On the Road: Honjo and Fukagawa neighborhoods

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Summary

Travel is an act for human beings to visit new places and experience different cultures and histories. Through travel, people can actually feel historical events and people’s lives by visiting historical places and cultural heritage sites, and can gain a deeper understanding of history and broaden their own perspectives. 

Kaidou wo yuku Vol. 36 Fukagawa?Honji.

In the previous article, focused on Daitokuji Temple in Murasaki, Kita-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, as described in “Mahayana Buddhism, Nirvana Sutra, and Zen Teachings” and “The Zen Way of Life” among others. This time, the trip will be to Fukagawa and Honjo neighborhoods to visit people who lived in the Edo period from steeplejacks, raftsmen of Kiba, rakugo, and so on.

On the Road: Honjo and Fukagawa neighborhoods

This time, the trip will start from Fukagawa, where we will meet steeplejacks and former kawanami (raftsmen of Kiba), and think about people who have lived chivalrously since the old days of Edo. In Honjo, they will visit the ruins of Kira Kouzuke-no-suke‘s mansion and the birthplace of Katsu Kaishu, think about Sanyutei Enraku and Kawatake Mokuami, who lived in the Honjo-wari-water area, then take a boat ride down the Sumida River, view the town and bridges from the river, and finally visit Ryunosuke Akutagawa‘s novel at Ekoin in Ryogoku.

Fukagawa flourished as a colorful town of lumber wholesalers in the Edo period. In Fukagawa, the men who worked at the lumber wholesalers’ shops were highly esteemed for their chivalry, and the women who worked there were called “Tatsumi geishas,” or “haori geisha.

They were called “kyan,” which is a Japanese word for chivalry, because they were dressed like men and had a brave spirit. The prefix “o” was added to this and it was also called “okyan. This expression “okyan” is still used in the Showa period and is understood to some extent by older people. The corresponding word for a man is “inase.

The word “okyan” also appears in Natsume Soseki‘s “Botchan,” in which the Edokko “Botchan” struggles in the “big countryside” of Iyo Matsuyama, and the “Madonna” whom the vice principal, the red shirt, and others admire is described as “Okyan,” which means that even the Madonna is not very good at it.

The difference between “Isami” and “Inase” and “Iki“, which were popular in the Edo period (1603-1868), as described in “Strolling along the Highway in Akasaka“, is that “Isami” is a vigorous, manly spirit, “Inase” is a cool, brave, and refreshing manner, and “Iki” is a refreshingly cool temperament, attitude, and appearance, as well as sex appeal. Iki” means having a refreshingly cool temperament, demeanor, and appearance, while “iki” means having a sense of sex appeal. Iki” refers to the character’s temperament, attitude, and deportment, and “iki” means being refined, while “inase” means being refined and energetic.

Fukagawa is also the center of Edo rakugo, and various stories are created and introduced in this trip.

The first story introduced was “Bunshichimotokamiyui. The character in this story is Chobei, an Edo-kko craftsman named Sagan. He is a craftsman who embodies the saying “Edo kids don’t have enough money for the night,” which was used to describe Edo kids at that time, and he spends all the money he gets from his work on bakuchi (gambling), going to hill places and eating delicious food. The story begins when his only daughter, not telling her parents, goes to Yoshiwara and offers to sell herself to pay off her parents’ debts, to the shopkeeper’s surprise.

Chobei is on his way home with the large sum of money, and also with the money for sake, when a young shopkeeper-like man is about to throw himself from a bridge. The young man, whose name was Fumishichi, had gone to collect an account receivable for his store and was on his way home when he was confronted by a suspicious man.

Chobei comes to him and stops him from throwing himself to his death by force, and after hearing what happened, he gets angry with Fumishichi who refuses to give him the money and throws his wallet at him.

However, when Bunshichi returns to the store, he finds that the 50 ryo had actually been delivered to him.

