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137 C.F.R. §201.14 2018 Studies in Modern Japanese Literature

Essays and Translations in Honor of Edwin McClellan

EDITED BY DENNIS WASHBURN AND ALAN TANSMAN

Ann Arbor Center for Japanese Studies The University of Michigan 1997 Gesaku Authors and the Ansei Earthquake of 1855 ANDREW MARKUS

The Ansei earthquake of 1855 was by no means the most de- structive earthquake of its generation: a devastating series of shocks between 23 and 26 December 1854 affected the entire Pacific coast- line of Honshu and generated tsunami large enough to be detected in San Diego, San Francisco, and Astoria in the Oregon Territory.' Nor was it the most destructive earthquake to affect the city of Edo: in terms of magnitude, the Genroku earthquake of 31 December 1703 was perhaps thirty times as powerful.2 The Ansei earthquake, however, laid waste or damaged severely large portions of Edo, the commercial, cultural, and printing capital of its day no less than the shogunal capi- tal, and achieved a notoriety far greater than the more destructive, but provincial, Shinano earthquake of 1847 or Tókaid6 earthquakes of 1854. Its chronological position as the apparent culmination of a series of catastrophic earthquakes in the 1840s or as the climax of a period of dramatic economic and international uncertainty also en- sured its prominence among contemporary natural disasters of equal or greater absolute proportions. The destruction wrought by the Ansei earthquake, amply at- tested in formal and informal records, in prints and sketches, is stag- gering. Paradoxically, the same catastrophe was a source of furious creativity among professional and amateur artists and authors. Per- haps no other single event during the Edo period inspired such a tor- rent of response, as if the devastation compelled, by way of compensa- tion, redoubled efforts to knit more firmly the fabric of contemporary culture that had been so roughly torn. The most accurate accounts of the earthquake and its imme- diate aftermath are probably the dry reports forwarded by han repre- sentatives in Edo to their home provinces or dispassionate methodi- cal compilations like Buk5 chidó no ki (Record of the Edo Earthquake; completed 11 December 1855) by Saitó Gesshin (1804-78) or Yaburemado no ki (Torn Window Record; completed 22 November 53 54 MARKUS GESAKUAUTFIORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 55

1855), possibly by Kitamura Nobuyo (Intei; 1783-1856) .s Factually less No completely accurate figures are available for the extent of reliable but of greater value in assessing the social dimensions of the property damage. A preliminary report tendered to the city magis- cataclysm are the more popular outpourings of prints, pamphlets, trates describes a total loss of 150,000 dwellings and 1,400 kura, or zuihitsu (miscellanies), ballads, lampoons, and ephemera of all sorts storehouses; a less judicious, anonymous flyer reports the collapse of that appeared in 1855 and 1856. The overwhelming majority of this 700,000,000 kura in Edo alone.' Anxiety about the international situa- material is entirely anonymous, and there is little chance of determin• tion, especially the foreign pressure on the country to open its ports, ing its creators. However, certain productions can be identified as the was indirectly responsible for some of the devastation, since large quan- work of the existing gesaku (native prose) "industry," the corps of popu- tities of gunpowder stored in magazines throughout the city exploded lar authors, artists, and publishers whose creations were among the violently.' On the other hand, complacency proved harmful as well, most characteristic products of Edo. The resiliency of this industry since the lack of any major, recent earthquake had encouraged the and the varied responses of its members to the disaster will be the construction of vulnerable two-story buildings. One theory, in fact, primary topic here. Full understanding of the context of their work maintained that Edo was permanently immune from the danger of requires some mention of the dimensions of the Ansei earthquake earthquakes, since the vast number of wells sunk inside its limits pro- and some discussion of contemporary ephemera whose creators can- vided more than adequate venting for pent-up "vapors" in the earth.10 not be identified. Entire cho, or residential districts, were leveled by tremors or the ensuing fires; formal accounts of the disaster devote many pages THE EARTHQUAKE ITSELF to the grim inventory of lost sectors. Certain larger structures—nota- bly the central hall of the Kinrytisan (Asakusa Kannon) Temple and The first and most destructive tremor of the Ansei earthquake Tomioka Hachiman Shrine in Fukagawa—remained largely undam- occurred shortly after ten P.M. on 11 November 1855 (Ansei 2.10.2) as aged, despite the near-total destruction of their surrounding precincts. most citizens were either retiring for the night or enjoying their first Not surprisingly, popular opinion viewed the preservation of these sleep. All sources mention, after an initial convulsion of perhaps fif- sacred edifices as direct evidence of divine intervention." Conversely, teen seconds, a deafening roar, as row upon row of houses collapsed rumor interpreted the crumbling of the mitsuke, or stone watchtow- like a file of shógi (chessmen).4 Through the mushrooming clouds of ers, around the perimeter of Edo Castle as an omen of the imminent dust and debris, survivors able to reach an elevation noted fires in collapse of Tokugawa authority.'2 over thirty locations burning throughout the night. Fortunately, the Whether because of greater proximity to the epicenter of the winds were calm and most of these fires were under control by morn- earthquake, or softer alluvial soil, or whether because of a higher resi- ing. No major tidal waves resulted from the quake, but landslides and dential density, poorer quality of building construction, and a lack of flooding were not uncommon, and the TamagawaJósui canal, a major open spaces for refuge, the plebeian areas closest to the Sumida River conduit for the city, was badly damaged.' were the most severely affected. Destruction was greatest in the Throughout the night of 11 November, at least twenty after- Shitamachi (downtown) districts of Honjo, Fukagawa, Kameido, and shocks struck Edo; the persistence of residual tremors was one of the Asakusa. In contrast, Yamanote (uptown) districts like Yotsuya, Akasaka, notorious characteristics of the Ansei earthquake.' Kitamura Nobuyo and Ichigaya, topographically as well as economically superior, were estimates that in the tenth month alone, some eighty perceptible trem- far less susceptible to the worst effects of the catastrophe.' While the ors affected Edo; it was not until the end of the eleventh month (i.e., Ansei earthquake deeply affected all sectors of the population and all mid January 1856) that the shaking diminished to an unremarkable facets of urban life, its "social bias" against the least affluent classes of frequency and intensity.' Unwilling to rebuild or even reenter houses citizens is noteworthy. demolished or seriously weakened by this series of jolts, many citizens No reliable statistics are available for the casualties of the event, of Edo preferred to live in makeshift huts or lean-tos constructed of though here again virtually every account has its own firm opinion. An whatever building materials were at hand. Efforts to reestablish neigh- official bakufu tabulation, compiled from figures submitted by the nanushi, borhood order or provide emergency relief through streets congested or "headmen," of each ch-o, specifies with great precision 4,293 casualties with rubble and encampments of huts were by necessity slow. and 2,759 injured.i4 The figure only comprehends casualties in chiinin 56 MARKUS GESAKUAUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 57

(townsman) areas under the jurisdiction of the machi-bugfo (civic 'nag. ceremony; geisha; halls for music lessons; official bureaus; istrates); a more reasonable estimate, asserts one chronicler, includ• shamisen makers; dealers in foreign goods; book-lenders; almanac peddlers; pleasure boat operators; gilt-foil embroi- ing clerical and samurai class casualties, would be some three times derers; workers with gilt on lacquer; laiko-mochi (jesters); this figure.15 Rumors of much greater loss of life—figures of 200,000, kept women; shops for toiletries; silk drapers.25 270,000, or even 900,000—were not uncommon.10 Recovery from the calamity was for the most part left to the As the listing suggests, entertainers of all descriptions and suppliers personal initiative of the victims. Possibly as a measure to prevent ri- of luxury items were the foremost victims of the disruption of normal ots or pilfering, the bakufu established five relief stations throughout social patterns. the city by 22 November (10.13) to provide emergency rations, funds The Kabuki theater district in Saruwaka-cho, slowly recover- for rebuilding, and shelter to limited numbers of distressed individu. ing from a devastating fire in December 1854, withstood the tremors als.' Gesshin estimates that more than 380,000 benefited during the but burned completely to the ground. Only the gate to the district seventy-one days of dole rice distribution, through 31 January 1856 remained standing.26 Most severely affected among all districts, though, (12.24)." Merchant entrepreneurs charitably donated rice, paper, or was the nearby New Yoshiwara pleasure quarter. The earthquake struck whatever they could from their own reserves: one Taisuke, a hairdresser as activity in the district was at its height, its alleys most crowded with in the theater district, provided 15,000 coiffures gratis to presumably lights and pleasure-seekers. As buildings crumpled and fires erupted grateful refugees in the relief stations.'9 By commissioning ecumeni• simultaneously in all five divisions of the quarter, a throng of prosti- cal memorial services on the first monthly and first annual anniversaries tutes, entertainers, clients, and sightseers stampeded toward the single of the disaster, the bakufu attended to the spiritual needs of survivors main exit, the O-mon, "Great Gate." However, the gate was twisted and victims.20 Official awards of money to outstandingly loyal servants and would not open; efforts to lower the emergency "gangplanks" over or to generous private citizens like the courtesan Kane, who sold her the moat that ringed the quarter were unavailing.27 Of all the scenes panoply of hairpins to buy twenty ry5 worth of pots and pans for the of surpassing horror that night, the New Yoshiwara was the most vivid relief stations, recognized deeds of laudable civic virtue.21 in the collective consciousness. Saito Gesshin interrupts his sober nar- Harbingers of recovery appeared in rapid succession. Already rative of the disaster in Buk5 nenpy5 (Annals of Edo; installments of on 14 November (10.5) some baths and barbershops reopened for 1849 and 1878) to provide a majestic threnody for the paradise trans- 22 business. Crowds flocked to Ikegami, as always, on 22 November formed in an instant into a suffocating inferno: (10.13) to commemorate the death-anniversary of Nichiren (1222- 82); the "bird-day fairs" held throughout the eleventh month in The violent upheaval was much the same throughout the Asakusa resumed their usual bustle; and by early December, music and city on this night, but the sudden tragedy in the prostitu- song no longer were unseemly. Fortunately, 1855 had afforded a good tion quarter, especially, defies all attempt at description. The harvest and the danger of famine did not compound the hardships of night was not yet far advanced: in every establishment ban- quets and carousing held sway. Yet at the very height of the recovery.Y9 By 1856, Edo was well on its way to normalcy, and memo- song, dance, and music-making, suddenly the houses ries of the Ansei earthquake faded in the face of a new disaster, the groaned and shook and began just as suddenly to collapse. Ansei typhoon of 23 September 1856 (3.8.25).24 Beams broke, pillars snapped; the sound was more ghastly than the mightiest thunder. Souls flew to midheaven in sheer VICTIMS AND BENEFICIARIES terror. But when, panic-stricken, [men and women] made to descend from upper floors, the ladders skipped away, and Not individuals alone, but whole occupations fell victim to the they found themselves unable to descend. And when, terri- disaster; other occupations reaped inordinate benefits. A series of fied, they rolled from the buildings, colossal timbers piled prints, probably produced by the end of 1855, depicts the occupa- on top of them and crushed their every limb. Some, trapped, tions now o-aida, "slack or on vacation," as a result of the disaster: were unable to move. Scream as they might for help there was none to assist them; call though they might none re- Misemono (side shows); vendors of tie-dyed fabrics; restau- sponded. In the twinkling of an eye fires sprang up, and the rants for kaiseki cuisine; monkey showmen; masters of tea fury of the flames beset them sorely. Even those who had 58 MARKUS GESAKUAUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 59

