Edo - the EDOPEDIA -

12/26/2013

fuuzoku business

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. Doing Business in Edo　- 江戸の商売 .
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fuuzoku, fûzoku　風俗 Fuzoku, entertainment and sex business

This is part of the main entry about
. Doing Business in Edo　- 江戸の商売 .

fuuzoku　風俗 refers to the manners and customs, and in a wider sense in Edo to the flourishing sex business.

. Yoshiwara 葦原 /　吉原　pleasure quarters in Edo .

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chaya　茶屋　tea shop, tea stall

Under the unauspicious name of "tea stall", a lot of extra entertainment was available in Edo.
Along the public roads to the countryside, there were many chaya for travellers to rest.

. chaya, -jaya 茶屋 tea shop, tea stall .
- Introduction -

. aimai 曖昧女(おんな) onna, woman, prostitute
in a shop called Aimaiya 曖昧屋, providing front and back service, so to speak . . .

yuna 湯女 woman working in a bathhouse

湯女図

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. choki 猪牙 fast ferry boat to reach pleasure quarters .
short for chokibune 猪牙舟 (B192)

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江戸の秘薬女悦丸・長命丸・帆柱丸
古川柳と絵図と文献による閨房文化
蕣露庵主人 Shuroan Shujin

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meshimori onna 飯盛女 "woman serving rice"
They worked a the tea stalls along the main traveller's roads and sold not only food . . .

. meshimori hatago 飯盛旅籠 lodgings serving food (and women) .

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mugiyu ten 麦湯店 stalls serving "hot barley water"

- source : www.kabuki-za.com/syoku

The shop sign or lantern sign was usually written in Hiragana.
They also sold other kinds of cheap refreshments, like
sakura yu 桜湯, kuzu yu くず湯 or arare yu あられ湯.
The vendors who brought some color to the dark nights of Edo were of course young beautiful girls, mugiyu no onna 麦湯の女.

. mugicha 麦茶　むぎちゃ Barley tea, usually drunk in summer .

In Edo it was called "Mugiyu 麦湯" and drunk warm.

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. bikuni　比丘尼　prostitutes clad as nuns .
funabikuni　船比丘尼 on boats
uta bikuni 歌比丘尼 singing nun
Bikunizaka 比丘尼坂 Bikuni slope in Shinjuku, Edo

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funamanjuu 船饅頭　"sweet buns on a boat"
The boat owned by the husband, the wife would sell herself.

source :　blog.goo.ne.jp/aboo-kai/e

船饅頭小さくゆれて春の月
funamanjuu chiisaku yurete haru no tsuki

the prostitute's boat
rocks ever so gently -
moon in spring

. o-chiyobune, ochiyobune　お千代舟 O-Chio Boat .
street performance imitating O-Chio, a general name for these "funamanju" women.

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nakoodo isha　仲人医者　doctors as matchmakers for marriage
keian　慶庵 / 桂庵 Keian matchmaker
Named after the famous matchmacer-doctor Yamato Keian 大和慶庵 (around 1653).

A Nakodo go-between was necessary for a regular marriage in Edo.
Some doctors with a bad medical reputation could fall back on this kind of "business". Once the marriage was fixed, he would get quite a bit of "thank-you money".

- quote -
A nakōdo (仲人 matchmaker) serves the role of a go-between for families in the miai process. A nakōdo is not necessary for all miai. The nakōdo can be a family member, friend, or matchmaking company.
Professional organizations have begun to provide go-between services for inquiring candidates. These professional nakōdo are known as puro (pro) nakōdo.
The nakōdo is expected to play a variety of roles throughout the miai process. The first is the bridging role, hashikake (橋架け), in which the nakōdo introduces potential candidates and families to each other. The second role is as a liaison for the families to avoid direct confrontation and differences in opinions between them by serving as an intermediary for working out the details of the marriage.

miai (見合い, "matchmaking", lit. "looking at one another")
or omiai (お見合い) is a Japanese traditional custom
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

. kekkon　結婚 konrei　婚礼 marriage in Edo .

Yokai - Monsters having a miai meeting -

Look at the full scroll of the Monsters having a Miai and Wedding
Bakemono Konrei 化物婚礼
- source : Toyo Daigaku -

. nakoodo, nakōdo 仲人 Nakodo legends with animals .
In the Yokai world, foxes, tanuki, serpents, Kappa and other animals are also Nakodo.

