A unique film with many “firsts” that made historians gasp in delight! 5 points to enjoy watching “Belabo” 10 times more!

The same period as “O-oku” and “Onihei Hankacho”.

The 64th NHK historical drama “Belabo – Tsutaju Eika No Yume Banashi” is currently being broadcast.

The main character is Tsutaya Shigesaburo, a.k.a. “Tsutaju,” also known as the “Media King” of the Edo period. He opened the bookstore “Kosho-do” in Yoshiwara, a brothel officially recognized by the shogunate, and produced entertainment books such as picture books and Kyoka books, which became a hit in the Edo period.

It was Tsutae who made famous ukiyoe artists such as Utamaro Kitagawa, now a global icon, and the enigmatic genius painter Sharaku Toshusai. However, while leading Edo’s pop culture with his publishing culture, his businesses were suppressed one after another due to the “Kansei Reforms” of the shogunate.

Although Tsutajige’s tumultuous and eventful life is currently being broadcast on TV, there are many viewers who “don’t like” Tsutajige because he is “plain” or “unfamiliar. It is a waste that there are viewers who “don’t like it” because they “don’t know him well.

It is true that there are no battles, no revenge battles, and no fights between swordsmen, but the story is very interesting. So, we asked historical researcher Tsuyoshi Idekubo, who has supervised a wide range of historical productions, including TV programs, movies, and manga, to explain five points for enjoying “Belabo” ten times more.

1. The period depicted for the first time in the history of Taiga Drama

–What are your impressions of “Belabo” after having watched up to the 12th episode (at the time of the interview)?

It is a unique and ambitious work that is very interesting. Before I saw it, I thought it was a very difficult “stage” and “period. The main character, Tsutaya Shigezaburo (Tsutajige), lives in Edo, so he rarely moves from one place to another. Since the story is supposed to be set in Edo for a long time, I was concerned that the scenery would be like a historical drama like a “detective’s memoir” or a “humanistic” drama, and that it would not be a “moving picture” typical of an epic drama.

One of the difficulties with the period is the lack of dynamism due to the Taiheiyo period, when there were no battles. However, what we lacked in dynamic elements compared to previous works, we made up for by making interesting attempts as a work of ambition.

–Please explain these “interesting attempts” one by one. First of all, it is said that this is the first time in the history of Taiga dramas that the era of Ieharu Tokugawa, the 10th Shogun, has been depicted in a drama before this one.

That is true. I guess the reason why it has not been depicted in a Taiga Drama until now is because it would be a somber story in the era of Taiheiyo. Most of the Taiga dramas up to now have focused on the Sengoku period and the end of the Edo period, while others have focused on the Genpei period in the Middle Ages, the Chushingura period in the early Edo period, and other periods in which swordsmen were active, so the Tokugawa Ieharu period is a complete “blank” period.

However, this is a story limited to the Taiga Drama. If you look at historical dramas in general, the Tokugawa Ieharu era is often depicted. This is especially true of the “O-oku” dramas that have become popular in recent years. In fact, Kazuya Kamenashi (39) played the role of Ieharu Tokugawa in last year’s “O-oku” (Fuji TV). This period is also a common setting for historical dramas. The same is true of “Onihei Hankacho,” starring Hasegawa Heizo, who also appears in this year’s “Besso.

The male population of Edo was too large.

2, The main character is a clerk at a “brothel

–The main character Tsutajige plays an active role in Yoshiwara, a colorful district. It is unusual for the main character to be a commoner in Edo, but it is truly unique for him to be a resident of Yoshiwara.

Yoshiwara bought women from all over Japan (mainly from eastern Japan). Originally, human trafficking was prohibited even in the Edo period, but that is only on the surface. Formally, prostitutes would go up to the brothels on indentured servitude (a limited annual labor contract).

In reality, however, prostitutes are “sold” to Yoshiwara from all over the country to pay off their parents’ debts or to serve as mouthpieces for poor families through female pedants. Once in Yoshiwara, they are not free to leave. If they tried to leave, they would be severely punished.

Of course, they could be bewitched by rich customers, and once their years were up, they could leave Yoshiwara and return to their hometowns or marry the man of their choice. Nevertheless, many prostitutes were physically broken by the end of the year, and many lost their lives.

–When I heard this story, I thought of an illegal place, but I was surprised to hear that it was officially sanctioned by the shogunate.

