Chapter II: Preface

In 1590 A.D. the Ho[u]jo[u] were overthrown at Odawara by the Taiko[u] Hidéyoshi, and the provinces once under their sway were intrusted to his second in command, Tokugawa Iyeyasu. This latter, on removing to the castle of Chiyoda near Edo, at first paid main attention to strengthening his position in the military sense. From his fief in To[u]to[u]mi and Suruga he had brought with him a band of noted captains, devoted to his service through years of hardest warfare. He placed them around his castle ward, from East to South in a great sweeping arc of detached fortresses, extending from Shimo[u]sa province to that of Sagami. Koga was the chief stronghold on the North, against what was left of the Uésugi power. The most devoted of his captains, Honda Tadakatsu, was established at Kawagoé. Odawara, under an O[u]kubo, as always, blocked the way from the Hakoné and Ashigara passes. In the hands of Iyeyasu and his captains, the formidable garrison here established was not likely to offer opportunity of a second "Odawara conference," during which dalliance with compromise and surrender would bring sudden attack and disaster. At this period there is no sign that in his personal service Prince Iyeyasu made changes from the system common to the great military Houses of the time. The castle ward and attendance always were divided up among the immediate vassals of the lord. The basis was strictly military, not domestic. Even the beautiful _kami-shimo_ (X), or butterfly hempen cloth garb of ceremonial attendance was an obvious reminder of the armour worn in the field.

Great statesman and warrior that he was, the Taiko[u] Hidéyoshi must have realised the difficulties confronting his House. The formidable power he had created in the North was no small part of them. On several occasions he sought a quarrel with Iyeyasu; sought to humiliate him in small ways, to lower his prestige and provoke an outbreak. Such was the trifling incident of the lavish donation required of Iyeyasu to the Hachiman shrine at Kamakura. But Hidéyoshi, as with Elizabeth of England, looked rather to the balance of cost against result, always with possibility of failure in view. When he died in 1598, and left Tokugawa Iyeyasu practically regent of the land, his expectation can be judged to be, either that the loyal members of the council of regency would at least balance the Tokugawa power for their own sakes, or that the majority of his son Hidéyori, then a mere infant, would witness no question of supremacy. In the one event the glory and prestige of his House would stand. In the second case the safety of his posterity would be assured. With his experience, and belief in the over-riding power of Nobunaga and himself, the first was as likely to happen as the second; and the influence of the Toyotomi House was the means necessary to insure to Iyeyasu the position already secured, against the jealousy of the other lords. Time showed that he granted a perspicuity and energy to the members of his council which Iyeyasu alone possessed.

With Sekigahara (1600) the situation was definitely changed. In 1603 Iyeyasu was made Sho[u]gun, and the first steps were to organize the Eastern capital at Edo on an Imperial scale. The modest proportions of the Chiyoda castle of Ho[u]jo[u] times--the present inner keep--had already grown to the outer moat. Around these precincts were thrown the vassals of the Sho[u]gun. The distribution at first was without much method, beyond the establishment of greater lords in close proximity to the person of the Sho[u]gun. This feature was accentuated in the time of the third Sho[u]gun Iyemitsu. Immediately allied Houses and vassals occupied the castle ward between the inner and outer moats, from the Hitotsubashi gate on the North, sweeping East and South to the Hanzo[u] gate on the West. The Nishimaru, or western inclosure of the castle, faced this Hanzo[u] Gomon. From this gate to a line drawn diagonally north eastward from the Kanda-bashi Gomon to the Sujikae Gomon, the section of the circle was devoted to the _yashiki_ (mansions) of the _hatamoto_ or minor lords in immediate vassalage of the Sho[u]gun's service. Kanda, Bancho[u], Ko[u]jimachi (within the outer moat), the larger parts of Asakusa, Shitaya, Hongo[u], Koishikawa, Ushigomé (Ichigaya), Yotsuya, Akasaka, Azabu, and Shiba, were occupied by _yashiki_ of _hatamoto_ and _daimyo[u]_--with an ample proportion of temple land. It would seem that there was little left for commercial Edo. Such was the case. The scattered towns of Kanda, Tayasu, Ko[u]jicho[u], several score of villages on the city outskirts, are found in this quarter. The townsmen's houses were crowded into the made ground between the outer moat of the castle and the _yashiki_ which lined the Sumida River between Shiba and the Edogawa. In 1624 the reclaimed ground extended almost to the present line of the river. The deepening of the beds of the Kanda and Edo Rivers had drained the marshes. The use of the waters of the Kandagawa for the castle moat had made dry land of the large marsh just to the south of the present Ueno district. Thus Hongo[u], in its more particular sense, became a building site.