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. nanshoku、danshoku 男色 homosexuality in Edo .

. oiran 花魁 the great courtesans .
geisha　芸者 Geisha
kawahori　かわほり night hawker, harlot
keisei 傾城 courtesan
yotaka　よたか　cheap prostitutes "night hawks"
yuujoo 遊女 prostitute, harlot

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source :　kobayashi.s26.xrea.com

「細見、細見、細見屋！」
「これ1枚で大見世、小見世、何でも判る！」
「旦那、これ買わなきゃ判んないよ」

『さくらん』の吉原細見売り Sakuran no Yoshiwara Saiken uri

saiken uri　細見売り　selling guidebooks of Yoshiwara pleasure quarters

Yoshiwara Saiken　吉原細見 Details Map of Yoshiwara
with a list-up of all the facilities and names of the prostitutes available.

医者見立て江戸吉原細見 - 田野辺富蔵

source :　wikipedia

- quote -
saiken　細見 "guide book"
Also Yoshiwara saiken 吉原細見. Annually published guide to the new Yoshiwara quarters in Edo which was moved after the Meireki 明暦 fire of 1657.
This guide included detailed depictions of the red-light district, the names of brothels and the names, ranks and prices of the courtesans. The popularity of courtesans was ranked and recorded earlier, but in 1718 Tsutaya Juuzaburou 蔦屋重三郎 published the information as a folding pamphlet. Between 1728 and 1781 the pamphlets were published in a small horizontal book-format (yokobon 横本), and finally around the mid-to-late 19c. a vertical format (tatebon 竪本) came into vogue.
Between 1804-18, Yoshiwara saiken were used as the model for shibai saiken 芝居細見 which were compiled to give similar detailed information on theaters and actors.
- source : JAANUS -

吉原細見の図 Yoshiwara saiken no zu - Illustrations

- quote -
Sakuran さくらん (lit. "Derangement")
is a manga series created by Moyoco Anno.
The manga is about a girl, Kiyoha (though she goes through different names while growing up the hierarchy) who becomes a tayu or oiran courtesan.
North American publisher Vertical Inc released it in English in July 2012.
- source : wikipedia -

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shoobengumi,shôben-gumi　小便組　Shobengumi, "the urine gang", “the piss team” 　
oshishigumiおしし組 / temizugumi 手水組

A special group of mistresses, women coming from low samurai families or poor townspeople.
There were enough single men coming to Edo with the annual Daimyo processions (sankin kootai) who needed some kind of companion for a short time . . . They stayed with a man for some time and then, when the woman had enough, she would pee into the bedsheets (neshooben 寝小便) and then leave her "friend" for another one.

There are quite a few senryu about mistresses who had to pee at night 寝小便.

小便をして逃げるは妾と蝉
shooben o shite nigeru wa mekake to semi

cicadas and mistresses
are peeing
before running away

MORE senryu and information by my friend
- Robin D. Gill -
. - From Wee Tinkle To Woeful Torrent - .

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. shunga 春画 "spring pictures" erotic pictures .

Sexually explicit Japanese art challenges Western ideas

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. Tanzenburo　丹前風呂 "bathouse" cum brothel .
and the lady
Tanzenburo Katsuyama Tanzen Buro Katsuyama 丹前風呂勝山
in Kijichoo 雉子町 Kiji-Cho "pheasant district", Kanda Edo

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yookyuuba 楊弓場 Yokyuba, arrow shooting stall
and having some fun with the girls behind the counter . . .
Some customers tried to hit the back bottom of a girl . . .
There were also seats to use when ordering food.

source :　blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kuroken3147

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. Yoshiwara no yozakura 吉原の夜桜 Viewing Cherry Blossoms at Night in Yoshiwara .

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Edo Kobanashi Onna Hyakutai 江戸小咄女百態

"Art of Japan FUZOKU HANGA"
- source : www.ebay.com/itm

- further reference -

- reference images - edo 風俗 -

Edo Kinjirareta Fuuzoku 禁じられた江戸風俗 -the forbidden FUZOKU of Edo
- 塩見鮮一郎

under construction
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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -

かはほりに夜ほちもそろりそろり哉
kawahori ni yahochi mo sorori-sorori kana

like the bats
the nighthawk too
slow and sure

. Kobayashi Issa　小林一茶 .