managed a narrow escape now lost their way; choking on Carpenters, builders, and tradesmen of all sorts raised their wage scales the smoke, they collapsed in the common road, where doubt- to dizzying levels in response to sudden demand; edict after edict at- less many perished. The same fate befell the proprietors of the houses and their families. Even if some of them did es- tempted to limit profiteering.ß0 Wily merchants turned the disaster to cape with their lives, they had no ieisure to carry their wealth their profit, as did courier services, which transmitted news from Edo or valuables to safety: all [their wealth] became mere ash to anxious relatives and commercial branch offices.' The New and cinders. Yoshiwara district, a primary casualty, was ironically one of the major As fire spread over the five streets, no house in the quar- beneficiaries of the calamity as well, since it received permission to ter remained standing. Of the three thousand courtesans, displace its operations to twenty-five more conveniently situated kari- all scattered or perished. On this most dreadful occasion, none glanced fondly back on the "Looking-Back Willow" nor taku, or "provisional locations," for the unprecedented term of five could Góriki (Joined Forces) Inari join his forces to any ef- hundred days." fect. The Hisaki Manjiya faced the line of flames (hisaki); The printing industry, licensed and unlicensed segments alike, the Tamaya was engulfed by fireballs (hidama) [?]. The pil- also figured among the primary beneficiaries of the catastrophe. Li- lars of the Ebisuya curled as they smoldered into hoops censed, established printers sought to capitalize on the disaster by arched like the shrimp (ebi); the corners of the Hishiya were left riddled like a water chestnut (hishi). supplying accurate or fanciful descriptions of the incident to a read- By daybreak, all had vanished in a trail of smoke, like ing public eager for any comprehensive information, whatever its reli- the Afang Palace—O woeful sight! All things within the quar- ability. Legitimate, but less prosperous or newer publishers enjoyed a ter had disappeared into nothingness. No man knows with windfall, since conventional buying patterns had been disrupted, and certainty how many hundreds lost their lives or suffered in- competition with established rivals was less acute. Unauthorized print- jury. As they raked the corpses from the fires, all were over- ers sought to take fullest advantage of institutional disarray by circum- whelmed by grief, brokenhearted. Weeping bitterly, [the sur- vivors] bore the dead to their homes and observed funeral venting standard censorship procedures and offering their own version rites. The Fifty-House Road became a thoroughfare of the of events. The possibility of severe punishment was a reasonable risk Six Paths [of transmigration]; the plaited hats of the "hat against the prospect of quick profits. teahouses" might have served as attire for mourners. Among The quantity of earthquake-related materials to flow from all the revelers and merrymakers who disported in the quarter sources is indeed impressive: in terms of sheer volume, the Ansei earth- that night, some perished, while others suffered severe in- juries in this calamity. The few who did escape with their quake ranks among the most extensively "reported" events of early lives by crawling on hands and knees into the street, I have modern history. These productions include unpublished manuscripts heard, lost their clothing or swords and wandered home in and published accounts; their point of view ranges from strict objec- an unseemly state. Nor can any man reckon how much suf- tivity to deeply personal reflection; their veracity from scrupulous ad- fering men and women in the quarter endured in this one herence to facts to inventive fantasy; their length from single-sheet night or how much wealth and treasure they lost. It is a sub- ject to command the bitterest grief and lamentation. How prints or brief pamphlets to multiple-chapter compilations. might any describe it with his brush?28 The intentions of the publications are equally diverse. Objec- tive transmission of accurate information is a primary aim of the earli- est earthquake-related publications to supplant the terrifying silence Beneficiaries from the disaster, however, were numerous. A following the cataclysm. Monotonous litanies of districts demolished companion series of prints to that mentioned above cites enterprises or occupations now suddenly popular: or burned or the relative degree of damage among stricken neighbor- hoods occupy a substantial portion of all such accounts. Entertain- Roofers; roof-tile layers; straw sandal-makers; carters; ment, in the broadest sense of the term, is a primary objective of many tempura vendors; one-bowl meal vendors; dealers in fresh later earthquake-related publications. Remarkable or tragic anecdotes produce; firefighters; lumber merchants from the Kamigata of human behavior in the face of catastrophe, accounts of supernatu- region; ironing treatment [?]; tatami makers; peddlers of ral manifestations or moral retribution, or comical raillery against the flyers and broadsides; carpenters; employment agencies; mythical creature alleged to have caused the disaster in the first place hanten (jacket) dealers; plasterers; ditch diggers.29 predominate in publications produced a month or more after the 60 MARKUS GESAKU AUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 61 tremor, when some small degree of normalcy had begun to return. and inspiration in the 1720s led publishers of kawara-ban to seek less Eventually, light-hearted or even humorous compilations reached an controversial subject matter, notably vendettas and urban disasters. audience numb to calamity, eager for distraction. It would be impos• An accelerated urbanization or perhaps a higher frequency of suit- sible to enumerate, one observer remarks, all the jokebooks, lampoons, able disasters in the period 1780-1800 greatly spurred the production comic kyóka and haikai verses, parodic twistings of classic poems, of topical prints in the three major urban centers. The first repressive riddles, and rakugo (humorous) monologues inspired by the disaster.'3 legislation against kawara-ban—always a valuable guide to the wide- At first glance, the use of such tragic episodes as a source of spread acceptance of a new institution on the urban scene—appeared entertainment seems paradoxical. But behind every anecdotal or comi. in 1793." The ostensible purpose of the legislation was to eradicate cal representation of the earthquake can be discerned an attempt to all unauthorized publications; ulterior motives for the legislation may "naturalize" the extraordinary and integrate it within the fabric of life.. have been a determination to prevent the deliberate dissemination of legendary, religious, artistic, literary—as it had existed prior to the mo- false information to induce panic or bring about private gain or a desire ment of destruction. Through the rescue of a pious believer, a super- to ensure that no reporting of urban disasters embodied criticism, natural manifestation, or the overthrow of an unsympathetic person- explicit or implicit, of the bakufu itself.36 age, the earthquake proves rather than confounds existing structures The earliest and certainly the simplest kawara-ban flyers to of belief. Interpretations of the earthquake in terms of mythology, appear in November 1855 were what might be called "fire maps," city whether serious or satirical in intent, likewise reduce the tremendous maps on which the areas worst affected were indicated by coloring, and inexplicable to the realm of the conventional. Blatantly humor- whether supplied by hand or a printed overlay.g" These maps, most no ous compilations serve to objectivize, distance, and belittle the expe- doubt created from existing stocks of city maps, appeared on the streets rience by highlighting the absurdities of a world turned upside down. as early as 13 November (10.4); dozens of extant examples, corrected An aspiration to integrate the disaster with the realm of conventional and updated, attest to the popular eagerness to learn the actual ex- experience also unites the seemingly opposed objective, informative tent of the disaster and break free from agonizing uncertainty. Similar publications from the period immediately after the earthquake with fire maps, probably based on reports from courier houses and com- the subjective, interpretive publications of a later date. The obsessive mercial intelligence networks, appeared with phenomenal rapidity in enumeration of destroyed districts and shattered landmarks can be Osaka: one print bears the date 16 November (10.7)." At least one viewed as an attempt to impose the meaningful, familiar system of gesaku publisher, the newly established Shinagawaya of Kodenma-chó, conventional, urban geography upon the chaotic, featureless wastes profited handsomely from its fire map production. According to the created by the earthquake. The inventories of buildings collapsed, Fujiokaya nikki (Fujiokaya Diary, 1804-68), the voluminous chronicle injuries sustained, and fatalities suffered reduces the boundless, infi- of daily rumors and fashions maintained by the antiquarian and book- nitely expanding initial perceptions of the catastrophe to the realm of seller Sudó Yoshiz6 (1793-1870?), the Shinagawaya marketed a six- the finite. To describe is to delimit, and in the secure knowledge of sheet colored fire map of Edo on 13 November (10.4) for the exorbi- limits lies an implicit assurance of recovery. tant price of 100 mon, but even so could not keep up with the general demand. A rival publisher in Bakuro-chó quickly sold his entire stock EPHEMERAL PUBLICATIONS of ten thousand sets of a more modest disaster map.39 The first publications to spring from the rubble of the earthquake Invaluable firsthand information about the proliferation of were ephemeral illustrated flyers and broadsides, known collectively to- ephemera immediately after the disaster appears in Nai no hinami (An day by the anachronistic designation kawara-ban, or "roof-tile prints."' Earthquake Journal), an unpublished diary of the disaster and its af- Anonymous illustrated flyers containing reports of newsworthy cur- termath through 24 December (11.16), maintained by the gesaku au- rent events had appeared as early as 1615, during the investiture of thor Ryútei Senka (1804-68).40 Senka, the son of a religious functionary Osaka Castle by Ieyasu's forces. Lovers' double suicides in the late at the Atsuta Shrine in suburban Nagoya, had developed his ambi- seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries provided a major impetus tions to become a literary figure under the tutelage of Ryütei Tanehiko to the circulation of kawara-ban flyers, though the discouragement of (1783-1842) during the 1830s. After several preliminary visits to Edo, the practice and of the sensational reporting that was both its mirror he eventually relocated permanently to the shogunal capital in 1846, 62 MARKUS GESAKU AUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTI-IQUAKE OF 1855 63

