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Samurai Movies (6)

October 28, 2021

In the movie, 'A Samurai Family's Household Account Books', the protagonist decided to settle their debts because if they didn't, they would go bankrupt. He announced to the other family members to give up their possessions and to submit their possessions in order to sell them to the pawnshops. Then, he checked each family member's possessions one by one, making a list: From his father, gifts from his lord and other important people, items for tea ceremony, rolls of calligraphy and painting called 'kakejiku'. From his mother, several precious kimonos. From his grandmother, kimonos and even a quiz book of mathematics that she liked to solve them in her pastime, for his wife, kimonos including a wedding kimono, (normally in this era, a bride's family would gift a wedding kimono and new living furniture to the newlyweds. They were all on the list.) and other items like combs, and ornamental hairpins. From himself, he gave up all of his books. At that time, books were very expensive because type printing hadn't appeared yet in this country. He asked pawnshops to come to his house. They came with two-wheeled-wooden carts and laborers, and estimated them one by one. The total estimation was short of their total debt. He negotiated the creditors saying that he would pay half of the debts in cash as long as they accepted a 10 year-loan with no interests for the rest of his debt. They were surprised at his bold offer, but they had to accept it because if they wouldn't accept it, this family would go bankrupt and they couldn't collect anything. The moving-to-tears scene was that at the sick bed of the mother. The wife went to the pawnshop and withdrew the kimono which the mother had liked the most, and put it on her futon. Soon after the mother died smiling. Actually, in this movie, the three women ~the mother, the grandmother, and the wife, played important roles for viewers to understand their way of life in the Edo period. For instance, the mother said to the new wife that she shouldn't work so energetically in order to show her posture as a new wife, if not soon she would be tired. As there were several maids, it was important to show them her attitude first, so she could relax later. The grandmother liked to solve mathematical quizzes. He learned later that in the Edo era some mathematicians developed domestic type of mathematics because the country was closed. Solving mathematical quizzes became popular among people, not only high class people but also common citizens. There were diagrams and calculations. For example: Q1 : Straw bags of rice are piled on the ground in a single row. The top is one bag, the second are two bags, the third are three bags, in this way, the last on the base are 15 bags. How can you get the total number without counting one by one? Q2 : There are some archers with a bow and some arrows. If each archer shoots 10 arrows, there will be 10 arrows left. If each archer shoots 12 arrows, there will be no arrows left. How many archers and arrows are there? There was a funny episode in the movie. At breakfast, the family members were sitting on the tatami mat, the father in the center, on the right the son and his wife; on the left, the mother and the grandmother. The father started to talk about his shining past event, "When I was working at the han residence in Edo, as the person in charge of accounting dealing with the han's severe finances, I came up with the idea to paint only the front part of the gate ..." But the mother and grandmother ignored his boastful story and started to talk about a different topic. Seeing this, the new wife figured out their delicate power balance. (To be continued ...)

No.452



*settle :清算する
*debt :借金、負債
*go bankrupt :倒産する
*pawnshop :質屋
*calligraphy :書道
*newlywed :新婚者
*ornamental :装飾の
*creditor :債権者
*diagram :図
*boastful :自慢の