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一家に遊女もねたり萩と月
hitotsuya ni yuujo mo netari hagi to tsuki

in the same house
prostitutes, too, slept:
bush clover and moon
Tr. Barnhill

Oku no Hosomichi - - Station 34 - Ichiburi 市振 - - -
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

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. 江戸風俗人形 Edo Fuzoku Dolls .
fûzoku ningyoo 風俗人形 dolls about manners and customs
costume dolls with historical Edo themes

. - Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

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12/25/2013

repairmen

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Repairmen in Edo

This is part of the main entry about
. Doing Business in Edo　- 江戸の商売 .

Repairing things to the very end was common in Edo.
Many repairmen also functioned as a kind of recycle shop, since they would dispose of the last parts of things they had repaired and recycled so far.

xxx naoshi 直し
saiseigyoo　再生業
shuuriya　修理屋, shuuri shokunin　修理職人

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. - Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

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12/24/2013

kenzanya

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kenzanya, kenzan ya, kenzan-ya 献残屋 present-recycling merchants,
dealers of returned gifts

They were only found in Edo, never in Kyoto and Osaka.

The daimyo feudal lords and other important officials of the government received obligatory (giri　義理) presents two times a year - kenjoomono　献上物.
The shogun also received a lot of local specialities from the daimyo.
Giving gifts was the lubrication of social life in the upper classes.

These dealers bought the presents and sold them bit by bit to the townspeople.
Most of the kenzanya stores were close to Edo castle and the Hatamoto estates.

They got a lot of
himono 沽魚 dried fish and other dried local food stuff
hoshigai 干貝、shiodori 塩鳥（しおどり）、konbu 昆布、kuzuko 葛粉（くずこ）、katakuriko 片栗粉、mizumochi 水餅、kin-namako 金海鼠（きんなまこ／きんこ）、hoshi awabi 干鮑（ほしあわび）、kurumi くるみ、karasumi 唐墨（からすみ）、konowata 海鼠腸（このわた）、uni 雲丹（うに）、noshi awabi 熨斗鮑（のしあわび）
- nicely packed in
hako 筥（はこ） boxes with presents
oribitsu 折櫃 boxes (often of hinoki wood) with the above food items.
taru 樽 barrels full of regional drinks

. Washoku - Japanese Food Culture .

It has also become the name of a book series, where the kenzanya deals with the evil of Edo.

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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -

献残屋諸国の義理を並べたて
kenzanya shokoku no giri o narabetate

dealers of gifts -
they display the obligations
of all the regions
Tr. Gabi Greve

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. - Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

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bafunkaki

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bafunkaki 馬糞掻き, bafun tori, maguso tori 馬糞とり, bafun hiroi 馬糞拾い, bafun-zarai 馬糞浚い
horse-shit collectors, collecting horse dung, horse droppings, horse manure

Hiroshige - Naito Shinjuku

Shinjuku was an imortant station in Edo, with merchants of local produce and the pleasure quarters.
There were a lot of carrying horses walking the road between Yotsuya and Shinjuku.

四谷新宿馬糞の中でアヤメ咲くとはしおらしい
Yostuya Shinjuku bafun no naka de ayame saku to wa shiorashii

source :　ameblo.jp/himitunohanazono

Yotsuya and Shinjuku - among the horse manure
iris is blossoming in modesty
(iris means the prostitutes of the area.)

Since horses were the main means of transportation, their "horse apples" had to be collected off the road and disposed of. It was be sold to the nearby farmers for manure.

source :　www.gakken.co.jp/kagakusouken

bafun hiroi and other forms of "recycling" in Edo.

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transporting goods with horses

source :　www.city.shinshiro.ed.jp

Ando Hiroshige

. umakata 馬方 owner of the pack horses .
Each shukuba postal station along the official travelling roads had its own horse stable and porter stations.

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source :　www.kakurean.com/fukuchi

. ema 絵馬 votive tablets .

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bafununi, bafun uni 馬糞海胆, ばふんうに "horse apple" sea urchin
„Pferdeapfel"-Seeigel 　－ Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus

Found from Hokkaido to Kyushu in rocky coastal areas. Used for sushi.
Best time (shun) is summer.

. WASHOKU - Japanese Food Culture .