1.4.6) and the Kansai and Tókaidó earthquakes of 9 July (Ansei 1.6.15) originally in hopes of establishing himself as an instructor of kyiika poetry. Entry into the already saturated field of kyóka instruction, how. and 23 December 1854 (11.4). Both albums featured items forwarded ever, proved disappointingly difficult, and he resumed his career as by Kiraku, and Senka's gift of ephemera from the Edo disaster must the author of serial gókan fiction titles, while at the same time pursu- have been with the intention of reciprocation.^" ing the bibliophile and antiquarian interests of his mentor, Tanehiko. By the final pages of Nai no hinami, Senka records the dizzying At the time of the disaster, Senka was living in Ichigaya, an "uptown" proliferation of prints, pamphlets, and other materials concerning the district and one left relatively intact. However, severe structural dam- disaster. The entry for 10 December (11.2), one month to the clay age to his home forced Senka to evacuate the premises for some eight from the initial tremor, estimates the total number of kawara-ban fly- days, until basic repairs could ensure some degree of safety. Nai no ers in circulation as "over a hundred," while a visitor on 13 December hinami, composed entirely in archaizing wabun, or pure Japanese, is (11.5) affirms that the number of prints (including plagiarized dupli- perhaps a portion of Senka's ongoing diary or possibly a day-by-day cate versions) is over 380.^" By 18 December (11.10), Senka feels con- account of the disaster intended for circulation among urban or pro- fident that the total number of printed works "must amount to four vincial associates.4' Hundred"—an average of ten or eleven new printed items for each Senka notes the appearance of so-called hokaku-zuke, "direc- day following the disaster:^7 tion marker," maps of the earthquake and subsequent fires in his en- try for 13 November (10.4); the following day he remarks that the Among the productions, the author of Nai no hinami numbers of hawkers selling fire maps are gradually increasing. "They notes that ... some of the first to appear showed crowds worshiping the god of Kashima or showed assorted figures appear quite detailed in their indications," Senka remarks cautiously tormenting and troubling a huge catfish. Sales of such prints, of the snaps, "but in fact they contain many inaccurate or wild things I am told, have been phenomenal. Report has it that the (midarigoto 5shi)."42 Undeterred, Senka purchases two or three of the best-selling ones, copied extensively in plagiarized editions, maps to send off to his father-in-law in Atsuta by way of reassurance. go through ten or even twenty printings and require the "Upon making inquiries at the Kyóya [courier service] today," Senka recutting of several blocks.^8 continues, "[I learned that] a guaranteed six-day delivery would cost three monme. They are accepting only personal letters—no cash or This is perhaps the first clear mention of the most celebrated miscellaneous articles."^s Despite the high courier fees (perhaps the variety of ephemera to result from the Ansei earthquake, the namazu-e, equivalent of fifteen to twenty-five dollars), he finally decides, on 15 or "catfish pictures."'" Mythology maintained that earthquakes were November (10.6), to send out news to family and friends in the west: the result of the twitching or thrashing of a monstrous catfish impris- oned deep beneath the Japanese islands. An amplification of the myth I composed two separate letters, to [my father-in-law] Nanbu insisted that this very catfish was pinned fast beneath the kanameishi, Shingozaemon and to Nanritei Kiraku, to inform them of or "capstone," a sacred, round boulder in the precincts of Kashima recent events. In another letter I informed Kurita Inaba-no - Shrine on the Pacific coast, some fifty miles east of Edo. During the kami and mentioned that, if there is no objection, I would prefer to return to my home province and endure poverty absence or negligence of watchful gods, the catfish was free to wriggle than to dwell in this dismal place. If I do return, I wrote, and create havoc at will. The catfish-earthquake association was appar- please deign to lend me assistance. This petition I sealed ently widespread by the late Muromachi period; the further association with my letter to Nanbu and included also three flyers, maps with Kashima Shrine, probably disseminated by itinerant, self-styled of the areas destroyed by the earthquake and fires. The oracles from Kashima, was well known in the Kansai region by the late packet to Naniwa [Osaka] contained five pages. These two sealed letter-packets I took to the Kyóya." seventeenth century.so These mythological links are the thematic basis for the wide The name of Nanritei Kiraku, an Osaka antiquarian, is of particular variety of namazu-e prints. Although based on popular religion and interest. By coincidence, Senka had compiled for personal interest folk beliefs, the tone of the prints is anything but reverential. The two albums of information, surimono (occasional prints), and letters catfish, personification of the earthquake, is vilified by angry citizens concerning two disasters of 1854—the Kyoto fire of 2 May 1854 (Ansei or by prostitutes and members of other occupations who have lost 64 MARKUS GESAKUAUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 65

their livelihood as the result of his mischievous wriggling; a giant cat- Robun, the son of a Shitamachi fishmonger, had set his ambitions on fish is exposed before gloating consumers, for sale in a fish market.51 a career as a gesaku author from childhood. Thanks to a number of Other prints, however, take the opposite tack and glorify the catfish as fortunate associations, he had begun publishing gókan titles, mostly a welcome benefactor: thanks to him, the carpenter and mason now through minor publishers, in 1844. In 1853 his publishers had re- flourish, and even the homeless pauper benefits by a shower of free food warded him with a small house in Tsumagoi-chó, near the Yushima and cash alms at the relief stations.J2 Another category of namazu-e "as- Tenjin Shrine. On a sign outside the dwelling, Robun declared his similates" the catfish to familiar iconography still further by the pro- modest abode, with ironic pomposity, O-Atsurae anmon chosaku-dokoro cess of mitate, or imaginative transposition, and depicts a catfish fully (Bureau of Compositions and Rough Drafts to Order).56 Robun's pro- anthropomorphized in the guise of a tradesman, a peddler of nos- ductions of the 1850s are for the most part potboilers, uninspired prose trums, or even the legendary hero, Benkei.53 Behind all these prints, reworkings of current Kabuki hits. His self-perception as a "brush for especially those of the last category, lies the intention to reduce or hire" is most evident in the number of hikifuda, or advertising hand- "tame" the destructive might of the earthquake to the dimensions of a bills, he authored on commission. It was during this Yushima period humble catfish, accessible as a scapegoat for revenge or grievance. that Robun honed his genius for topical writing and humor, an adapt- The more positive depictions make the earthquake, now incarnate as ability to rapid changes of scene and subject that animated his later an anthropomorphic catfish, akin to an endearing mascot, a partici- successes. pant in the theatrical or legendary episodes familiar from childhood The night of the earthquake, his disciple Nozaki Sabun (1858- to every inhabitant of Edo. 1935) later recorded, Robun was resting and reading in bed; his wife Virtually all the namazu-e are anonymous and lack any indica- 0-Yoshi had just returned from delivering a gókan novella manuscript tion of the artist, publisher, or author. Cornelius Ouwehand, in his to the publisher Itoya Shóbei in Nihonbashi. Of the two gold bu re- discussion of the namazu-e, claims that they are "typically folk prints."51 ceived as manuscript payment, one bu had gone to pay a month's back The print texts he cites, to be sure, rarely show much polish or distinc- rent, while the remainder bought rice to replenish the chronically tion; the degree of technical proficiency visible in the prints certainly empty larder. Just as 0-Yoshi was rinsing the rice at the well, disaster suggests production by other than amateurs. In fact, it is not unrea- struck. Roblin was crushed beneath plaster and debris, but escaped sonable to suppose that many of the anonymous prints derive from without serious injury. Early the next morning, one of his publishers the workshops of the established gesaku publishers of Edo. Two days came to inquire about Robun's safety and to commission the text for a after the earthquake, on 13 November (10.4), Senka records a visit to topical print from him.55` his close friend Baiso Gengyo (1817-80), an occasional author of gesaku The print, designed by Robun's friend and frequent artistic works himself, though best known as a successful designer of cover collaborator Kyósai (Shójó Gyósai; 1831-89), depicted the contempo- illustrations, book "envelopes," and advertising posters.55 The conver- rary stage great Ichikawa Danjfró VII (1791-1859) in the "avenger" sation at this first meeting is entirely of experiences of the earthquake role of the play Shibaraku, trampling underfoot the "Catfish Priest" (a and escape. At a second visit, however, Senka finds Gengyo hard at henchman of his enemy) while forcing the monstrous priest's neck work preparing the text of a map and what are probably namazu-e prints: beneath the "capstone" of Kashima Shrine.50 The text, over seventy lines of metrical declamation, ingeniously blends references to the The seventh [ 16 November]. Weather mostly fair. Spent the morning at Gengyo's. He was busy drawing the draft for recent disaster with general allusions to the Kabuki theater and more an earthquake and fire map, at the request of the specific elements of the play Shibaraku, one of the "eighteen plays" Shinagawaya. Later, Shinagawaya [Kyirsuke] himself arrived, Danjúró VII had designated as the proprietary specialties of the Ichikawa and ordered other additional prints.56 family and, since 1714, an indispensable central fixture of the kaomise (face showing) seasonal premieres of the eleventh month.61 An exception to the general rule of anonymity among namazu-e The punning title of the print sets the tone for the compli- prints and their creators is the work of a less well-established member cated duality of the text: Ame ni wa komari [-masu], "Troubled by the of the contemporary gesaku world, Dontei Robun—better known by Rains," where the grammatical ending -masu is rendered in rebus form the pen name he adopted in 1860, Kanagaki Robun (1829-94).57 by the mimasu, or three concentric grain measures, adopted as the 66 MARKUS GESAKUAUTI-IORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 67