With elaboration of the outer defences went elaboration of the immediate service on the Sho[u]gun. There was no sudden change. The military forms of the camp stiffened into the etiquette of the palace. The _Sho[u]inban_ or service of the audience chamber, the _Ko[u]sho[u]gumi_ or immediate attendants, these were the most closely attached to the Sho[u]gun's person. To be added to these are the O[u]bangumi or palace guard, the _Kojuningumi_ and the Kachigumi which preceded and surrounded the prince on his outside appearances. These "sections" formed the Go Banshu[u], the _honoured_ bodyguard. In the time of Iyemitsu a sixth _kumi_ or section was formed, to organize the service of the women attendants of the palace, of the _oku_ or private apartments in distinction from the _omoté_ or public (men's) apartments, to which the Go Banshu[u] were attached. Given the name of _Shinban_ (New) this _kumi_ was annexed to the Banshu[u]. This aroused instant protest. The then lords of the Go Ban inherited their position through the merits of men who had fought on the bloody fields of war. Now "luck, not service," was to be the condition of deserving. The protest was made in form, and regarded. Iyemitsu gave order that the Shinbangumi retain its name, but without connection with the Banshu[u].

At this point the confusion of terms is to be explained. All through the rule of the first three Sho[u]gun a gradual sifting had been taking place. Into Edo were crowding the _daimyo[u]_ who sought proximity to the great man of the land. Then came the order of compulsory residence, issued by Iyemitsu himself; seconded by the mighty lords of Sendai and Satsuma, who laid hands on sword hilts, and made formal statement that he who balked nourished a treacherous heart. The support of one of them was at least unexpected. The acquiescence of both cut off all opposition. Most of the ground now within the outer moat was devoted to the greater lords in immediate service on the Tokugawa House. The _hatamoto_ were removed to the outer sites in Koishikawa, Ushigomé, Yotsuya; to the Bancho[u], the only closer ward they retained; or across the river to Honjo[u] and Fukagawa. Those in immediate service were placed nearest to the palace. From the beginning the favoured residence site had been just outside the Hanzo[u] and Tayasu Gomon, across the inner moat from the palace. Hence the district got the name of Bancho[u]. _Go Ban_ ([go ban]) in popular usage was confused with ([go ban])--"five" instead of "honoured." In course of time the constant removals to this district made it so crowded, its ways so intricate, that one who lived in the Bancho[u] (Ban ward) was not expected to know the locality; a wide departure from the original checker board design on which it had been laid out, and hence the characters [bancho[u]] (Bancho[u]) used at one time. This, however, was when Edo had expanded from its original 808 _cho[u]_ (20200 acres) to 2350 _cho[u]_ (58750 acres). The original Bancho[u] included all the ground of Iidamachi, and extended to the Ko[u]jimachi road. Ko[u]jimachi (the _mura_ or village) was then in the Bancho[u], and known as _samurai ko[u]jimachi_ [ko[u]jimachi] (by-way), not the present [ko[u]ji] (yeast). In the time of the third Sho[u]gun the Bancho[u] was as yet a lonely place--to the west of the city and on its outskirts. The filling in process, under the Government pressure for ground, was just under way. Daimyo[u]-ko[u]ji, between the inner and outer moats, through the heart of which runs the railway spur from Shimbashi to To[u]kyo[u] station, was being created by elimination of the minor lords. At the close of Kwanei (1624 A.D.) all the Daimyo[u]-koji was very solid ground; an achievement of no little note when the distance from the Sumidagawa is considered. At Iyeyasu's advent to Edo the shore line ran close to the inner moat of the castle. The monastery of Zo[u]jo[u]ji then situated close to the site of the present Watagaru gate, was converted by him into the great establishment at Shiba; and placed as close to the waters of the bay as the present Seikenji of Okitsu in Suruga--its fore-bear in the material and ecclesiastical sense.