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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -

. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

陽炎や馬糞も銭に成にけり
kageroo ya ma-guso mo zeni ni nari ni keri

heat shimmers--
even horse dung
becomes money
Tr. David Lanoue

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脇寄れに一貝すくう馬糞掻き
wakiyore ni hito kai skuu bafunkaki

beside the daimyo procession
he scoops the horse shit
with a seashell

People had to kneel with head down, when a daimyo lord passed on the street on his horse. And some found a bit lucky business on the road, to be picked up with an old seashell.

落ちたるを拾うは馬の糞ばかり
ochitaru o hirou wa uma no fun bakari

from all things
fallen down only the horse shit
is picked up

The shit from dogs, cats, cows and other animals was not collected, it seems.

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加茂祭馬糞を掃きて終りけり
kamo matsuri bafun o hakite owarikeri

Kamo festival
it ends with collecting
the horse shit
Tr. Gabi Greve

Kinoshita Raikoo 木下雪洸 Kinoshita Raiko

. WKD : Horse, Pony (uma 馬, ポニー) .

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12/17/2013

ISSA - mosquitoes

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. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

. WKD : ka 蚊 mosquito .
kabashira 蚊柱 "column", swarm of mosquitos
kigo for all summer

kabashira hyakku 蚊柱百句 100 verses about swarming mosquitoes

. Nishiyama Soin 西山宗因 .
（1605 - 1682）
He was the first to introduce mosquitoes, fleas and other low insects into haikai poetry, since "every living creature has a heart".

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風吹や穴だらけでも我蚊帳
kaze fuku ya ana darake demo waga kachoo

wind blows -
even with lots of holes this is
my mosquito net
Tr. Gabi Greve

時鳥聞所とて薮蚊哉
hototogisu kiki dokoro tote yabu ka kana

a good place
to hear the hototogisu
but all these mosquitoes . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve

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

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- Translations by Chris Drake

boofura, boofuri 孑孑　ぼうふら　－　ぼうふり mosquito larva

ぼうふりが天上するぞ門の月
boofuri ga tenjoo suru zo kado no tsuki

a larva flies, now
a mosquito, up to heaven --
moon above the gate
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku is a later (1822) variation of a hokku written in 1819, the year evoked in Year of My Life:

boufuri ga tenjou suru zo mika no tsuki

a larva flies, now
a mosquito, up to heaven --
thin crescent moon

In the original version a third-night crescent moon shares heaven with the newly matured mosquito. When Issa put this hokku into Year of My Life he changed three syllables to make it a little softer, but the difference isn't major. See my April 10, 2013 post.

Of course Issa knows larvae can't fly, and he is not suggesting that the larva here is flying up toward heaven. His concise verse implies that the larva has at last turned into a mature mosquito that is able to fly. The term "flying/rising up to heaven" seems to have three meanings here. First, the mature mosquito takes off for the first time into the evening sky. Second, the mosquito must be so glad to have left behind its larva and pupa stages that it's as happy as if it were in heaven. And third, Issa celebrates the mosquito's growth from a mere larva and then pupa and its discovery that it can fly. Momentarily he seems to feel none of the ordinary aversion humans have toward mosquitoes. Instead, he seems to be imagining what it must feel like to be a newly mature mosquito that believes it can fly anywhere, even to heaven. However, the moon rising above the gate suggests that heaven is a actually a bit higher than the mosquito thinks it is.

Chris Drake

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- haiga by Nakamura Sakuo -

蚊柱の足らぬ所や三ケ月
ka-bashira no taranu tokoro ya mike no tsuki

not enough mosquitoes
in part of the swarm --
thin crescent moon

This humorous, ironic hokku was written in the 6th month (July) in 1816, when Issa was living in his hometown. Tall mosquito columns are formed at twilight on summer evenings by male mosquitoes hoping to mate with females. Perhaps the height of each column allows females to view the maximum number male candidates. In any case, individual females fly over to a swarming column and choose a mate, and the two then leave the column and fly off together mating. In the hokku, a mosquito column now seems to be taking shape above Issa in the eaves of his house. It covers most of the sky visible to Issa, but in one part of the forming column there aren't many mosquitoes yet, allowing him to fairly clearly see the very slender crescent moon -- a third-night waxing moon curving toward the left. Or perhaps Issa is walking somewhere and looks up at the sky. The many mosquito columns above him seem to cover the sky, but they leave one narrow section of the sky uncovered, and through it the thin crescent moon manages to shine. The single-column reading seems more powerful, since the mosquitoes are closer to Issa and easier to see as they fly across the moon.