Ichikawa family crest. The reference is to the heavy winter rains of the korobitsu okitsu then dashed (kake-eboshi hat), tenth and eleventh months, which aggravated the sufferings of the kake-eboshi each determined to he first. homeless in their improvised shelters: kya' kya' to sawagu Loud shrieked Saruwaka: chó the monkeys (Saruwaka- Aine ni wa komari(ntasuJ Troubled by the rains chó). Nojuku Camping out shibai no yake mo The burning of the Shibaraku no sotone Sleeping outdoors for a theaters— while (Shibaraku) kozo to nido twice, Ichinaka Sanjií jisaku Composed by Ichinaka kasane counting last year.63 Sanjó [Whole city in a tragic state] himself.62 The concluding lines of this portion refer to the earlier burning of Each line of the text that follows begins or concludes with a the theater district, quite independent of the 1855 earthquake, on 24 theatrical reference (here in parentheses), joined by wordplay or Simi• December 1854 (Kaei 7.11.5). Readers of the print would doubtless larity of sound to a sober description of the earthquake: recall at this point how the fires of 1854 had forced the postponement of kaomise performances, even in a much reduced form, until the spring Toi nanban Physicians of the East and of 1855.`4 southern barbarians, Later in the text, the protagonist of the play claims divine as- (Hear ye, hear ye!) sistance in subduing his foes. Danjfró here achieves apotheosis as a honetsugi gaieyó bonesetters and surgeons! protective genius of Edo, the citizens' champion against the arbitrary nichinichi hakkó Amidst the earthquakes and fires catfish monster: jishin shukka no erupting sono aida ni every day, Kashima Daijingfi no "I am a kinsman [to the kega wo nasazaru can there be anyone left divinity] mono aran ya uninjured? miuchi nite of the Kashima Shrine, kazu kagirinaki Limitless the numbers Banjaku Taro 'Boulder' Tarò, [sturdy as a ?] [injured in] ishizue stone pedestal. Nakano-chó Nakano-chó [in the ky5 tehajime ni Today, for my first feat, Yoshiwara district]. namazu woba I pinned mazu Yoshiwara ga The Yoshiwara kanameishi nite the catfish zui-Ichikawa is worst of all (Ichikawa). osaeshi ne wa under the capstone. tsubureshi ie no Amidst the desolation gojfi no tö no Nor did I allow aragoto ni of collapsed houses, (As kurin wa oroka the spire [kurin] of the Five- [example] of our Story Pagoda family's aragoto style) ichirin tari to mo to budge one one-hundredth tachimachi kaji ni suddenly all were of an inch [ichirin], overwhelmed ugokasanu let alone nine one- ótachi wa by fires (My broadsword). hundredths[kurin]." tsuyoku atarishi The lines of destruction (sujiguma makeup The kurin, or ornamental spire, of the five-story pagoda in Asakusa lines) had, in fact, tilted several feet toward the southwest after the earth- jishin no sujiguma struck violently (scored a great success). quake, though the pagoda itself remained unscathed. The odd sight 65 Nippon-zutsumi no At Nippon-zutsumi, remained a major tourist attraction for over a month. ware saki to they rolled and fell over The conclusion of the print text echoes the incantations of again and again, itinerant Kashima oracles, while simultaneously evoking the paradox GESAKUAUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 68 MARKUS 69 of the government charity and munificence that had sprung from the expense probably dates the print still later, to the period after the midst of destruction: establishment of the kari-taku on 12 December (11.4). The tsurane of the print doubtless was intended as an ironic substitute for the con- yaketa tsubureta [The Yoshiwara district] was ventional tsurane that could not take place amid the charred ruins of crushed, reduced to the theater district that eleventh month. The opportunities for abuse, ashes, as well as topical references in the traditional declamation, coincided sono naka de but the prosperity iro no sekai no of this world of vain exactly with the needs of the hour. pleasures hanjó wa amidst all this [desolation] PUBLICATIONS INTENDED TO ENDURE ugokanu nii-yo no is due to the gracious It is possible, though not entirely demonstrable, that Robun benevolence participated in the production of a more substantial prose account of on-inegunii of this unshakable reign. ariga-taiko ni Wondrous bounty! The the earthquake and its sequel. Ansei kenmon shi (Ansei-Era Observa- sound of gongs tions), published in the third month (April—May) of 1856, was a seri- kane no oto with that of drums— ous compilation of firsthand observations of the earthquake and the taenu no a perpetual memorial service days that followed.70 The work, commissioned by the publisher 6-segaki for [victims] of the second.66 Mikawaya Tetsugor6, features text and illustrations by Ippitsuan Eiju II, a disciple of Ikeda Keisai (1790-1848), in collaboration with at least It is no accident that Robun selected the Kabuki play Shibaraku four other ukiyo-e artists. The early portions of Ansei kenmon shi pro- as the motif of his text. An understanding of the associations requires vide a conventional, systematic inventory of the ruined districts of Edo; some explanation of the peculiarities of the play in performance. An the illustrations, probably based on on-site sketches, are unusually essential, virtually ritualistic component of kaomise presentations, detailed. The remainder of the compilation offers assorted anecdotes Shibaraku in fact had no fixed text, nor was a version even printed of the unusual or supernatural phenomena preceding the earthquake until 1895.67 The work has no real title: Shibaraku (Just a Moment!) is or physical feats of courage in response to the crisis. Among them are merely a designation of convenience, a nickname derived from the several anecdotes whose primary focus is moral retribution: a virtuous climactic lines of the protagonist. By tradition, only the larger outlines but abused stepdaughter sold into prostitution narrowly escapes per- of the plot were fixed, while the setting and characters were altered to dition, while her evil stepmother and stepsisters meet satisfyingly grue- conform with the sekai, or theatrical "world," of the subsequent per- some ends.71 An immediate success, a first edition of nine hundred formance. A Shibaraku of 1936, for example, was set in eleventh-cen- copies of Ansei kenmon shi was rapidly exhausted.72 tury Kamakura, while a performance of 1878 depicted the rebel Taira Although his name appears nowhere in the work, several Masakado's (d. 940) self-coronation at Kashima Shrine.68 sources insist on Robun's role as a primary author of Ansei kenmon shi. Invariably present in each mutable performance of Shibaraku Nozaki Sabun, notably, asserts that Robun received half the manuscript was the tsurane, or "tirade," a lengthy, defiant harangue, virtually a payment as his share and undertook extensive excursions around Edo verbal cadenza, by the actor of the Ichikawa lineage who played the to observe and collect directly the sights and stories that figure in his protagonist. The tsurane, traditionally the composition of the actor accounts." The actual composition, another biographer claims, took himself, varied from year to year; by convention satirical or abusive in Robun a mere three days and nights.74 For reasons not entirely clear, tone, tradition dictated that it include amusingly anachronistic refer- the work was banned three months after publication, in the sixth month ences to the everyday world outside the theater. A highlight at the (July—August) of 1856. According to the Fujiokaya nikki, the primary commencement of each theater year, the tsurane was often printed illustrator UtagawaYoshitsuna (fl. 1848-68), the author Ippitsuan Eiju, and sold separately as a commemorative souvenir.69 the block carver, and the printer were compelled to surrender all pay- No date appears on the Kyósai/Robun print, but the allusion ments received for their services and, in addition, submit to additional to rains in the title suggests the downpours of late November. The fines; the publisher (here Y6sukeya Kamekichi) was sentenced to oblique reference to the prosperity of the Yoshiwara at government 70 MARKUS GESAKU AUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 71 tokorobarai, or banishment from his place of residence. Robun was in unauthorized, uncensored prints flooded the market in their hun- fact the main author, the Fujiokaya diary concludes, but the anonym. dreds. Injunctions to booksellers on 10 and 11 December (11.2 and ity of his contribution ensured indemnity from prosecution.75 11.3) to remove unauthorized publications from prominent display A more extensive compilation of anecdotes about the earth- and to exercise discretion in their sales under threat of steep penal- quake, ultimately unpublished, was Shigure no sode (Sleeves Wet with ties did little to halt the torrent of illicit production and promotion. A gesaku author Hata Ginkei (Heitei; Drizzle, 1856-57) by the sometime sefl7y?e (popular epigram) of the day wryly observed: 1790-1870).78 Ginkei, originally from K6zuke province (modern Gunma prefecture), had succeeded his father Kinkei (1767-1809) as Osaete nto Bear clown all you like, a staff physician to the lord of the small Nanokaichi han. By about namazu no e dake but you'll never grab onto 1830, Ginkei had migrated to Edo, where he continued to serve as a tsukamarazu the catfish prints.AO physician in the residences of the powerful Maeda clan (Kanazawa). His earliest gesaku compositions, a comical kokkeibon on Osaka idiosyn- Confiscation of blocks, as Senka notes in Nai no hinami, began shortly crasies and a satirical portrayal of shogakai literary fund-raising gath- thereafter, but hardly made a dent in the total output of unauthorized erings, appeared in 1835; it was not until 1861 that he resumed his material: gesaku interests after a long hiatus.77 Unharried by financial pressures, Ginkei approached his literary career with the casual nonchalance of The second [10 December]. The nanushi [i.e., aratame- nanushi, or chief censor] concerned ordered the gyóji [guild the original late-eighteenth-century gesaku dilettante rather than as president] of popular booksellers [jikon'ya] to impound all one of the horde of hard-pressed professional authors of the nine- earthquake and fire maps, all humorous single-sheet prints, teenth century. His erratic record of publications, moreover, mani- etc., now being carved, printed, and sold on the open mar- fests a gentlemanly diversity of interests, from works on household ket without the least reservation, entirely at the whim of economy and alimentary philosophy to annals of professional artists those producing them. A great many printing blocks, in fact, have been confiscated under these provisions, but the num- and calligraphers, with whom he consorted freely. ber of items carved and sold only continues to multiply, and Shigure no sode—the title alludes both to tear-drenched sleeves still exceeds one hundred." and to the cold rains of early winter—was originally intended for pub- lication; Ginkei himself ambitiously provided illustrations for the work The injunction did not go entirely unopposed: and secured prefaces from a wide assortment of variously enthusiastic friends. The first five chapters, probably complete by the first month The fifth [13 December]. Tanaka Kizabur5 came and (February—March) of 1856, circulated in manuscript form only. Pub- said that the number of earthquake- and fire-related publi- lic enthusiasm, or perhaps Ginkei's enthusiasm, was sufficient to war- cations and prints exceeded 380. Among them are three or rant an additional five chapters by the summer of 1856, though these, four plagiarized duplicate versions. Yamaguchi Tóbei, the [gyóji, or guild president?] currently in office, did impound too, remained unpublished "for various reasons."7ß A final five chap- many, but these barely amount to 10 or 20 percent of the total. ters appeared by the concluding months of 1857. There is much animated talk about presenting a peti- The prefaces do not specify any precise reason for the failure to tion to some official, to the effect that if printers are forbid- print the work, though we may surmise that an atmosphere of uncer- den [to produce such works], it will be impossible for them tainty, even peril, loomed over the publication of earthquake-related to survive their current impoverishment; that they must be allowed a full month's grace period; etc. But it sounds ex- materials. Perhaps because there had been no immediate official word ceedingly improbable to me.82 or directives regarding the issuing of such publications, confusion reigned supreme.79 Cautious publishers, in conformity with established A façade of compliance, Senka reports in a final update, im- procedures, bombarded the offices of the aratame-nanushi (chief cen- perfectly concealed a flourishing underground traffic: sor) with inspection copies of proposed publications, only to see the censor impound the printing blocks indefinitely until clear indications Shops and businesses have taken down without excep- of censorial policy became available. Law-abiding publishers fumed as tion all the earthquake prints and gesaku works that, until 72 MARKUS GESAKU AUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 73

