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Samurai Movies (40)

July 14, 2022

[Rochu 7] After reading the scenario book of 'Tenka Gomen', he came to want to know about Hiraga Gennai more and found a book entitled 'Edo no souzouryoku', which meant 'Imaginative Edo'. In the book the author wrote about Gennai's eccentric characteristics,  behavior, and actions. She said that Gennai was sometimes a trouble maker, and got involved with a lot of people. Sometimes their projects ended up failing. For example, he asked some local people to support him to find gold mines in their area. But, it was unsuccessful. He left soon leaving the followers bankrupt. Gennai wasn't a person who stoically pursued one thing and conquered it through his life. Maybe he had too many talents. There is a term in this country called 'skillful poor', maybe he was. But, even so, Gennai had an important role in the Edo Period, she said, his various contributions effected in various genres, and helped make the Edo period active, in which various new things were born.   And this book included information not only about Gennai, but also other useful ones: ・In the 1600s, a lot of people from this country lived in some foreign countries: There were two "Little Edo" in Cambodia, two in the Philippines, two in Vietnam, one "Little Edo" in Thailand. Others countrymen lived in Taiwan, China (the southern area), Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Records also showed that there were about 200 people living in Vietnam in 1651; there were about 3,000 people in the Philippines in 1620, there were more than 200 people in Cambodia; there were between 1,400 to 1,500 people in Thailand around 1626, plus about 800 mercenaries. ・In 1765, a famous woodblock printing painter Suzuki Harunobu appeared. On the Ukiyoe painting scene, he was said to be a member in Gennai's group. Before him, Ukiyoe was only black and white. Paper quality started to become better. Paper's consumption was increasing because of prosperous businesses. These businesses needed good quality paper for record keeping and contracts. As paper's quality became better and stronger, they could print many times on the same sheet of paper in different colors. In this same time period, Katsushika Hokusai, the most famous Japanese Ukiyoe woodblock painter began his career. In this country, paper was made from mulberry. ・The Tsushima han was allowed to trade between Korea. The Satsuma han was allowed to trade between Okinawa. The Tokugawa Shogunate set these limitations. But those hans traded illegally with other boats in the open sea. The Tokugawa government suspected it, but each han was independent so the government couldn't interfere. The Tokugawa Shogunate and each han sometimes used spies to get their knowledge. There were even decoy operations. There were even spy versus spy battles in which various traps were laid in place.   ・The author said that if closing the country was implemented perfectly, there would have been no new culture and products. ・In this country there was a nationwide system of enjoying haiku ~a 5, 7, 5 syllable poem. It started in the 16th century. There were uncountable haiku groups which had their own networks, and teachers who evaluated and advised them. Good haiku had a chance to be introduced nationally via these networks. Matsuo Basho lived in that system and was able to travel. He ended up making a new type of haiku. ・Maeno Ryotaku was a famous doctor who translated a medical book from Dutch with Sugita Genpaku. His uncle said to him, "If there is a local art or performance which is about to become extinct, you should learn it and preserve it; if there is something that nobody is willing to do, you have to do it. Keep it relay it to the next generation."                 (To be continued ...)

No.486




*conquer :成し遂げる、克服する
*countryman :同国人、同胞
*mercenary :傭兵
*woodblock printing :版画
*mulberry :桑。楮（こうぞ）はクワ科の植物。
*decoy :おとり
*lay :仕掛ける
*implement :実行する
*via :経由で
*be willing to do :進んでする