This also seems to be the situation in the hokku placed two hokku later in Issa's diary:

mura no ka no oo-yoriai ya noki no tsuki

a big meeting
in the mosquito village --
moon in the eaves

Issa imagines a town meeting of a whole village of mosquitoes who have chosen to use his eaves as their gathering place before they collectively fly out to a field nearby. The rising moon must look rather fragmented yet dynamic when viewed through a swarm.

This short clip gives a rough idea of just how tall a mosquito column can be:
- source : www.youtube.com

Chris Drake

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- Translations by David Lanoue

今見ればつぎだらけ也おれが蚊屋
ima mireba tsugi darake nari ore ga kaya

upon inspection
it's covered with patches...
my mosquito net

目出度さはことしの蚊にも喰れけり
medetasa wa kotoshi no ka ni mo kuware keri

a celebration--
this year's mosquitoes too
feast

馬迄も萌黄の蚊屋に寝たりけり
uma made mo moegi no kaya ni netari keri

even the horses
sleep in light green
mosquito nets!

うつくしき花の中より薮蚊哉
utsukushiki hana no naka yori yabu ka kana

from deep inside
the pretty flower...
thicket mosquito

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kayatsurigusa 蚊帳吊草 "plant to hang in the mosquito net"
Cyperus microiria. Zypergras - kigo for late summer
Grows wild on abandoned fields. It has a strong fragrance against mosquitoes.

野に伏せば蚊屋つり草も頼むべし
no ni fuseba kayatsurigusa mo tanomu beshi

when lying down in the wilderness
we should also get some
mosquito net grass
Tr. Gabi Greve

Illustration by :　www.kyoko-kirie.jp

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. WKD : ka 蚊 mosquito .

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. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 - Introduction .

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12/14/2013

ISSA - Confucius

. Confucius 孔夫子, Kung Tzu, Kung Fu Tzu, .

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Confucius said,
I dislike foxtails because they can be mistaken for rice plants.

悪まれし草は穂に出し青田哉
nikumareshi kusa wa ho ni ideshi aota kana

green rice field
crowded with heads
of hated weeds
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku was written on lunar 1/8 (Feb. 18) of 1804, when Issa was in the city of Edo. The hokku is about a rice paddy in late July, when the rice plants are growing taller and just beginning to put out heads or ears with rice grains in them. One field, however, turns out not to be growing much rice, although its green stalks look a bit like stalks of young rice plants. If you look closely you can see that many of the new heads that are beginning to take form on the grass contain no signs of rice grains at all. Instead, tufts with seeds for reproduction are appearing where rice heads should be. The name of the grass in the headnote indicates that they are a wild grass in the rice family known as Setaria viridis, or foxtail (莠), which is distantly related to foxtail millet (awa). In Japanese it is called "puppy tail grass" (enokoro-gusa) because of its tufts.

The headnote also indicates that this hokku, unlike an earlier hokku by Issa from 1794 in which millet (hie )invades a rice field, has a strong, explicit ethical dimension to it, since it quotes from a passage in Mencius, or Mengzi, a collection of dialogs and sayings attributed to the ancient Confucian thinker Mencius (Mengzi ). In the passage alluded to by Issa (see the translations below), Mencius explains why Confucius (Kongzi) said that many of the people generally regarded as being most virtuous are actually "thieves of virtue" who look virtuous but are actually simply skillful at adapting and adjusting to the latest fashions and conventions and flattering those in power.

At one point Confucius compares these fake ethical leaders to wild grass that looks like a grain-bearing crop but actually bears no grain, and he declares he dislikes wild-grass weeds. It's this comparison that Issa quotes in the headnote. although in the hokku Issa interprets grain specifically as rice, and the word for weeds or wild grass in Confucius' comparison is usually referred to in Japanese specifically as foxtails. Issa thus turns the rice field in the hokku into an ethical statement, and the "hated" weeds are hated by Confucius for reasons that also apply in Japan. Since the imitation moralists are the great majority, the green field in the hokku is presumably mostly wild grass, and since Issa is in Edo at the time, he is presumably indirectly criticizing the false sense of virtue held by so many self-righteous people in the city, especially by people in the warrior class who can quote Confucian classics in detail while contradicting those teachings with their actions. It seems possible Issa is also suggesting here that the True Pure Land Buddhist beliefs he holds are based on a clear system of ethics and amount to much more than an amoral belief that whatever is is right.