yesterday, adorned them so profusely and have replaced show damage; an account of the far more formidable Shinano earthquake them with the usual sorts of items. No doubt there was word of 1847; a description of the segaki, or joint memorial services, conducted from someone with connections that the whole matter had for the souls of disaster victims.85 The greater part of the first five chap- gotten out of hand and that [booksellers] should police themselves and refrain [from such sales]. And yet secret ters, however, is given over entirely to anecdotes of the fortunes and deliveries of new prints continue as before. It even appears misfortunes of specific individuals during the fearful night. Ginkei that block-cutters are receiving new commissions. [18 De- opens the work with an account of his own experiences in the Kameido cember (11.10)1.83 district, one of the areas most violently affected, then enlarges his narrative to cover the experiences of his near neighbors, finally the Finally, in a move that startled even veterans who had lived experiences of individuals from all quarters of Edo. through the Tenpó repression fifteen years earlier, the exasperated Sober factuality is Ginkei's guiding principle. He admits no magistrate ordered the arrest of nine prominent jihon-don ÿa, popular anecdote to the collection not verified by eyewitnesses or by trustwor- vernacular publishers, among them the venerable NishimurayaYohachi thy intermediaries. To this end, the author frequently ends his anec- (Eijud(5), on 11 January 1856 (12.4). Only after the publishers had dotes with a chain of witnesses' names, to prove the validity of the submitted to a severe reprimand did associates' pleas for clemency episode by an unimpeachable line of transmission ("Shóhachi the pick- prevail. Four wagon-loads of offending printing blocks were trundled led-vegetable seller of Tamachi in Asakusa told this story to Shóan, a out to the teahouse in Nihonbashi that served as the headquarters of blind masseur of Banba-machi; Shóan told it to Bunjiró the book- the censor on 20-21 January 1856 (12.13 and 12.14), and subsequently lender; and I record it here just as I heard it during a conversation were reduced to splinters in a cautionary display. In such a climate of with Bunjiró.").8" The prefaces to the work repeatedly praise Ginkei fear and uncertainty—a climate perpetuated through the following for this scrupulous adherence to veracity, in implied contrast with cur- summer by the repression of Ansei kenmon shi—it is perhaps unremark- rent yomiuri, or printed broadsides, that did not shrink from sensa- able that works like Ginkei's Shigure no sode or Senka's Nai no hinami tional exaggeration to amplify sales." remained in manuscript form only, however unexceptional their con- The principle of veracity also stands in contrast with the fabu- tents. lous qualities of gesaku fiction, with which Ginkei clearly sought to Heitei Ginkei himself appears to have entertained varying dissociate himself, even at the risk of alienating potential readers. The ambitions for his compilation, in accordance with the changing pub- postscript touches on the dilemma: lishing and political scene. Clearly, the original plan for the work was to appeal primarily to a gesaku readership: plain language, simplified Some have expressed unhappiness with the work, saying that orthography, lively illustrations, and a brisk, minimally ornamented it is not the usual sort of popular ninjiibon or five-chapter anecdotal style are outstanding features of the first five-chapter in- affair of ghosts or revenge. "All it consists of," they say, "is a description of the earthquake. There's not a scrap of amus- stallment. The second and third installments, however, composed when ing material [in it]."88 the hope of publication was increasingly remote, diverge significantly from this original conception, indeed set aside completely the matter This resolve notwithstanding, Ginkei's prior experience as an author of the Ansei earthquake. In the place of observations of the events in of gókan and ninjóbon works does indeed carry over into his anecdotes 1855, are discussions of the Kyoto earthquake of 1830 or the Shinano- of Shigure no sode. An involved tale of divine deliverance concludes Echigo disaster of 1847. Anecdotes united by a single theme yield to with the acknowledgment that the episode "sounds something like a wide-ranging disquisitions of an increasingly pedantic tenor; natural- gesaku work," so far removed is it from the realm of the conventional.ß9 istic supersede supernatural explanations, as Ginkei cites now Chinese, Other anecdotes sound more like condensed versions of fictional works 4 now Western theories concerning the origin of seismic tremors.s than purely factual accounts. The intricate narrative of an attempt by Like Ansei kenmon shi, the first installment of Shigure no sode is a young samurai heir to rescue the daughter of a family with whom he mixed in character and alternates between factual and anecdotal materi- is on friendly terms concludes with a typical gókan cliché of mistaken als. Impersonal and purely factual elements include the inevitable enu- identity: he rescues by mistake her talented but blind koto teacher, of meration of the affected districts of the city and the degree to which they the same age and height.90 74 MARKUS GESAKU AUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 75

Among all accounts of the Ansei earthquake, Shigure no sodeis Jisuke, a sweet-potato vendor—the humblest of occupations, only a unusual for its strong plebeian element and its sympathy with the great short remove from beggary—and his wife, a cleaning lady in the masses of undistinguished victims. Ginkei avoids anecdotes of full samu- Yoshiwara, illustrates the pattern and at the same time almost certainly rai, in preference to which he selects anecdotes of masterless samurai, contains folk tale elements of a virtuous elderly couple spared from or rónin. Although Shigure no sode does contain a description of the universal destruction as a reward for piety (cf., Deucalion and Pyrrha, Yoshiwara holocaust, probably based on a survivor's account, Ginkei Baucis and Philemon): hesitates to include anecdotes of the more glamorous ranks of courte- sans; their stories, he mentions, he intends to edit into a separate corn. In Sakamoto 3-ch5nie there lived a man named Jisuke, pilation.9' Characteristically, Shigure no sode describes the fate of the who made his living selling roasted sweet potatoes. His wife Yoshiwara through the eyes of a menial laundress. The fate of corn. would slip into the brothels of the Yoshiwara every day to do rinsing or laundry, to mind the kitchen, or do any kinds mon hippari (tugger) streetwalkers, buried with their momentary pa- of odd jobs. In this way she earned wages sufficient to last trons beneath the bridges of Honjo, invites greater attention.42 The from clay to day. The woman was honest by nature and so low-lying Honjo and Fukagawa regions are home to most of his char- had friends and patrons here and there. And since she was acters, not the "uptown" districts. Common laborers, including mi- called from one establishment to another, she rarely re- grant workers from rural Echigo or Shinano provinces, are frequent turned to her own home more than four or five times a month. Because her earnings were likely to be higher [un- subjects." Ginkei's scrupulous care to enumerate names, occupations, der this arrangement] than if she remained at home, Jisuke and addresses dignifies these most humble characters, an attitude in gladly consented to manage his business by himself and complete contrast with a work like Saito Gesshin's Buk5 chid5 no ki make do at home alone. which, though replete with anecdotes of commoners' deliverance or On the morning of the second of the tenth month, he misfortunes, treats its subjects as anonymous case histories. A warm was setting about his roasted sweet potato business as usual. Around eight o'clock, all his neighbors came to buy from sympathy with the figures in his anecdotes also distinguishes Shigure him. "They should be nicely done by now," he said, and no sode from comparable contemporary collections: while praising the looked inside the cooker, only to find that the heat had not generosity of merchants who contributed emergency supplies at the affected the potatoes, and that they were still as raw as when relief stations, Ginkei exalts the less affluent who, from no other moti- he had started. "This is odd," he thought. "They should be vation than true charity, gave what little they could.94 cooked after all this trouble." He concluded that the fire In sympathy with his plebeian heroes, Ginkei shares a belief had not been hot enough, heaped on more kindling, and stoked it for a while. But when he took the lid off for a look, in the omnipresence of the supernatural, a less common, but no less all was just as it had been before—raw potatoes. Jisuke was authentic aspect of perceived reality, whose constant occult presence dumbfounded. "It must be the potatoes themselves that are becomes manifest at the time of the upheaval. Omens of impending bad," he thought. "There's no point in roasting these." He disaster, oracles, and unusual flying or luminous objects are common refused requests from buyers and sent them away with prom- throughout the collection, among the more memorable of which is a ises to let them know presently when he had procured bet- large monk's head perched atop a limbless torso that flew with a low ter potatoes and roasted them. Then he folded his arms and remained on the spot, sunk in thought. droning sound from east to west, brandishing a burning tree in its Rejecting the wholesaler he usually patronized, he tried teeth.95 another dealer. After careful scrutiny, he purchased a sack Common to many stories is the theme of the divine protec- of promising-looking potatoes, then hurried back home. don extended by the divinities of the most popular urban cults to their There he washed them, carefully wiped them dry without humble votaries. Typically in this set of stories, an inexplicable omen delay, arranged them in the cooker, lit the fire, and stoked it to the proper heat. But when he lifted the lid and tested or apparition beckons the plebeian devotee away from his or her them, lo and behold, they were raw, no different from the doomed Shitamachi residence the afternoon or early evening before potatoes earlier that morning. Jisuke grew even more dis- the earthquake. The reason for the summons is unclear to the believer couraged. "What a peculiar turn of events," he reflected. until the dreadful moment of destruction, when the honest figure rec- "There surely must be some good reason behind all this. ognizes the intervention of providence. The story of poor but honest Let's call it quits for today and start fresh tomorrow." 76 MARKUS GESAKU AUT'HORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 77

Just as he had put out his fire, his wife came home from completely the Tamachi bridle path and Saruwaka-chó; they the Yoshiwara. "I had a very strange dream last night," she heard that the blaze had advanced to the middle of told him. "A Buddhist priest came to the side of my pillow I-Ianakawado. But the couple was completely unscathed. "It as I lay there sleeping, and told me: 'Before dusk today you is solely by the saving grace of Kanzeon that we have found must leave this quarter and return home. Take with you Jisuke safety here," they rejoiced, weeping. and lodge one night beneath the holy temple of Asakusa. You Thus Jisuke and his wife worshiped Kanzeon daily: the will understand my purpose ere the night be through. Beware, wife had made a solemn vow to accomplish daily pilgrim- beware!' And as he said this, I awoke. Since it was all so ex- ages for one year, then every other day for a second year, traordinary, I thought I should talk it over with you, to plan and finally perform monthly visits without fail in the third some course of action. That is why I came back here." year. Jisuke, too, never failed to make a monthly pilgrim- Jisuke, on hearing her story, was even more puzzled than age, or when there was some unavoidable circumstance that before. prevented it, had his wife make a proxy pilgrimage; like- "What a very odd dream," he replied. "And on that wise, Jisuke would substitute for his wife when she had some score, I have something I cannot fathom," and he proceeded unavoidable obligation. It was probably the power of this to tell her in great detail about the sweet potatoes that would deep devotion that saved their lives. The wife's dream, the not cook. failure of the sweet potatoes to cook—these arc truly won- "In any case, we must abandon things as they are," they ders among wonders. When there is deep faith in gods and resolved. "We must leave this house tonight and take shel- • buddhas, miraculous signs like these will occur. • ter beneath the holy temple." I heard this story from Shaku no Chijó, a wandering The couple wrapped up changes of clothing in sepa- Buddhist priest." rate bundles and piled whatever odd belongings were at hand in carrying-cloths. They then shouldered the four Other anecdotes comparable in format to the episode ofJisuke bundles, one in each hand, and set out along the back and his wife include the story of the son of a virtuous candy-vendor of streets. The woman, for reasons best known to her alone, Hanakawado near Asakusa, summoned by a divine voice to his more retraced her steps, and threw pots, cauldrons, teakettles, and so on into a neighborhood spring, then left. They reached prosperous relatives' home in Ban-chó; the son of a rónin, conducted the precincts of Asakusa Kannon after 4 P.M., but pilgrims by a mysterious elderly figure, an envoy of Kannon, from doomed and visitors still had not dispersed. They strolled around Honjo to Kojimachi; or the story of a gardener from Kameido, ex- the Okuyama area for a while, then as it got dark, secretly hausted after a long day's labors, yet willing to set forth again in obe- took shelter beneath the verandah of the main hall. dience to a request he supposes to be from a daimyo's residence.97 In Shortly after 10 P.M., the great earthquake began. The sounds of nearby houses collapsing, to say nothing of nearby all these anecdotes of divine protection, the plebeian believer is aided temples in the precinct, the sounds of voices wailing and by "friends in high places," human and divine in unseen concert, and shrieking were enough to rend their bowels—it was inde- obedience to the directives of social superiors coincides faultlessly with scribable. But the couple prayed fervidly, single-mindedly, the greater plan of divine succor. Curiously, the specifics of the devo- for the aid of Kanzeon [Kannon]. tion or the identity of the divinity responsible for the deliverance rarely The spot where they were hiding trembled violently, and appear in the opening paragraphs of each anecdote, but emerge in they worried what might happen to them. A shower of roof tiles clattered down from the roof of the temple and sent the final sentences, almost as an afterthought. shivers through their hearts. Fires began to erupt here and The attitude of Shigure no sode, however, is not entirely uncriti- there; the Yoshiwara, they could see, was a single sea of flame. cal. Another, more skeptical and rationalistic side to Ginkei appears The house they rented in Sakamoto had burned to the as well, occasionally in the first five chapters, predominantly in the ground, and they were horrified to see some fourteen or final ten. The readiness of credulous citizens to believe in the miracu- fifteen lines of flame advancing. Although the tremors even- tually quieted down, smaller tremors shook again and again. lous without sufficient justification is central to the anecdote of an Meanwhile, the night faded into day. Jisuke and his wife inexplicably vanished image: crept out timidly and looked around them; all was shaken and demolished, and not a single house appeared to be in- According to a rumor circulating around town after the tact. Moreover, fires were still spreading, and had wiped away earthquake on the second, the statue of the thunder god in 78 MARKUS GESAKU AUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 79