I guess you could call it a necessary evil. Edo is an artificially and politically created city, not a multifaceted political, economic, and religious city like Osaka (Editor’s note: Edo period notation). As a result, the male-female ratio in Edo is unbalanced. One theory says that in the early days, about 70% of the population was male. Some population surveys conducted in the mid-Edo period, a little before Tsutajige, even state that there were twice as many men as women (by the end of the Edo period, the male-female ratio was closer to 50-50).

Another factor was men’s pocketbooks. It is difficult to have a family if one does not earn enough money, but at that time, the cost of labor was unjustifiably low, unlike today. In addition, the first-born son inheritance system made it difficult for the second son and younger to marry. As a result, there were many men in the city who were single throughout their lives. Perhaps they needed Yoshiwara to satisfy their desires.”

-Tsutajige was born and raised in such a Yoshiwara community. What is the Hikitechaya where he works?

Tsutajige was not originally born in Hikitechaya. After his parents divorced, he was taken in by Mr. Kitagawa, who ran a merchant family called “Tsutaya” in Yoshiwara. There were several stores in Yoshiwara with “Tsutaya” as their trade name, so it is possible that he was one of them. Tsutajige must have grown up in Yoshiwara while serving as an apprentice.

Hikitechaya was a business in Yoshiwara that provided information to the brothels. At that time, customers who wanted to go to the brothels were not free to choose their favorite. There were various customs in Yoshiwara, and especially for large establishments, you could not even enter the brothel without an introduction.

(It is not true that Surugaya was a supporter of Tsutajige.) The brothels ranged from the most prestigious to the least prestigious, and while some of the lower-ranked establishments accepted walk-in customers, the more prestigious and well-known ones required an introduction.

Hikitechaya was the one who introduced customers to the stores. Customers who passed through the main gate of Yoshiwara would enter a Hikitechaya and over a drink would discuss their budget, the kind of prostitute they wanted, and how they wanted to play. A waiter at a Hikitechaya, such as Tsutajige, matches the customer with a store or prostitute that matches his or her wishes. In the second episode, the Hikitechaya also takes care of Heizo Hasegawa’s sword, which is also the role of the Hikitechaya.

–What is “bohachi,” which is used many times in the film?

What is “bohachi” used many times in the play? In a broader sense, it refers to the business itself, and in a narrower sense, to the masters of the brothels. Some people often misunderstand the term “bohachi” to refer only to men, but in this film, the proprietress of “Daikokuya” played by Yumi Adachi is also a bohachi.

The nuance is that she is a “punisher” who has forgotten the eight virtues (benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, loyalty, trustworthiness, filial piety, and respect) that are important for a human being. On the one hand, the brothel business is scorned as unethical, but on the other hand, samurai and even daimyo (feudal lords) frequent the Yoshiwara, which seems contradictory.

A secondhand clothing store specializing in “clothes worn by dead bodies

4. People in untouchable professions also appear.

–Please tell us about the realistic depiction of society and culture.

I feel that the work is ambitious in that it features people who are outside of the normal business world of the Edo period. One such example is the depiction of the yukanbakai. One of them is the description of a “yukanbakai,” a second-hand clothing store specializing in clothes worn by the dead. The Yuganbakai is a secondhand clothing store that specializes in clothes worn by corpses.

A yukanbakai, to put it simply, was a place where corpses were washed. In those days, when a person died, unless he or she was a special person, the corpse was first washed in hot water at a yuganjo before being buried in the ground.

At that time, yukanba buyers would come to the yukanba and buy the clothes that the corpse was wearing. The clothes they bought were then purchased by secondhand clothing stores, which recycled them and sold them as “yukanba-mono” (secondhand clothing).

–Speaking of naked corpses, the scene in the first episode where Asagao and the other prostitutes were lying naked on the ground was shocking.

I think it was the scene just before the bodies were washed and buried at a bathhouse in Yoshiwara. Karamaru asked, ‘Are they going to strip you naked? Tsutajige spits out, ‘We’re going to strip him naked and sell him. Tsutajige spits out, “We strip them and sell them. The prostitutes’ stripped clothes are probably already in the hands of the yubanjo buyers. This is a rare scene that indirectly expresses the existence of the yubanjo-buyer.

Incidentally, another unusual occupation also appears in this scene. Did you see a man digging a grave next to the corpse?　They are called “onbo. The kanji for “onbo” is variously assigned to “gobo,” “kobo,” and “kobo. They were both grave-keepers and grave-diggers.