- - - From The Confucius
the A. Charles Muller translation at
source :　www.acmuller.net/con-dao

Chang asked, “
Confucius said: ‘When someone passes by my gate and does not enter, the only time I don't regret it is when it is a “conventional townsman.” These conventional townsmen are thieves of virtue.’ What sort of people were these, that he called ‘conventional townsmen’?”

Mencius said,
“[They criticize the ardent], saying ‘How can they be so grandiose such that their words do not reflect their actions and actions do not reflect their words, and how can they justify themselves with ‘the ancients did this, and the ancients did that.’’”

“[And they criticize the prudent], saying, ‘How can they be so aloof and cold? We are all born in this world, so we should be part of it. Being good here and now is sufficient.’ They obsequiously flatter their contemporaries. These are the so-called ‘conventional townsmen.’”

Wan Chang said, “
The whole town calls them ‘acceptable men’—there is no place where they can go where they will not be regarded as ‘acceptable men.’ Why did Confucius call them ‘thieves of virtue’?”

Mencius answered:
“If you want to blame them for something, there is nothing in particular that you can blame them for. If you want to correct them, there is nothing in particular that you can correct them for. They follow the current customs and consent to the vices of the age. They seem to abide in loyalty and honesty, and their actions seem pure. Everyone follows them and because people follow them, people become incapable of entering the Way of Yao and Shun. Thus, they are called ‘thieves of virtue.’”

“Confucius said,
‘I don't like things that are not what they appear to be. I don't like tares (grain weeds) because they can be confused with real grain. I don't like eloquence, because it can be confused with Justice. I don't like sharpness of tongue, because it might be confused with honesty. I don't like the music of Chang, because it might be confused with good music. I don't like purple, because it might be confused with vermilion and I don't like conventional townsmen, because they might be confused with the virtuous.’”

“The Noble Man returns to the constant and nothing more. Once the constant is properly apprehended, the people will be awakened. Once they are awakened, there will be no more of their evil.”

- The classic James Legge translation of the key passage:

Confucius said,
"I hate a semblance which is not the reality. I hate the darnel, lest it be confounded with the corn. I hate glib-tonguedness, lest it be confounded with righteousness. I hate sharpness of tongue, lest it be confounded with sincerity. I hate the music of Chang, lest it be confounded with the true music. I hate the reddish blue, lest it be confounded with vermilion. I hate your good careful men of the villages, lest they be confounded with the truly virtuous."
The superior man seeks simply to bring back the unchanging standard, and, that being correct, the masses are roused to virtue. When they are so aroused, forthwith perversities and glossed wickedness disappear.'

Chris Drake

. WKD : aota, aoda 青田 green rice fields .

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12/13/2013

shakan - plasterer

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. Edo shokunin 江戸職人 craftsmen, artisan, Handwerker .
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shakan, sakan 左官 plasterer, stucco master
kabenuri no shokunin 壁塗りの職人 painting walls

source and more : edoichiba.jp...

kote-e 鏝絵 "painting with plaster", relief picture often as decorations on the storehouse of rich merchants.

The main work of the shakan san during the construction of a traditional home is the making of the wall

tsuchikabe 土壁 "earth wall", mud wall
local versions are

kyookabe 京壁　Kyoto Wall
Otsukabe 大津壁　wall from Otsu city
- with three variations : ・泥大津・並大津・大津磨き
keisodokabe 珪藻土壁 diatomaceous earth wall
with mud from a lake or the sea with remains of plankton and seaweed.
This wall is moisture absorbend and noise absorbent.
nurikabe 塗壁, shakan kabe 左官壁, nihon kabe 日本壁　"Japan Wall"

shikkui 漆喰 Shikui, lime plaster used for walls

- quote
Also called komaikabe 小舞壁.
A wattle and daub wall made of course mud plaster, ara-nuri 荒塗, usually mixed with straw. The daub is applied first to a framework of vertical and horizontal bamboo lath laced with rope, *komai 小舞. Then, a middle or second coat of a finer mixture of daub *nakanuri 中塗り, is applied. Finally, a top coat *uwanuri 上塗り, of either smooth white plaster or one that has a sandy finish is applied.
The surface color will differ depending on the material used. Sabikabe 錆壁 is earth colored, benikabe 紅壁 is a soft red color and jurakukabe 聚楽壁 is gray.

nakanuri　中塗り "middle layer"

Also called chuugomi 中込; nakazuke or chuuzuke 中付.
A middle layer of plaster applied between the base and finish coats of a plastered wall. If there are more than three layers of plaster it is the one directly beneath the finish coat. Its top surface is smoothed so that the final top coat can be laid without flaws. The term is also applied to a surface that receives several coats of plaster. .
- source : JAANUS

source :　plumcherryume.jugem.jp
Old tsuchikabe of a traditional home - worn by time.

