Shank's Mare Read online

  This edition published in 2001 by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd., with editorial offices at 364 Innovation Drive North Clarendon, VT 05759.

  Copyright © I960 by Charles E. Tuttle Co.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from Tuttle Publishing.

  Cover art © 1875 Asian Art & Archaeology, Inc./Corbis,"Palanquin," by Utagawa Hiroshige III.

  Library of Congress Catalog 60-14370

  ISBN: 978-1-4629-0203-3

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Note to the New Edition 7

  Translator's Preface 9

  Life of Ikku Jippensha 13

  HIZAKURIGE 17

  Appendix: Ikku's "Afterthought" Introduction 367

  Notes 387

  Ikku's Last Poem 415

  NOTE TO THE NEW EDITION

  THOMAS Satchell's translation of the Tokaido section of Hizakurige was published by subscription in Kobe in 1929. It introduced for the first time in English a celebrated comic novel that had entertained generations of Japanese readers. Regrettably, however, the extremely limited number of copies in the first edition (which, by the way, has become a collector's item of considerable value) did not allow the translation to acquire the large audience that it most decidedly deserved. It is thus with great pleasure that the publishers, once again introduce this ribald Japanese classic to foreign readers.

  Modestly, Mr. Satchell did not permit the appearance of his name on the tide page of the first edition. In fact, it was only in the Japanese publisher's notice at the end of the volume that any clue to the translator's identity could be found, and then only in the phonetic characters in which his name was printed. It thus becomes a privilege to identify him at long last and to give him proper credit for his achievement.

  Thomas Satchell was born in London in 1867 and first came to Japan in 1899 to staff of an English-language newspaper in Kobe. In 1902, he became editor of the Yokohama Japan Herald. From then until the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, he engaged in newspaper work and in the teaching of English. He was interned during hostilities and was unable to take up active work again at the end of the war. He died in Kobe in 1956, leaving his Japanese wife and two daughters, and was buried there at the Kasugano Foreign Cemetery.

  Satchell's deep interest in the language and literature of Japan led to the production of another translation: a privately printed (1935) selection of poems from the Manyoshu and the Hyakunin Isshu, two of Japan's poetic classics. The book was called These from the Land of Nippon. The translations, he explained, were "intended to be read not as translations but as verses inspired by the originals."

  THE PUBLISHERS

  TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

  HIS book is a translation of the Tōkaidō section of 'Hizakurige' by Ikku Jippensha, and is unabridged, save for certain punning poems, mostly on the names of places through which the travellers passed, and the few sentences joining them to the text. Occasionally, also, some details as to the temples, etc., which are to be found in all guidebooks, have been omitted as superfluous. It has to be remembered that 'Hizakurigé' was intended to be a guidebook, albeit a comic one. 'Hizakurigé' was originally published in parts, each part having a preface reminding the reader of the stage in the journey which had been reached in the previous issue. These prefaces now seem superfluous and they have therefore been omitted in the translation. The general preface to the whole work has been retained, however. One alteration in the order in which the travels are generally issued has been made. In modern editions the part called ' Introductory ' is put at the beginning of the work. Inasmuch, however, as it was written twelve years after the issue of the first part and is of the nature of an afterthought, containing many details in the careers of the two heroes which are inconsistent with those related in the body of the book, it has been thought advisable to consign it to an appendix.

  The translator feels that some apology is due for the paucity of the notes. 'Hizakurigé' offers an inexhaustible field for the commentator, both from the linguistic and the antiquarian points of view, but details which are of interest to Japanese readers often do not appeal to foreign readers, while on the other hand there is much that the foreign reader would like to know which seems superfluous to the Japanese reader. The native commentaries therefore leave something to be desired in the information they give, and extra information has to be sought elsewhere, at the expense of much time and labour. The best commentary is that issued by Mr. Yonekichi Deguchi in an edition of the Tōkaidō section of the work published by the Isseisha of Tōkyō. Mr. Deguchi's work came to the notice of the translator too late to enable him to take full advantage of its learning, but he has to acknowledge his indebtedness to it for clearing up many doubtful points. The only other edition with a commentary is that issued by the Sanseidō. This is now out of print.

  The translator is also greatly indebted to Murray's' Handbook for Japan,' an inexhaustible mine of learning on Japanese customs and traditions due to the researches of Prof. Basil Hall Chamber lain, and also to the same author's ' Things Japanese.' He has also to express his grateful thanks to Mr. M. G. Mori for directing him to other sources of information and solving many problems, but chiefly his obligations are due to Mr. K. Kubota, who first introduced him to ' Hizakurigé' and has since devoted many hours to assisting him in the elucidation of the text.