The same rapid development of the town took place on the eastern side of the river. Honjo[u] and Fukagawa became covered by the _yashiki_ sites, interspersed with the numerous and extensive temple grounds. Iyeyasu was as liberal to the material comforts of his ghostly advisers, as he was strict in their supervision. One fifth of Edo was ecclesiastical. One eighth of it, perhaps, was given over to the needed handicrafts and tradesmen of the Kyo[u]bashi and Nihonbashi wards along the river, with a moiety of central Honjo[u]--and to the fencing rooms. The balance of the city site was covered by the _yashiki_. Thus matters remained until the Meiji period swept away feudalism, and substituted for the military town the modern capital of a living nation. So much for the Edo with which we have to deal, apart from its strange legends and superstitions, its malevolent and haunting influences, working ill to the invaders, daring to encroach upon the palace itself and attack the beloved of the Sho[u]gun and his heir, only to be quelled by the divine majesty of his look--as expounded in such tangle of verities as the Honjo[u]-Nana-fushigi (seven marvels of Honjo[u]), the Azabu Nana-fushigi, the Fukagawa Nana-fushigi, the Bancho[u] Nana-fushigi, the Okumura Kiroku, the temple scrolls and traditions, and many kindred volumes.

In reference to the Bancho[u]: the stories outlined in the present volume date from the period of the puppet shows and strolling reciters, men who cast these tales into their present lines, thus reducing popular tradition to the form in which it could be used by the _ko[u]danshi_ or lecturers on history, or by those diving into the old tales and scandals connected with the _yashiki_ of Edo town. In the present volume main reliance for the detail has been placed on the following _ko[u]dan_:--

"The Bancho[u] Nana-fushigi" of Matsubayashi Hakuen.

"The Bancho[u] Sarayashiki" of Momogawa Jo[u]en.

"The Bancho[u] Sarayashiki" of Byo[u]haku Hakuchi, in the
"Kwaidan-shu[u]" published by the Hakubunkwan.

"The Bancho[u] Sarayashiki" of Ho[u]gyu[u]sha To[u]ko.

"Yui Sho[u]setsu" of Ko[u]ganei Koshu[u].

These references could be extended. The story of the Sarayashiki figures in most of the collections of wonder tales. The Gidayu of the "Banshu[u] Sarayashiki" by Tamenaga Taro[u]bei and Asada Itcho[u] finds no application. It deals with Himeji in Harima. As for the stories from an esoteric point of view, as illustrations of the period they have a value--to be continued in those more historical, and which deal with the lives and deeds of men of greater note and influence in this early Tokugawa court. The present volume instances the second class of wonder tales referred to in the preface to the Yotsuya Kwaidan.

O[u]marudani, 14th November, 1916.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface v

Map of Edo _Facing_ xii

PART I.

TALES OF THE EDO BANCHO[U]:
WHO AOYAMA SHU[U]ZEN WAS 1

Chapter I. The Chu[u]gen Rokuzo 3

II. The Bakémono Yashiki 17

III. Nakakawachi Shu[u]zen 26

IV. The O'kagé Sama 38

V. The Report to the Tono Sama 48

VI. The Shrine of the O'Inari Sama 55

VII. The Luck of Okumura Shu[u]zen 64

VIII. Aoyama Shu[u]zen 76

IX. Shu[u]zen meets Shu[u]zen 84

X. The Meeting of the Gaman Kwai 89

PART II.

BANCHO[U] SARAYASHIKI:
WHAT AOYAMA SHU[U]ZEN BECAME 97