The final outside cover of a wall is a white, almost waterproof plaster called

shikkui　漆喰
Lime plaster used to coat walls, ceilings and earth floors *doma 土間. The word 'shikkui' is said to be derived from the Tang Chinese word for lime. Shikkui is made by combining lime with glutinous matter like funori 布海苔 and red algae tsunomata 角叉, and fibres such as hemp thread; pounding, and mixing in water. Sand and clay are also sometimes added. In wall construction, the plaster is applied to a mesh attached to and stretched between posts or pillars. Traditionally the coarsest type was the first layer to cover the mesh. Each layer was more and more refined, until the final coat had a very smooth surface.
Many walls inside stone tomb chambers *kofun 古墳 are coated with shikkui; Takamatsuzuka 高松塚 (7-8c) in Nara is particularly famous example.
- source : www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus

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- quote
Kote-e 鏝絵 kote art is a relief picture.
Basically, it is drawn on white lime plaster with a flatiron which is called "Kote" in Japanese. Kote-e art was drawn in hope of ridding ones bad luck, improving welfare of ones household and the wish to be gifted with children. Artists of them are unknown, however, their pieces of work that remained today attract many people.

Kote-e art of Hiji was popularized by Aoyagi Koichi and his son Nagaichi during the Edo period. When Koichi was studying art in Edo, Kote-e art was popular. He brought back techniques of Kote-e art to Hiji and after the restoration of imperial power in 1868, he worked to promote Kote-e art.

Koichi is one of the Kote-e artists. Kote-e is like a relief engraving picture which is drawn on lime plaster using trowel. Kote-e art were drawn from the Edo era to Meiji period. Hiji is a one of areas which has lots of Kote-e art in Oita prefecture. Koichi was born on 3rd, August 1839 as a 5th son of Waki Giichi, who was an in-house plasterer of the Hiji domain. Koichi learned the work of plastering from his father, then went to Edo (present Tokyo) to refine his skill. When Koichi stayed in Edo, he met Irie Nagahachi (1815-1889) who was the founder of Kote-e art, and Koichi learned about Kote-e from Nagahachi. After Koichi came back to Hiji, he became an in-house plasterer at the young age of 21.
- source : www.town.hiji.oita.jp

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- More kote-e from Kitsuki - Jake Ojisan -

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From the doors of a sake storehouse in Katsuyama

They were made of stucco by the local wall plasterers (shakan, sakan　左官) with very simple tools. The plasterers used to make the earth walls (tsuchikabe　土壁) of traditional Japanese houses.

On the lower doors, there are two lions:

Read my article about the town of Katsuyama 勝山, Okayama .

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- further reference - kote-e -

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Izu no Choohachi　伊豆の長八　Izu no Chohachi - Irie Choohachi 入江長八 Irie Chohachi
with his own museum in Matsuzaki　松崎

- quote
Irie Chohachi is also a legendary name as plasterer, sculptor and painter.

But, he was a real human being, lived from the end of the Edo period till the 20s of the Meiji period (1868-1912).
Chohachi was born in Matsuzaki on the west coast of Izu Peninsula in 1815 . . .
. . . he became more active since the late 1870s. He worked not only as plasterer at constructions, but as a sort of artist and started to organize exhibitions of his works in 1876. He was given a prize at the First Domestic Industrial Exhibition in 1877. In 1880 he was again back to Matsuzaki and worked for the Iwashina Shool, including the wall of cranes in the upstairs. After decades of active creation, he died in 1889.
- source : www.ocada.jp/izu/chohachi

The timber used for a kura was covered with clay and then with a plaster finish.
. kura 　蔵 storehouses .

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. Billboard architecture 看板建築 kanban kenchiku .

