sendoo boatsman

[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
- watashibune ferry, see below
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::　

sendoo sendō 船頭 boatman, ferryman, chief fisherman

sentoo 船頭 / 船首 "head of a boat", bow of a boat/ship


source :　blog.otsue.com

fune no osa 船の長（おさ） chief fisherman
funanori no kashira 船乗りの頭（かしら）chief fisherman

Along the coastal region, the chief fisherman had to read the waves and the storm to bring the boat back home safely.
The owner of a ship was often a different person, for example a rich merchant.



sendoo kouta 船頭小唄 song of a boatman / boatsman

There are many famous songs along the many rivers of Japan, where the boatman starts singing at an especially beautiful part or after a dangerous part in a narrow river.


. fune　舟 boats and ships on the rivers of Edo .

. WKD : ships and boats of all kinds .

....................................................................................................................................................


- - - - - proverbs and sayings

せんどう 馬方（うまかた）お乳（ち）の人（ひと） sendoo umakata o-chi no hito
a boatman, a horse leader, a wet nurse

These were the three professions that could make a profit from the weakness of a tired traveler of others or because of their high position (like the wet nurse of a daimyo).


船頭(せんどう)多くして船(ふね)山に上る sendoo ooku shite fune yama ni noboru
"Too many captains and the boat will go up a mountain."
Too many cooks spoil the soup.


....................................................................................................................................................



CLICK for more images !


choki 猪牙 short for chokibune 猪牙舟
watashibune わたし舟 / 渡し舟　/ 渉舟 ferry boat
small, long and thin wooden boat with no roof, river taxi in Edo

The town of Edo was full of canals and waterways for transportation of goods and people.
The boatman with one bamboo pole or one ore would lead his boat skilfully through the often crowded waterways.

There were also more than 50 famous river crossings (watashi 江戸の渡し) with ferries over the rivers of Edo.
関宿 Sekiyado, 野田、流山、松戸、市川、浦安
Takeya no watashi　竹屋の渡し　crossing in Asakusa, Sumidagawa / 向島の渡し / Matsuchi no watashi 待乳（まつち）の渡し
Yakiri no watashi - Yagiri no watashi 矢切の渡し
Yoroi no Watashi / Nihonbashi River

Sumidagawa no watashi 隅田川の渡し
-　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

. Yagiri no watashi 矢切の渡し, the river crossing of Yagiri .

関宿 Sekiyado
Sekiyadomachi 関宿町 located in Higashi-Katsushika District, Chiba.
Sekiyado was a river port and castle town in the Edo period, with Sekiyado Castle as the center of Sekiyado Domain, a feudal domain of the Tokugawa shogunate in Shimosa Province.

Takahashi Hiroaki




Sekiyado no yukibare 雪の関宿　Clearing after a Snowfall at the Sekiyado
. Kawase Hasui 川瀬巴水 (1883 - 1957) .


.......................................................................

quote
Waterways
To guard against attacks on Edo Castle, a network of strategic moats, streams, and canals was laid out in a spiral pattern. Waterways for freight transport formed a vertical and horizontal grid.
At the points of intersection
between the roads and the waterways, bridges were built and short ferry routes called watashi ("crossings") were also developed. Because waterways and roads intersected in so many places, Edo had a huge number of bridges. At the time, Osaka was known as the "water city" because of its many bridges - about 200 in all - but Edo put the "water city" to shame with over 500 bridges. Landing points called kashi ("river banks") were established at various points along the waterways for unloading freight. Warehouses and markets were set up at the landing points, and these spots became hubs for the distribution of goods in Edo.
Along wide rivers like the Sumida,
the long distances between banks prompted the development of ferry service even at points served by bridges. As of 1907 there were 18 ferry crossing points along the Sumida River. Ferries were even established on manmade waterways such as the Nihonbashi River. One of these, Yoroi no Watashi on the Nihonbashi River, is immortalized in a woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige in his series of 100 famous views of Edo.
Koji Chikamatsu - source : web-japan.org/tokyo...


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

- - - - - H A I K U - - - - -

船頭よ小便無用浪の月
sendô yo shôben muyô nami no tsuki

hey boatman
no pissing on the moon
in the waves!


春風や犬の寝聳るわたし舟
haru kaze ya inu no nesoberu watashibune

spring breeze--
a dog stretched to sleep
in the ferryboat
Tr. David Lanoue

. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .


....................................................................................................................................................