the Asakusa Kaminari Gate had disappeared, no one knew who happened to be there, he noted the "mark of immi- where, while the metal grille surrounding it remained in- nent disaster" in his features. When he looked at the features tact. It was a sensation throughout Edo. The story circulated of the two men sitting beside him, they, too, bore the "mark of here, there, constantly through the length and breadth of imminent disaster." How odd, he thought to himself. And as the city, and huge crowds came to look on the marvel, each he looked at each successive patron of the bathhouse, he sightseer determined to be the first on the scene. I, too, noticed that "marks of catastrophe" were present in the faces happened to be in the neighborhood on some business and of each and every one, while two or three bore the "mark of had a look. Sure enough, the situation was just as the ru- imminent demise." Startled, he hurried out of the bathhouse mors had painted it: the metal grille was stretched there as and rushed home. before, but the statue of the thunder god was nowhere to When he examined each one of his family members, be seen. I left, thinking that this was all most peculiar. he observed that they all bore "marks of catastrophe." Upon Later, the rumors grew twice as vigorous, and some tour- taking out a mirror and examining his own features, he was ists came to see it from districts like Yotsuya,_Akasaka, or even more alarmed to see his worst fears confirmed: there Aoyama, or from Shinagawa, Hamagawa, and Omori along was no mistaking the "mark of imminent demise" in his own the T5kaidó. They came from Itabashi, Warabi, and Urawa face. Undoubtedly some terrible calamity is about to visit along the Nakasendó, from Senju and from Sóka. Because the world, he thought—but then he reflected that, even so, of the enormous crowds of visitors (including, of course, he should refrain from telling others. Summoning his fam- plentiful two-bit servants from samurai households), ily and disciples, he told them some part of what I have just teahouses and stalls in the vicinity collected handsome prof- related here [?], and ordered them to transport all their its for a time. belongings up to the home of relatives living in Hongó. He When, however, on a later occasion I happened to be himself wrapped up all his scattered divination books and in the vicinity and looked at it, on the pillars of the Kaminari utensils in a carrying-cloth and led his family before night- Gate [was the following]: fall to his relatives' place in Hongó. When he reexamined them there one by one, he noted that the "marks of immi- We beg to inform you that the pedestal of the thun- nent calamity" had faded, but that all in his party displayed der god has suffered some damage. During the pro- the "mark of a startling experience." Their house in Yagen- cess of restoration, the image is on display on the bori was utterly demolished in the earthquake on the night verandah of the main sanctuary. of the second, but the house in Hongó to which they had repaired suffered only collapsed walls and a limited amount After this notice had been posted, the numbers of sightse- of warping; not one of his party was even injured. ers gradually declined. Finally, nobody even gossiped about This was told to me by the calligrapher T5sai when I the incident. Yet it was curious indeed that the episode visited him on the eleventh of the tenth month [20 Decem- should have sparked such a torrent of rumor.98 ber].101

Several anecdotes depict extraordinary deliverance from the After the earthquake, a reluctant corpse protests its own obse- earthquake, but without any hint of divine intervention. A merchant's quies in a tale with decided anticlerical overtones: son scrambles tooth and claw through a toppled roof of the Yoshiwara, a hysterical prostitute clinging to his ankles, only to discover that he is Some eighty-five victims of the earthquake arrived at a without a stitch of clothing.99 An unfortunate sufferer from diarrhea temple in the Tentokuji compound at the foot of Mount saké barrels, some in rain must travel back and forth incessantly to the privy all night long; his Atago. Some arrived in empty barrels, others were carried in long hampers or atop bridal momentary absence at the fatal moment of the disaster is his salvation. 100 litters, still others were wrapped in straw mats or in gunny- A wry, sometimes earthy, or macabre humor also permeates sacks. Very rare, I have heard, was the corpse transported anecdotes of the days immediately preceding or following the disas- even in the roughest of coffins. But this is only what one ter. A physiognomist's gift of prophecy undermines his peace of mind: might expect: the burials of tens of thousands of corpses meant that the ordinary supplies of cheap coffins were en- A diviner by the name of Hoketsu Chikó lived in the tirely gone. In fact, casualties carried off in empty saké bar- Yagen-bori district of Ryógoku. On the second he went to rels were considered to have benefited from quite a high- the public bath. But when he gazed at the face of a man class funeral, under the circumstances. 80 MARKUS GESAKUAUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 81

In any event, here is an unusual story. Victims arrived down here just as he told it to me when I visited him on the third of the first month [8 February 1856].102 from a townsman's household in some saké barrels. But from one of the barrels came something that sounded like groan- ing. The temple acolytes who overheard it were terrified and A group of survivors, finally, attempts to put to rest all further dashed to tell the abbot about it. When the abbot in turn discussion of the earthquake and its horrors, but is ultimately unsuc- hurried to the place and investigated, sure enough, there cessful: was a groaning sound from inside the barrel. He approached one side of the barrel very carefully to hear more clearly, Some landlords of Bakuro-cha had gathered in the when the barrel began to rock a little at a time. At this the neighborhood duty station. As they were exchanging this abbot, too, grew frightened and sent word as quickly as pos- or that story of the recent earthquake, the oldest landlord sible to the survivors [who had delivered the barrel]; two among them spoke up: mourners arrived in the greatest possible haste. They sat to "I must confess that I for one am utterly weary of hear- the front and back of the barrel, while the groaning kept grow- ing stories about the earthquake day after day. I strictly for- ing louder and louder. After a time, the barrel began to hop bid any earthquake stories today. Should anyone violate this, and dance. The two mourners, stupefied, stared at one another he must pay a fine of one Tenpó piece for each infraction." in amazement. "Surely the deceased has come back to life!" All present roared with laughter. "What an amusing They communicated their opinion to the abbot, who idea!" Each man in the company paid careful attention to agreed that this was quite possibly the case, but advised that what he was saying, and for a while, nobody mentioned any- the best course of action might be to take off the lid and thing about the earthquake. As the conversation gradually ascertain the fact directly. The abbot fortified himself with warmed up, however, they let their guard down; inadvert- his abbot-ly wisdom: he withdrew to the temple office and ently, two or three in the gathering let a reference slip out, stationed the acolytes to his left and right, while reciting thus violating the covenant. At first three Tenpó pieces under his breath some sutra text or other. The two mourn- formed their common reserve fund. Then gradually others ers seemed to find the whole situation rather unnerving, tripped up and the fund grew to 1,300 mon; one man, I am though it was broad daylight. Timidly, they crept to the side told, lost five whole Tenpó pieces in fines. of the barrel from an angle; little by little they undid the While this was going on, morning gave way to afternoon. ropes that lashed the staves and heads of the barrel. One of the party then suggested, "We should order some No sooner had they removed the barrel lid than a loud bean jam fritters with all this cash. The ones over there look moan escaped and a hand shot out. The hand brushed high-class." But the man at his side objected, "No, those are against the nape of one mourner's neck, who lost no time flat; they haven't risen up yet." The others clamored that he in taking to his heels with a loud shriek. The other mourner had made another earthquake reference, and the unfortu- seemed to be a more reasonable sort: calmly he clasped the nate found himself poorer by one piece. As for the elderly hand, removed all the various items placed inside the bar- landlord who had proposed the rule in the first place, he rel, and at last rescued the individual from his container. weighed his every word with scrupulous attention, and no Well, when the mourner had related every particular of matter what the subject, was careful never once to utter a word the event, the man brought back to life was in fact quite about earthquakes. But in the end, he, too, misspoke once or amazed to learn that he had passed away. The abbot then twice, and in fact paid the most in fines—highly amusing! emerged and congratulated the man from the barrel that This story told by Senmentei.'os his allotted span was not yet at an end; he ordered some gruel for him to sip. Finally, around three o'clock that same These humorous anecdotes, distinctive for meticulousness of afternoon the individual was able to go home by palanquin. When I made further inquiries later about this same res- detail, attention to style, and for the relative laxness of their narrative urrected individual, I learned that his house had collapsed and "pedigrees" may be the inherited remnants of rakugo traditions far that he had been struck down by a beam. Supposing him dead, earlier than 1855, pressed into service around the new circumstances [the mourners] had packed him as he was into the barrel and of the disaster. Comic in intent, this strain of bittersweet humor con- sent him off. tinues the tradition of the "catfish picture" cartoons and exorcises by Master Amano Masanori assured me that he had heard this story directly from the superior of Tentokuji. I jot it levity the imponderable destructive force of the disaster. 82 MARKUS GESAKU AUTHORS AND TI-IE ANSEI EARTI-IQUAKE OF 1855 83