When the owner took Fumishichi to Chobei, Chobei’s wife accused him of “helping others, which is what a respectable landlord’s husband would do,” to which Chobei replied, “I can give you my life,” and they fought. When the owner of the store tried to return the 50 ryo to Chobei, Chobei refused to accept it, saying, “It’s embarrassing for me to take it, and since I already gave it to him, I’ll give it to him.

After some persuasion, he finally accepts the money, saying, “Thank you, sir, I’m embarrassed.” The owner of the store hears about the daughter, sends his banto to Yoshiwara, dresses her in the finest clothes, and sends her to Chobei’s house, where the beautiful girl appears.

The story ends with the owner asking Chobei to take Bunshichi as his child, since Bunshichi’s parents had already passed away early, and to make him and his daughter man and wife.

Other stories include “Oyama Pilgrimage” (An act of worship to Mt. Oyama (now Isehara City) in Sagami Province, one of the mountain worship described in “History and Mountain Climbing Race of Mt.), which tells the story of a mischievous joke by an Edo-kko, and “Bando Ohiko,” in which a misogynistic store keeper falls in love with a famous man-hating dance master.

Fukagawa was originally nothing more than a delta formed at the mouth of the Sumida River, and was apparently not a place where people could live. Fukagawa began to be urbanized around the time of the third shogun, Iemitsu (around 1620s), when Tomioka Hachiman Shrine was built.

The shrine attracted the attention of Edo citizens from its early days, and festivals began to be held there from around the 1640s, and “Fukagawa no Matsuri” (festival in Fukagawa) is said to have been a source of enjoyment for Edo citizens.

Later, during the reign of the fifth shogun Tsunayoshi (around 1680-1710), a bridge (Ohashi or Eitaibashi) was built connecting Edo and Fukagawa, and Fukagawa was no longer an isolated island, but became a bustling place. Furthermore, Fukagawa’s prosperity spread as sumo, which had its roots in “kanshinzumo,” a form of sumo allowed only at Tomioka Hachiman Shrine, flourished.

The Honjo area is located on the north side of the Fukagawa River (above the Fukagawa River on the map), and was originally a low marshy area that was urbanized more quickly than the Fukagawa River, where the residences of Hatamoto and Gokenin, the direct retainers of the Tokugawa Shogunate, were concentrated. This area has been the setting for historical novels as described in “Ryotaro Shiba, Shotaro Ikenami, and Historical Novels,” and Honjo is also the location of Kira Kouzeke-no-suke‘s residence, the setting of the well-known “Chushingura” and the residence of Katsu Kaishu, who was active at the end of the Edo period.

Ryogoku, the border between Fukagawa and Honjo, is home to Ekoin Temple, which was built to mourn the many people who died in the fires that frequently occurred in Edo. Within the temple are the graves of various historical figures, one of which is that of Jirokichi, the “Nezumikozo. Jirokichi was a thief who, for 10 years from around 1820, sneaked into the residences of feudal lords in 99 places (ordinary merchants were not targeted) and stole about 3,000 ryo (about 100 million yen in today’s terms). He became a popular character at the end of the Edo period.

This Nezumikozo Jirokichi can be said to be the prototype of the “thief who foils the strong and helps the weak” depicted in “Lupin III” by Monkey Punch and “Kaijin Nijumenso” by So Kitamura, among others.

The Honjo–Fukagawa trip ends with a tour of 15 bridges along the Sumida River (Tsukiji Bridge, Kachidokibashi Bridge, Tsukuda Bridge, Chuo Bridge, Eitai Bridge, Sumidagawa Bridge, Shin Ohashi, Kiyosubashi, Ryogoku Bridge, Kuramae Bridge, Stable Bridge, Komagata Bridge, Azuma Bridge, Kototoi Bridge, Sakura Bridge).

Tokyo will be a city filled with various histories and cultures.

In the next article, we will discuss Hongo, a town that served as a “switchboard” to accept Western civilization and distribute it to the provinces in Japan’s rush to modernize during the Meiji period, and where the first university in Japan was located, as well as the great writers of the Meiji period who lived in this town, including Soseki Natsume, Ogai Mori and Ichiyo Higuchi.