  The colloquial side of a language always offers greater difficulties in comprehension and translation than the literary side, and 'Hizakurigé ' is written almost wholly in the colloquial language, the difficulty of which is increased by the extensive use of dialect. The two heroes speak the vulgar Edo dialect, which may be compared to the London Cockney dialect, and the other persons introduced speak in the dialects of their parts of the country. Thus we have a constant variety of dialects throughout the book, adding greatly to the flavour of the original but increasing the difficulty of comprehension. Added to this there is a constant flow of jokes, some so subtle as to be no longer comprehensible to the commentators, and innumerable puns, which are the despair of the translator. Altogether the difficulties of translation are considerable, and although the present translation has been gone through many times to eliminate 'howlers,' the translator feels that he cannot hope to have been successful in avoiding all blunders. They must be attributed entirely to his own inabilities and in no degree to those whose assistance he has sought.

  Some difficulty has been experienced in getting suitable illustrations for the text. The original illustrations, some of which were by Ikku himself, were not very good. In later complete editions of 'Hizakurigé' they were replaced by illustrations which had either been redrawn from the originals in the early editions or were entirely new. It is from these illustrations
that the cuts in the text have been taken. They are full of humour, the only pity being that the original engraving was badly done.

  Finally the translator has to thank all others who have in any way helped to make this translation a success or assisted in its production, including Mr. A. Morgan Young, who has kindly gone through the proofs.

  Money.—The metal currency of feudal times in Japan was rather complicated owing to the variation in the standards of value and the private minting of coins. The coin used in everyday life was the mon, a copper coin with a hole in the middle so that it could be strung on a cord for convenience in carrying a quantity. The purchasing power of the mon was practically that of the modern sen, now the lowest coin in the Japanese currency and about equivalent to a farthing in English money. There was a smaller coin than the mon, called a bun, ten of which were equivalent to a mon, and there were a number of larger coins, the value of which in terms of the mon varied. The following table gives a rough idea of the value of these coins in terms of the mon:—

  Ryō (gold)=1,000 mon

  Mommé or Koban (gold) = 1/60 of ryō

  Bu=250 mon

  Kwan or kwammé— 1,000 mon

  Shū=62.5 mon

  Bun=l/10 of mon

  Rin=l/10 of bun

  Distances.—Distances were measured in ri and chō, 36 chō being equivalent to one ri, which equals 2-2/5 miles.

  Pronunciation.—In the pronunciation of Japanese names the general rule is for the vowels to be pronounced as in Italian and the consonants as in English. G is always hard as in 'good ' ; j soft as in ' join ' ; and ch soft as in ' chat.'

  The approximate vowel-sound equivalents in English are a in 'part,' i in 'kit, 'e in 'let,' o in' nor, 'u as in ' should.' In words of more than one syllable u is slurred over (breathed), so that ' Densuké 'sounds like' Denske.' In the diphthongs each vowel retains its individual value. Thus ai is pronounced like the vowels in ' my inn,' ei like the vowels in ' may eat,' etc. There are no silent letters and all vowels must be pronounced clearly, especially finally. Thus 'Kita' must be pronounced more like 'Keetar' than 'Keeter.'

  Double vowels and consonants are pronounced long.

  LIFE OF IKKU JIPPENSHA

  ADAKAZU Shigeta, better known by his pen-name of Ikku Jippensha,* was born in 1765 in the province of Suruga, now part of Shizuoka Prefecture. His father appears to have been a petty official and thus able to secure admittance for his son to a nobleman's house in Edo, where he was brought up. Later Ikku himself occupied some small official position in Edo till, in 1791, when he was twenty-six years old, he moved to Osaka and entered the office of Tosanokami Odagiri, a magistrate of that city. Whether he had started his literary career before he left Edo does not appear, but there is evidence that he wrote for the stage at Osaka during his residence there of six or seven years. His first venture in matrimony was at Osaka, when he was adopted into the family of a timber-dealer by marriage with the daughter of the house, a procedure still followed when there is no heir to succeed to the headship of the family. The position of adopted son-in-law is always irksome, however, and Ikku found means to get the marriage dissolved before he returned to Edo. Another adventure as an adopted son-in-law also ended in failure, but a third marriage proved more fortunate.

  On his return to Edo Ikku seems to have taken to literature for his means of livelihood, a number of humorous sketches appearing from that time over his pseudonym of Ikku Jippensha. It was the custom of the time to take another name on attainment of manhood, and thus Ikku changed his boyhood name of Ichiku to Sadakazu when he reached man's estate. When he began to write, however, he adopted his former name as a pseudonym, shortening it to Ikku, and added to it the name Jippensha, which is supposed to be a punning reading of certain Chinese characters connected with incense, in the sale of which he is said to have been at one time engaged. These books brought him a certain amount of recognition as a humorous writer, but it was not till 1802 that he leapt into fame with the first part of a series of comic adventures on the Tōkaidō, the great road which connected the Shōgun's capital of Edo with the Emperor's capital of Kyōto. The humours of the road had been touched upon before by other writers, but never with such liveliness of characterisation and imagination. 'Hizakurigé,' the name under which the travels were issued, means literally ' knee chestnut-horse,' a term used in the same sense as the English ' Shanks's Pony.' It gives a series of pictures of the characters met on the road, the inn life, and the troubles and adventures of two ne'erdoweels of Edo named Kita-hachi and Yajirobei. Kita and Yaji, as they are called for short, are now as familiar in Japan as Mr. Pickwick and Sam Weller. Indeed, the first part of 'Hizakurigé,' which covered the ground between Edo and Hakoné, brought Ikku into much the same prominence in Japan as Dickens was to achieve in England some thirty-five years later with the ' Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.'