NOTES 16.The estimate of 220,000 casualties can be found in Jóto Sanjin, "Yaburemado no ki," Dv 2:558; that of 900,000 victims, in Kurizono Chinpachi, "Kitsu-O nenpu shô," N/S, 627. 1. Sekiya Hiroshi, notes to Saitó Gesshin, "[Ansei kinoto-u] Bukó chidò no ki," in Nihon l 7 On relief stations and their functioning, see Kitahara, Ansei dal jishin to minshú, shomin seikatsu shiry5 shúsei, ed. Mori Kahei and Tanikawa Ken'ichi (Tokyo: San'ichi Igo On rioting and limited granary "smashings" (ucltikowashi) in Fukagawa, see Shobò, 1970), 7:211. jòíó Sanjin, "Yaburemado no ki," DNJS 2:556 and Ry0tei, "Nai no hinami" 24:396 2. Kitahara Itoko estimates magnitudes of 7.9 for the Kantó earthquake of 1923, 82 (both entries arc for 15 November [10.6]). for the Genroku earthquake of 1703, but only 6.9 for the Ansei earthquake. See Saito, "Bukò chidò no ki," 195; see also Minami, Ishin zen'ya no Edo shomin, 66. his Ansei dal jishin to minshú (Tokyo: San'ichi Shobò, 1983), 22. 18. Hata, "Shigure no sode" 10.1:86, 90. 3. Saltò, 19. "Bukò chidò no ki," 185-205; it is also included in Musha Kinkichi, ed. [Zütei] 20 One-month anniversary services arc discussed in Sait6, Buk5 nenpy5 2:153 and his Nihon jishin shiry3 (hereafter NJS) (Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1951), 566-96 "Bukò chidò no ki," 194. For one-year anniversary services in Saitó, see Bukö nenpyn Jòtó Sanjin [Kitamura Nobuyo?], 'Yaburemado no ki" in Dai Nihon jishin shiryp 2:1 57. part 2 (hereafter DNJS), ed. Shinsai Yobó Chòsakai (Tokyo: Shinsai Yobó Chòsakai, Kitamura, Kiki no manima ni, 360 and Hata, "Shigure no sode," 90. 1904), 550-66. A more recent publication is NJS, 495-508. 21. 22. Minami, [shin zen'ya no Edo shomin, 65. 4. Fifteen seconds is my interpretation of "the space of two or three breaths" as given On the resumption of observances and the harvest of 1855, see Saito, "Bukò chidò in Baishinsha Kòsai, "Yume no satori," in NJS, 627. The reference to collapsing 23. no ki," 193. like shögi pieces can be found in the anonymous "Nai no ushiromi-gusa," in DNJS On the Ansei typhoon and opinions of its relative severity, see Minami, Ishin zen'ya 2:569. 24. no Edsho omn, 76. Other sources suggest the extreme suddenness of the main tremor. The ukiyo-e 25. Kitahara, Ansei dal jishin to minshú, 184. A similar listing of occupations that suf- artist Utagawa Yoshiiku (Ochiai; 1833-1904), who inaugurated his career with fered as a result of the earthquake appears in Saito, "Bukò chidò no ki," 194: earthquake prints, records his sorrow and horror at discovering corpses with their arms nonchalantly folded-obviously struck down in an instant. See Minami Kazuo, Those who lost their livelihoods: singers, musicians, actors and the Ishin ten ya no Edo shomin (Tokyo: Kyòikusha, 1980), 64. Undoubtedly there was like, reciters of war tales [gunsho-yomi), comic storytellers, etc. Those much variation in intensity and forewarning from region to region. who made their living by the gracious arts-Chinese and Japanese 5. On rumors of a possible tsunami, see Hattori Hotoku, "Ansei kenmon roku," NJS, verse, linked haikai composition, tea ceremony, incense blending, 626, and RyCtei Senka, "Nai no hinami," Nihon zuihitsu taisei, 2d series, Dai Nihon painting and calligraphy, etc.-had been shunted aside in recent Zuihitsu Taisei Henshûtbu, ed. (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kòbunkan, 1975), 24:400-401. years because of the resurgence of military arts, but at this junc- On damage to the Tamagawa Josui, see Jbtb Sanjin, "Yaburemado no ki," DNJS ture they lost all final vestiges of a livelihood. 2:559 and "Nai no ushiromi-gusa," DNJS 2:568. 6. "Nai no ushiromi-gusa," DNJS 2:579. 26.Sait5, "Bukò chidò no ki," 188, 201. 7. Kitamura Nobuyo, Kiki no manima ni, 356. 27. For an account of the destruction in the Yoshiwara based on Hata, see his "Shigure 8. Details of the bakttfit report can be found in Kitahara, Ansei dal jishin to minshú, 26. no socle" 10.1:43-44. On the loss of 720,000,000 kura storehouses, see Ono Hideo, Kawara-ban monogatan, 28.Saitó, Bukii nenpy5 2:152-53. The Afang Palace, to the northwest of Xi'an, was built vol. 1 of Fuuzoku bunka sbsho (Tokyo: Y6sankaku, 1967), 175. on a colossal scale at the command of Qin Shihuangdi (259-210 B.C.); see Shi ji 9. Explosions of gunpowder are noted in Suikò Shujin, JifCiroku," DNJS 2:538 and 6.18b-19a (Si bu beiyao edition). When Xiang Yu (232-202 B.C.) attacked and Kidan Shijó, "Edo dai-jishin matsudai no tane," DNJS 2:584. burned the palace, smoke allegedly rose continuously from the ruins for a full 10. On the immunity of Edo, see Saitò, "Bukò chidò no ki," 203. three months. The Gojukken-michi (Fifty-ken-long Road) was the sinuous path 11. On the preservation of Asakusa Kannon Temple, see Saltò Gesshin, [1_ötei] Bukò leading from the Nippon-zutsumi embankment to the O-mon of the Yoshiwara nenpy5, ed. Kaneko Mitsuharu (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1968), 2:148; Saito, "Bukò chidò quarter. For location and identification of "hat teahouses" (amigasa-jaya), see no ki," 188; "Nai no ushiromi-gusa," DNJS2:573. On the preservation of Fukagawa Cecilia Segawa Seigle, Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan (Ho- Hachimangu, see Saitò, Bukó nenpy5 2:149 and his "Bukò chidò no ki," 190; see nolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993), 64. also observations in "Nai no ushiromi-gusa," DNJS 2:572. On casualty figures for the Yoshiwara, see Saltò, "Bukò chidò no ki," 192 and 12. Nakamura Nakazò, "Nakamura Nakazò kiroku," NJS, 598. This account, by the Ka. Jòtò Sanjin, "Yaburemado no ki," DnfS 2:557. On art treasures lost in the Yoshiwara buki actor Nakamura Nakazò III (1800-86), in all likelihood dates from the early fire, see Saito, "Bukò chidb no ki," 196. Meiji era. No reference to the current regime remotely this blatant occurs in any 29. Kitahara, Ansei dal jishin to minshú, 184. On "fast-food" vendors after the earth- materials from the Ansei era. quake, see Saltò, "Bukó chidb no ki," 193 and Ryíitei, "Nai no hinami" 24:393, 13. Disproportionate damage to the Shitamachi districts is noted in Saitò, Bukó nenpy5 406. 2:149; Jótò Sanjin, "Yaburemado no ki," DNJS 2:561; Sttikò Shujin, Jiffiroku," DNJS 30. On inflated wage scales and futile government curbs, see Kitahara, Ansei dal jishin 2:538. to minshú, 187; Saitó, "Bukò chidò no ki," 194; Suikò Shujin, Jifúroku," DNJS 14. The breakdown of casualty figures are found in Saitò, Bukó nenpy5 2:153 and his 2:539; and Fit() Sanjin, "Yaburemado no ki," DNJS 2:552. "Bukò chidò no ki," 192. 31. Compare the narrative of the lacquer dealer Sòemon, who collected, refined, and 15. On the necessity to adjust the official figures, see Jbtó Sanjin, "Yaburemado no ki," profited from resale of tainted lacquer spilled from government reserves, in Saitò, DNJS 2:558; Rylitei, "Nai no hinami" 24:411 (entry for 18 December [11.10]); "Bukó chidò no ki," 203. Hata Ginkei, "Shigure no sode," ed. Edo Sòsho Kankòkai, Edo sòsho, vol. 10, 32. Saitó, Bukn nenpy5 2:151. On the opening and closing dates of the kari-laku, see fascicle 1 (Tokyo: Edo Sòsho Kankbkai, 1917), 137. Kitamura, Kiki no manima ni, 358, 360. 84 MARKUS GESAKU AUTHORS AND THE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 85

