uddhist faith in public, particularly his praise

o f the B

uddhist deity o f m

ercy, K ann on

B odhisattva. T

h e topic of three w

ays of thought, Shinto, B

uddhism , and C

onfucianism 1 w

as often debated in popular lectures and w

ritings. B unk6 w

as n ot alone in attacking B

uddhism in favor o

f the

other tw o.]

N obum

itsu, a m em

ber of the great H ayashi fam

ily, an illustrious C onfucian

scholar w ith the prestigious title of head oflearning under the shogun's gov-

ernm ent, is presum

ed to bring dignity to his position by the uprightness of his personal conduct. Surprisingly, how

ever, he is far from this im

age: one w

ould even suspect that he is another ofE do's m

onsters. A ctually, he is

an ignoram us and a com

plete fool. N obum

itsu can often be seen carrying around a B

uddhist rosary and reading B uddhist sutras. N

eedless to say, the H

ayashi fam ily, m

ostly neo-C onfucian, adhere to Z

hushi's denunciation of B

uddhism as "heterodox nihilism

" as seen in his introduction to The G reat

Learning. So w hy is it that N

obum itsu acts this w

ay? R

ecently, I ran into an interesting haikai link: "T he C

onfucian chants his sutras faithfully-to him

self:' In contrast, this m an here is an exem

plary m

onster because he prays to B uddha openly. H

e preaches benevolence and righteousness, but this m

ost fam ous C

onfucian under heaven keeps tw o

or three concubines at his tw o-story hom

e on the banks of the Y aesu. H

e often brings several prostitutes, num

erous dancing girls, and geisha to his residence, w

here you can hear the lou d

com m

otion of j6ruri singing and

sham isen playing. A

w hile back, w

hen O kubo Y

ukitada, lord oflse and dep- uty councilor, w

as still alive, being a neighbor ofN obum

itsu, he adm onished

N obum

itsu's excesses. T he deputy councilor said,

1'Y our behavior does

not reflect your station. D o be a little reserved in your conduct:' H

ayashi blushed at the rem

ark and becam e slightly m

ore circum spect so that the

gossip about him began to recede. A

nd yet, as soon as the deputy councilor resigned from

his post, H ayashi reverted to his outrageous behavior to the

annoyance of his neighbors. T

he year before last in the eleventh m onth, on the very day of Prin-

cess C hiyo's visit to the Sann6 Shrine, fire broke out in H

ayashi's residence. It spread through the M

arunouchi district, and the entire area w ent up

in flam es. H

ayashi lost everything, even his excuses for his failed term in

office. T he incident w

as indefensible in view of his official position, but the

thought did not occur to him . H

e called it "heaven's w ill" and acted as if

he had nothing to be asham ed of. O

n top of that, w hen he w

as asked to com

pose an inscription for the ritual w ash basin contributed to the A

sakusa K

ann on T

em ple by M

iura G or6zaem

on 1 h

e w rote in praise ofK

annon's w is-

dom . W

hoever heard of a C onfucian scholar doing som

ething like this? N o

G H

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113

one in their right m ind w

ould think of him w

ithout scorn. H e m

akes him self

out to be a great C onfucian, but he is no C

onfucian at all. W e m

ight call him

a truly rare m onster w

ho m akes a living by deceiving lords great and sm

all.

T R

A N

S L

A T

E D

B Y

W IL

L IA

M }. F

A R

G E

R ootless G

rass H

IR A

G A

G E

N N

A I

H iraga G

ennai (1728-1779), son of a low -ranking retainer of

Sanuki D om

ain, w as appointed by L

ord M atsudaira Y

oritaka (1711-1771)

as the

dom ain's

herbalist. U

nder the lord's sponsorship, he w

ent to N agasaki in 1752 to study herbology

and m ineralogy and later m

oved on to E do w

here he added C hinese studies

and m edical science to his repertoire. A

child of the age w hen new

fields of study and professions em

erged for innovative you n

g m en, G

ennai risked his rank as a sam

urai w hen he resigned from

the Sanuki D om

ain in 1761, suc- cum

bing to the allure of possible opportunities. H e achieved instant fam

e w

ith an exhibition of Japan's natural resources, w hich he organized in order

to encourage dom estic production over im

portation. T h

e reputation o f the

exhibition and his volum inous encyclopedia of natural resources attracted

the attention of the all-pow erful grand councilor of the B

akufu, T anum

a O

kitsugu (1719-1788). G ennai w

as the sort of renaissance m an w

hose am

bition saw no bounds. H

e built his career on being the "first in Japan" to develop a therm

om eter, asbestos cloth, and even an electric generator. H

is m

ethod w as no different from

w hat is called "reverse engineering" in cur-

rent com puter science: he dism

antled m odels he obtained through his N

a- gasaki connections in order to discover the original principles behind them

. H

e w as also the first to introduce and teach W

estern-style porcelain art and oil painting. A

s a speculator, he w orked on large-scale projects such as gold

m ining, salt production, and rice transportation, n

on e o

f w hich seem

s to have produced any rem

arkable result. H

is self-declared status as the "first in Japan" carried over to his liter- ary career, w

hich he m aintained on the side. H

is joruri play The H oly Story

of Yaguchi Ferry Crossing (Shinrei Yaguchi no W atashi, partially perform

ed, 1770), com

posed under the pen nam e ofF

ukuuchi K igai, w

as the first to feature the E

do dialect in this genre. U sing the pen nam

e Fiirai Sanjin, he invented dangibon, a w

ritten genre o f com

ic serm ons, w

hich im itated popu-

lar lectures delivered on tem ple grounds and such. H

is m ajor w

orks in this