  Year after year Ikku continued to issue a portion of the journey till, in 1809, he had taken his two heroes to the end of their adventures in Osaka. That such a gold mine as they had proved should henceforward be neglected was an impossible thought. Imitators had appeared, but the public demanded more of the real thing. In 1810 accordingly Ikku accompanied his two adventurers to the great Buddhist shrine of Kompira on the island of Shikoku, and in 1811 he went with them as far as Miyajima. These were short excursions. A longer one was to occupy most of the remainder of his life. This was a journey along the Kisokaidō, the road running from Gifu Prefecture north to Nagano. Begun in 1812 this series was not completed till 1822. In 1814, however, Ikku turned aside and wrote an introductory portion to the whole series of travels, detailing the life story of Yajirobei and Kitahachi up to the time they left Edo and the circumstances which drove them out of that city. Twelve years had elapsed since he had started the two on their travels, and many of the suggestions as to their past lives that had been given in the course of the narration had evidently slipped Ikku's memory. He forgot that he had taken his heroes to Fuchu in Suruga Province and displayed them as totally ignorant of the topography of that town, since in the ' Introduction ' he assigns them that very town as a birthplace,— in fact makes them not Edoites at all but migrants from the provinces. He forgot also that he had killed Yaji's wife and given him children when he shows him in the ' Introduction' as divorcing his childless wife. In spite of these glaring errors and others of lesser importance this ' Introduction 'was henceforth printed at the beginning of all collected editions of the travels and has since continued to hold that position.

  Ikku had still nine years to live when he finished the adventures of Kita and Yaji on the Kisokaidō, but it was not until his course was almost run that he again introduced them to the public. Probably their resuscitation was due to financial reasons, for in March 1830 Ikku was burnt out of his home by the great fire of that year, which cut a swathe through Edo over two and a half miles long. The new series reverted to the style of the 'Introduction,' inasmuch as it dealt entirely with adventures in Edo. The first part was issued in 1831 and a second part was promised. But this Ikku did not live to complete. He was stricken with paralysis in July of that year, and died on August 7th, in his sixty-seventh year.

  The tradition that Ikku was a great practical joker, which obtained even when he was still alive, is not substantiated. Stories were told of how he had once carried home a bathtub on his head, confounding with his ready wit all the persons into whom he blundered on his way; how he had induced a New Year visitor to take a bath and had then appropriated his clothes and paid a round of New Year calls on his own account ; how he had startled the mourners at his funeral by concealing fireworks in his death-robes, which exploded when the body was burned. This last story, of course, was not told till after his death, but the apocryphal nature of all the stories is shown by the fact that they were well-known jokes in the books of humour before the time of Ikku. As a matter of fact Ikku seems to have been a somewhat saturnine person, a conclusion which is supported by the most authentic picture of him, reproduc
ed above from the 'Gisaku Rokkasen.' It is recorded that a person who once accompanied him on one of his journeys, expecting to be greatly amused and enlivened by his jokes, was disappointed by Ikku's taciturnity.

  Judging from hints dropped in ' Hizakurigé ' he was a sworn enemy of all shams. He hated priests, whom he evidently regarded as hypocrites, and he was not inclined to take the swaggering samurai at their own valuation. It is stated that he was once in conflict with the authorities owing to the publication of a book entitled 'Bakemono Taiheiki,' which was deemed to infringe an ordinance prohibiting pictures and writings concerning warriors, and that he was chained by the hands for fifty day as a punishment. He was therefore on the official blacklist and had to be careful what he wrote. His coarseness, like Rabelais's, may be considered a screen behind which he fought abuses, but it was more probably an offspring of the moral atmosphere of the time. In any case it is a part of the picture which cannot be omitted if a correct view of the whole is to be obtained.

  The ashes of Ikku were buried in the Zenryū Temple at Asakusa, Tokyo, and a tombstone erected bearing the Buddhist name given him after death of ' Shingetsūin Ikku Nikkokōji.' Three years later his family and friends erected a monument to him in the precincts of the Chōmei Temple, Mukojima. On the face of the monument appears the well-known comic crest or seal (reproduced on the title-page) which Ikku had adopted, in the shape of a bamboo-rake with the first charactcr of his personal name ('Sadakazu') inscribed in a circle, and above this an inscription and a poem, which may be freely rendered:—

  However novel and interesting things may appear at first, when they become common they lose their interest; but things of which people never tire are a bright moonlight night and dinner, to which may be added a book and sake.

  My allotted span of life has passed. Oh, give me peace and rest at last!