蛍見や船頭酔うておぼつかな
hotarumi ya sendoo yoote obotsukana

watching fireflies -
the boatsman is drunk
and we worry

Fireflies from Seta - 瀬田の蛍哉
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


....................................................................................................................................................



chokibune boat near the Yoshiware pleasure quarters


夕薄暑江戸の資料に猪牙舟も
yuuhakusho Edo no shiryoo ni chokibune mo

mild summer evening
at the Edo Period Museum
there is even a Choki boat

Saitoo Toshiko 斉藤淑子 Saito Toshiko
Edo Shiryookan in Fukagawa 深川江戸資料館〒135-0021 東京都江東区


. hakusho 薄暑 (はくしょ) mild weather in early summer .
lit. "light heat"
kigo for early summer

.......................................................................


役人の骨っぽいのは猪牙に乗せ
yakunin no honeppoi no wa choki ni nose

a serious official
is best invited
to take a choki boat trip

Senryu from the times of
. Tanuma Okitsugu 田沼意次 (1719 - 1788) .


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::　


watashibune わたし舟 / 渡し舟　/ 渉舟 ferry boat

. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 in Edo .

こがらしや炭売ひとりわたし舟
kogarashi ya sumiuri hitori watashibune

withering wind -
only one charcoal seller
on the ferry boat


一わたし遅れた人にしぐれ哉
hito-watashi okureta hito ni shigure kana

late for the only
ferry boat he gets caught
in the sleet . . .

The cut marker KANA is at the end of line 3.


さみだれや水に銭ふむ渉舟
samidare ya mizu ni zeni fumu watashibune

samidare rain -
in the water I step on a coin
in the ferry boat

. WKD : boats and ships .

..............................................................................................................................................

. Japanese Legends - 伝説　民話　昔話 – ABC-List .


..............................................................................................................................................
Iwate 岩手県 和賀郡 Waga district 東和町 Towa town

. kitsune きつね fox and 藁細工の職人 making things of straw .

- - - - -

Rokubei iwa 六兵衛岩 Rokubei Rock

The beautiful young Rokubei went to お伊勢参り a pilgrimage to Ise.
He took the ferry boat, but his kasa 笠 strawhat fell into the river. When he came home from the pilgrimage, he fell ill and was about to die. The ill Rokubei got up, went out and hid in the cave of a rock, where he became known as the "Rokubei Rock".
The 竜宮の姫 princess from the Dragon Palace had liked him a lot and called him to her quarters.




..............................................................................................................................................
Kochi 高知県 幡多郡 Hata district 三原町 Mihara town

Nakahira Sobei no borei 中平宗兵衛の亡霊 The ghost of Nakahira Sobei
The righteous Sobei was beheaded by the local official, but his spirit jumped on a ferry boat and only his voice was heard.
This spirit went to his parent's home and obtained three meals. His head showed up in a dream of his father.

- further reference : city.shimanto.lg.jp... -



..............................................................................................................................................
Nara 奈良県 吉野町 Yoshino town

. tanuki 狸 - mujina 狢 － racoon dog, badger legends .
There was a ferry boat moved by pulling a rope over the river. A fermer pulled strongly and thought he heard a voice, but when he got out, there was nobody.
He might have been bewitched by a Tanuki ...



..............................................................................................................................................
Niigata 新潟県 五泉市 Gosen city

higan sama 彼岸様 Honorable Equinox person
At the end of the equinox, the spirit of dead person is going back, Relatives make offerings of dumplings for the river crossing at Sanzu no Kawa 三途の川の渡し the river to the Other World.
For lunch they prepare うどん Udon noodles and sent the spirit off early.

. higan 彼岸 equinox .

..............................................................................................................................................

- reference : Nichibun Yokai Database -

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


The Boatman in international legends:

- Compiled by Elaine Andre -
Haiku Culture Magazine, 2013

- - - - - - famous ferrymen
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Grail Legends
Noah
The Story of Siddhartha

King Arthur is ferried to the sword held by the hand of the Lady of the Lake.
source : educationscotland.gov.uk...

Charon
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on the mouth of a dead person.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

Psychopomps (from the Greek word psuchopompos, literally meaning the "guide of souls")
are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls to the afterlife.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

The Elvin people depart in "The Return of the King" (JRR Tolkien's Trilogy) the movie:
The Elves of Middle Earth - Galadriel
source : www.fanpop.com


Painting -


The Ferryman - Camille Corot (French, Paris 1796–1875 Paris)
source : www.metmuseum.org...

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

. fune　舟 boats and ships on the rivers of Edo .


[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
- #fune #watashi #waterway #canal #watashibune -
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::