33. Hata, "Shigure no sode" 10.1:84. For other examples of dark wit inspired by diras. 52, Ouwehand, Namazu-e, 8. ter, see facetia associated with the calamitous fire of April 1829, collected in 53 Ibid., 13-14; a catfish in guise of Musashiba Benkei can be found on page 12, plate IX. Kawasaki Shigeyasu, "Hare no momiji," ed. Edo Sasho Kanke)kai, Edo sasho, vol8 54. Ibid., 238. fascicle 2 (Tokyo: Edo Sash()Kankókai, 1917), 75-142. A discussion of this work 55 RyGtei, "Nai no hinami" 24:389 (entry for 13 November [10.4]). For Baiso Gengyo, appears in T. Kobayashi, "Crimson Leaves in Spring-A Record of a Disaster" Jour- see Ishida Motosuc, Kusaznshi no iroiro (Tokyo: Nans6 Shoin, 1928), 302-304. nal of the Oriental Society of Australia 15-16 (1983-84): 91-95. See also grotesqu e 5B, Ryûtci, "Nai no hinami" 24:396-97. distortions of the signature tanka of the "Thirty-Six Poetry Immortals," inspired The Kobun biography here summarizes Okitsu Kaname, Saigo no Edo gesakusha- 57, by the measles epidemic of 1862, cited in Minami, Ishin zen 'ye no Edo shomin, 84_ tachi (Tokyo: Jitsugy6 no Nihonsha, 1976), 5-21 and Okitsu Kaname, Tenkan-ki no 86. bungaku: Edo kara Meiji e, 4th ed. (Tokyo: Waseda Daigaku Shuppanbu, 1977), 34. On evolution of kawara-ban, see Ono, Kawara-ban monogatari, 3-44, 47-87. 185-91. 35. On repressive legislation, sec Kitahara, Ansei dai-jishin to minshú, 61-62; Ono, Tenkan-ki no bungaku, 187. Kawara. ;,8. Okitsu, Saigo no Edo gesakusha-tachi, 16-17; Okitsu, ban monogatari, 76-77. The force of the legislation is against unauthorized manu. 59, Nozaki Sahun, Watakushi no mita Meiji bundan (Tokyo: Shun'yadü, 1927), 131. facture of prints, rather than against kawara-ban prints per se. Nozaki, unfortunately, does not specify which publisher came the following morn- 36. On manipulation of the media and intentional rmor-mongering for gain, see Suikò ing or the exact nature of the print then commissioned. Shujin, Jiftiroku," DNJS 2:538, and Salta, "Bukó chide) no ki," 194. Ansei dai-jishin to minshfs, 97. On the close 60. The print is reproduced in Kitahara, 37. On "fire maps," see Ono, Kawara-ban monogatari, 49-50. friendship of Robun and Kyósai, see Nozaki, Watakushi no mita Meiji bundan, 68. 38. For early sales in Edo, see Rytitei, "Nai no hinami" 24:392 (entry for 13 November Gunji Masakatsu, "Kaisetsu" preface to Kabuki jiihachi-ban shú, Nihon koten bungaku [10.4]). 61. taikei, vol. 98 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1965), xxx. 39. Yoshihara Ken'ichira, Edo noj5h5-ya: bakumatsu shomin-shi no sokumen (Tokyo: Nippo Saigo no Edo gesakusha-tachi, n 62. I follow here the transcription of the text in Okitsu, Hasa Shuppan Kyakai, 1978), 167. 18-19. Another transcription, occasionally at variance with Okitsu's, is Kitahara, 40. Rytitei, "Nai no hinami," 24:385-411. A less legible version of the same text ap- Ansei dai-jishin to min.shú, 98-99. pears in Musha, AfS, 528-44. 63. ni nanban ("Physicians of the East and southern barbarians!") is intended to sug- 41. It is not entirely clear why Senka should have chosen to write in this elegant, ar- gest 7özai nanboku (Ladies and gentlemen!; literally, [All persons] in the east and chaic medium, a style one might associate more readily with poetic diaries or west, south and north!)-the preliminary announcement of a street crier. The reflective essays than with the unpolished chronicling of brutal realities. Is it pos- nanban here may be a reference to the Perry expeditions of 1853 and 1854, but in sible that the work is an academic exercise, a reflection of Senka's growing inter- this context, might just as probably be a reference to practitioners of Western est in formal Kokugaku studies during the 1840s and 1850s? medicine. Nakanocha is the famed central avenue of the Yoshiwara quarter. 42. On hawkers, see RyGtei, "Nai no hinami" 24:392 (entry for 13 November [10.4]); Sujiguma refers to elaborate stage makeup (kuma) distinguished by brightly col- on cautious use, 24:393 (entry for 14 November [10.5]). ored streaks or lines (suji) across the face-the characteristic makeup of the aragota 43. RyGtei, "Nai no hinami" 24:395. On courier rates and guaranteed delivery sched- ("rough business") stage style initiated by the original Ichikawa Danjüro (1660- ules, see Ono, Kawara -ban monogatari, 222. 1704). 44. Rytitei, "Nai no hinami" 24:395. The identity of Kurita Inaba-no -kami is unclear. 64. On the earlier burning of Saruwaka-cha and consequent postponement of the sea- 45. Ishikawa Rya, "Shodai RyGtei Senka nenpu ka (sono ni)," Ozuma Joshi Daigaku sonal kaomise production, see Saita, Bukó nenpyó 2:142. bungaku-bu kiyó 12 (March 1980): 12-13 (at the conclusion of entries for 1854 65.On the tilting of the kurin spire, see Suika Shujin, Jifìtroktt," DNJS 2:538; "Nakamura [Ansei 1]). Nakaza kiroku," NJS, 598; and RyGtei, "Nai no hinami" 24:398 (entry for 18 No- 46. "Over a hundred" can be found in RyGtei, "Nai no hinami," 24:409; "over 380," in vember [10.9]). 24:410. 66. Kitahara, Ansei dai-jishin to minshii, 99, displays the variant reading yuri ga taiko for 47. Ryùtei, "Nai no hinami" 24:410. It is not clear whether Senka himself was invited to the ariga-taika of the Okitsu transcription. The reading ariga-taiko seems more produce some comparable text or pamphlet for commercial distribution; no earth- probable, if this is a play on the refrain Arigata ya "How wondrous!" in the Kashima quake-related publications appeared under his name. Nai no hinami does record, "Maitreya song" (Miroku-uta), a festive song with messianic overtones sung at lo- however, for 20 November [10.11] (401) the completion of a five-page manu- cal celebrations in Kashima and other eastern districts. For full text of the song, script, Jishin anshin ki (A Record for Earthquake Reassurance). see Akamatsu Satan, Tone-gava zushi, ed. and trans. Tsumoto Nobuhiro (Tokyo: 48. Ibid., 24:410 (entry for 18 December [11.10]). Kyaikusha, 1980), 246, and Ouwehand, Namazu-e, 101-4. 49. An extensive discussion of these prints, their themes and texts, appears in C[ornelis] 67. Gunji, "Kaisetsu" preface to Kabuki júhachi-ban skit, xxx. Ouwehand, Namazu-e and Their Themes: An Interpretative Approach to Some Aspects of 68. The text of the 1878 performance can be found in Gunji, Kabuki jiihachi-ban shú, Japanese Folk Religion (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1964), 1-43. A less intimidating study of 142-64; that of the 1936 performance, 460-67. namazu-e, which includes a careful grouping by thematic evolution, is Minami, 69. Gunji, "Kaisetsu" preface to Kabuki jfihachi-ban shú, xxx. Ishin zen'ya no Edo shomin, 68-75. 70. Date of publication in Yoshihara, Edo no j5h5 ya, 171. The most detailed discussion 50. On the earthquake-catfish and catfish-Kashima Shrine associations, their back- I have seen of Ansei kenmon shi is Kitahara, Ansei dai jishin to minshi, 115-31, but ground and development, see Ouwehand, Namazu-e, 51-57. regrettably, I have not had access to Ansei kenmon shi itself, 51. Ibid., 7-8. For a reproduction of the print of a catfish exposed for sale in a fish 71. Kitahara, Ansei dai-jishin to minshii, 125. market (in part a parody of nehan-e pictures depicting the historical Buddha on 72.Yoshihara, Edo no j hó-ya, 171. Ansei kenbun roku (A Record of Ansei Observations) is an his deathbed, surrounded by grieving disciples), see Bruce A. Bolt, Earthquakes, illustrated chronicle in three volumes, comparable in content and format to Ansei rev. ed. (New York: W. H. Freeman, 1988), xx. kenmon shi, published in July 1856; see Kitahara, Ansei dai jishin to minshit, 136-42. 86 MARKUS -IE ANSEI EARTHQUAKE OF 1855 87 GESAKU AUTHORS AND TI

73. Nozaki, Watakushi no mita Meiji bundan, 131. remarks in kanji usage. The farthest point from which tourists came, of those on 74. Okitsu, 7enkan-ki no bungaku, 188. Ginkei's lists, is Urawa, some twelve miles from Asakusa. 75. Fujiakaya nikki observations are reproduced in Yoshihara, Edo no john-ya, 171-72. 99. Ibid., 10.1:57-58. 76. Hata, "Shigure no sode" 10.1:1-306. 100.Ibid., 10.1:17. 77. For biographies of Kinkei and Ginkei, see Yamada Takemaro, Gunma-ken no rekishi .1:26. Y.agcn-bori is a district of the Shitamachi, at the western end of , 101 Ihid., 10 Kenshi shirizu (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1974), 10:172, and Hagiwara Ryógoku Bridge. Susumu, Kybdo rekishi jinbuisu jiten: Gunma (Tokyo: Daiichi Hóki Shuppan, 1978), "coffins" here are not containers for burial, but temporary 102, Ibid„ 10.1:41-43. The 69-70. housing for the remains of the dead until cremation. The accumulation of large 78. Hata, "Shigure no sode" 10.1:105; see also postscript, 97. numbers of these makeshift containers indicates the excessive demands on temples 79. Kitahara, Ansel dal jishin to minshii; Yoshihara, Edo no jbhb ya, 167-72. crematoria. A similar grisly anecdote of "resurrection" during the cholera and 80. As quoted in Yoshihara, Edo no jbl:b-ya, 171. On the proverbial association of slip. epidemic of 1858 appears in Minami, Ishin zen'ya no Edo shomin, 77. Amano pert' catfish and no less slippery gourds, sec Ouwehand, Namazu-e, 182-90. Masanori (1784-1861) has some celebrity as a Kokugaku authority and connois- 81. Rysitei, "Nai no hinami" 24:409. seur of paintings, prints, and musical instruments. 82. Ibid., 410. 103. Ibid., 10.1:53-54. The name Bakuro-chó is preserved as a subdivision in the north- 83. Ibid. eastern sector of Chdó ward. "Neighborhood duty station" translates jishin-ban, a 84. The discussion of Chinese seismological theories appears primarily in the second local urban office, staffed on a rotating, electoral basis by eminent chbnin of a installment of Hata, "Shigure no sode" 10.1:107-9. A brief but exceedingly inter- neighborhood, and entrusted with community decisions and administrative func- esting condensation of assorted Western writing on the subject appears in the dons of a routine nature. In times of disaster, the jishin-ban assumed more promi- third installment, 193-96. Ginkei paraphrases the words or writings of the "Dutch nent authority in coordinating local emergency efforts. The "Tenpó piece" (7ènpb scholar" Mitsukuri Genpo Tenpn tsúhn "Tenpó cur- (1799-1863), whose opinions in turn probably reflect ichimai) here is probably the 7enp5-sen "Tenpó cash" or currents of contemporary Russian scientific thought. Here we find a statement of rency," a flat oval coin circulated since 1835 with a face value of one hundred the essential similarity in causation between earthquakes and volcanoes-an asso- "lucky copper cash (mon). The luncheon delicacy in question is daifuku-mochi ciation curiously absent in native Japanese sources. Pages 293-95 provide surpris- cakes," a kind of rice-dough confectionery filled with sweet bean jam (an) and ingly detailed accounts of three major earthquakes in the West: Catania-Mount fried on both sides like a waffle-presumably expanding in the process? The in- Etna (1693); Lima, Peru (1746); and Lisbon (1755). advertent remark that incurs a penalty is Are wo kowarete imada dekizu, where koroarete 85. For the inventory of damage, see Hata, "Shigure no sode" 10.1:74-83; for the "broken, smashed" suggests collapsed houses as well as daifuku-mochi cakes that Shinano disaster of 1847, 74; for segaki memorial services, 92. have not "risen" (or that have burst?), and imada dekizu may be "not yet ready" or 86. Ibid., 52. Banba-machi is now contained in Higashi-Komagata 1-ch5me, Sumida ward. "not yet come into being," i.e., "not yet rebuilt." 87. A friend of Ginkei assures him that, while the toll of dead in a draper's firm in the Shitaya Hirokóji district was indeed terrible, it was on the order of fifty or sixty, and certainly nothing like the exaggerated reports of yorniuri flyers, which spoke of cartloads of victims from the site; "Shigure no sode," 55. 88. Ibid., 97. 89. Ibid., 52. 90. Ibid., 16-17. 91. Ibid., 44. Ginkei mentions that he intends to entitle the separate production Ominaeshi namida noyúzuyu (Lady-flower Evening Dew of Tears), but no such work exists, as far as I can determine. 92. Hata, "Shigure no sode" 10.1:37. On the discovery of hippari buried beneath mud slides, see also Saitó, "Bukó chidó no ki," 198. 93. Hata, "Shigure no sode" 10.1:37 relates the story of a man from Shinano who was trapped under a four-to (nineteen-gallon) barrel, but survived, while all others in the Honjo household where he was hiding perished. 94. Ibid., 28. 95. Ibid., 25. 96. Ibid., 60-62. Sakamoto is possibly a neighborhood in the vicinity of modern Uguisudani station, in Negishi, within easy walking distance of the Yoshiwara. The Okuyama district, immediately to the northwest of the Asakusa Kannon Temple precinct, was well known throughout the nineteenth century as a center for side shows and cheap carnival attractions. Unusual behavior of plants, animals, bodies of water, and peculiar meteorological conditions immediately before a tremor are commonplaces of earthquake literature. 97. For the story of the candy-vendor's son, see Hata, "Shigure no sode" 10.1:48-52; for that of the r5nin's son, 44-47; and for the Kameido gardener episode, 30-32. 98. Ibid., 10.1:47-48. Spelling errors here are intended to suggest the errors Ginkei