Most often mortar モルタル was used, often grafted in patterns of Greek temples with impressive classical pillars and gables. Others had the look of Art Nouveau decorations. This draws heavily on the art of the shakan 左官, the wall plasterers of Edo.

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. Edo shokunin 江戸職人 craftsmen, artisan, Handwerker .

Kanda Shirakabechoo　神田白壁町　Shirakabe-Cho district in Edo
lit. "white wall district".
Most plasterers lived in these two districts, 上 and 下.　

The official head 棟梁 of the district was 安間源太夫 Yasuma Gendayu, who supervised and payed the plasterers working for the Bakufu government of Edo.

- - - - - famous residents of the district

. Hiraga Gennai 平賀源内 .

Painter Tamura Ransui 田村藍水　(1715 ?18 - 1776)

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O-Edo Shakan Matsuri 大江戸左官祭り Festival of Edo Shakan - in 2012

source : ooedosakan.iseeall.co.jp

kamado nuri, kamadonuri 　竈塗り /　竃塗り　repairing the earthen hearth

This was the job of a professional shakan, sakan 左官 plasterer, stucco master.

The kamado , hittsui (also called hettsui へっつい) was used every day to prepare the meals.
Usually it had two openings to fire up separately.
To put new plaster earth around the hearth as a fire protection was usually done as one of the preparations for the New Year.

竈も化粧をしたる年の暮
hittsui mo keshoo o shitaru toshi no kure

the cooking stove too
likes to have some make-up
at the end of the year
anonymous senryu

. daidokoro 台所 the Japanese kitchen .

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. shokunin 職人 craftsman, craftsmen, artisan, Handwerker .

. nori 糊 starch, glue / himenori 姫糊 "princess nori glue". .

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

炉開きや左官老い行く鬢の霜　
. robiraki ya sakan oi yuku bin no shimo .

. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

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- - - - - Masaoka Shiki

とろとろと左官眠るや燕
torotoro to shakan nemuru ya tsubakurame

soundly, soundly
the plasterer sleeps -
swallows

. WKD : tsubame 燕 lark .

雨乞をよそ事にいふ左官かな
amagoi o yoso goto ni iu shakan kana

the plasterer says
it is not for him,
this rain ritual . . .

If he has promised to finish work and can not continue, he might have a rain ritual to stop the rain. But no, not this time . . .

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

. WKD : amagoi　雨乞い rain rituals .

. WKD - Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規 .

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ふつふつと布海苔を煮るや左官妻
butsubutsu to funori o niru ya shakanzuma

she boils the funori
bubbeling and boiling -
the wife of the plasterer

Saitoo Shigeko 佐藤重子 Saito Shigeko

. WKD : funori 海蘿 / 布海苔 Funori, red algae, Gloiopeltis frucata .

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町内の左官屋の菊三色(みいろ)ほど
choonai no shakanya no kiku mi-iro hodo

the chrysanthemums
of the plasterer's house in town
with just three colors

Takazawa Ryoichi 高澤良一

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autumn flowers ...
the white walls of
this old postal town

. Gabi Greve, visiting namakokabe walls 海鼠壁 .
Katsuyama, Okayama

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

................................................................................. Aichi 愛知県

長篠の医王寺 Temple Io-Ji at Nagashino
A plasterer was walking along a mountain pass in the evening, when suddenly he felt something heavy hanging to his back.
He was quite afraid and walked on in haste. When he saw the lights of the Io-Ji temple 医王寺, the strange load on his back became light and vanished.

................................................................................. Fukushima 福島県

. ningyoo 人形 a strange doll .
kobiki 木挽職人 working with a special saw / shakan, sakan 左官職人 plasterer / seizai shokunin 製材職人 lumberjack working at a construction site

................................................................................. Miyagi 宮城県
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本吉町 Motoyoshi town // 壁塗りの職人

. kitsune 狐 deceived by a fox .

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- reference : Nichibun Yokai Database -

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. Japanese Architecture - cultural keywords used in haiku .

. shokunin 職人 craftsman, craftsmen, artisan, Handwerker .
- Introduction -

. Kaido 街道 Highways - ABC Index .

. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo　江戸の名所 .

. Edo bakufu 江戸幕府 The Edo Government .

. Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .

. Japanese Architecture - The Japanese Home .

. Interior Design - The Japanese Home .

. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .

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- #shakan #plasterer #stuccomaster #sakan #kabenuri #tsuchikabe #claywall -
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