–That being said, ……, were clothes stripped from a corpse and sold with impunity?

Kimonos were very valuable in those days. In the Edo period, kimono was a luxury item, and it was a dream come true for ordinary townspeople to buy the material, have it tailored, and wear it. New kimonos were extremely expensive, and stores rarely sold new kimonos, so most people in Edo bought old kimonos that were available through secondhand clothing distribution channels.

As one type of secondhand clothing, yukata-ba-mono was in demand. I like the fact that Tsutajige does not omit such values of the time, social conditions, and other aspects of the world he was seeing, but describes them realistically from end to end.”

Solution to “Consideration” derived from recent research

5. The identity of Karamaru, who has disappeared

–As mentioned in the first episode, Karamaru, the boy with amnesia who was saved by Tsutashige, has remained unaccounted for since episode 5. When he reappears in the future as a grown man, there is much speculation on the Internet as to which historical figure he will be.

In episode 4, it is foreshadowed that Karamaru is a good painter, so it is highly likely that he will reappear as a painter who is involved with Tsutajige. Personally, I think the candidates will be narrowed down to three painters from the same period. Toshusai Sharaku, followed by Kitagawa Utamaro, and then Shiba Ehan.”

Karamaru is portrayed as a person whose identity is unknown. Karamaru is described as an unknown person, and before he disappeared, he had a painting by Koryusai Isoda, a popular painter of the time, which he copied very well, showing his talent for painting.

With these factors in mind, let us examine the three candidates. Let’s start with Shiba Jianghan. He is a man of both painting and writing talent. In “Bérubou,” Tsutajige debuted Karamaru as a mysterious painter, “First of all, he was called ‘Kon Harunobu’ in a style similar to that of Harunobu Suzuki. The story itself is a fiction. This story itself is a fiction, but Shiba Ehan was a disciple of Suzuki Harunobu and painted works that were like copies of his master’s later works, so painting in the style of Harunobu is something he was very good at.

However, Shiba has memoirs such as “Shunparou Hiki” (Chunparou Writing), and recent research has revealed how he was brought up. It would be difficult to apply a person with a clear background to Karamaru. Also, the fact that he is less closely related to Tsutajige than the other two strengthens the theory that Shiba is not Karamaru.

What about Toshusai Sharaku, who has long been known as a “mysterious painter”? The reason I added the word “for a long time” is that there has been considerable research on Sharaku’s true identity. The prevailing theory is that Sharaku was Jurobe Saito, a Noh actor in the service of the Hachisuka family of the Tokushima domain. Since “Belabo” is a realistic production that incorporates the results of recent research, I would also eliminate Sharaku from the list of candidates.

So, your main choice would be Utamaro Kitagawa?

Utamaro is a painter who worked with Tsutajige from the time he was unknown and became successful with his paintings of beautiful women. He was a dexterous artist with a great ability of realism, and he could also paint plants and insects with great delicacy. His excellent realism is consistent with Karamaru’s character portrayal, which is a good imitation. Moreover, “Kitagawa” is Tsutajige’s real family name. His original family name was Maruyama, but his parents divorced, so his adopted family name Kitagawa is Tsutaya Shigesaburo’s real family name. As long as he has Utamaro take that name, I feel it shows how serious he is about selling his work.

In “Belabo,” Tsutajige “gave his childhood name (Osanana) to a boy (Karamaru) who had amnesia and did not even know his own name. Besides, Tsutajige’s name is “Tsuta Karamaru” (蔦唐丸). More specifically, Tsutashige’s real name is “Ke-ri” (Shigesaburo is his street name), and some experts even guessed the reading “Karamaru” on it, so I think it is the most plausible explanation.

If there is a weakness in this hypothesis, it is age. Utamaro is three years younger than Tsutajige, and Jurobe Saito, who is said to be the same person as Sharaku, is said to be more than one year younger. In terms of apparent age, Sharaku is more in line with Karamaru in “Bemoto. However, would you be so foolish as to choose Karamaru for Sharaku, whose “true identity” is now known?

–Lastly, do you have a message for those who have not seen the show yet?

The world changed drastically between the first half of Tsutajige’s life and the second half of his life. During the reign of Tanuma Iiji, the economy was aggressive and he was able to ride the waves in many ways, but during the reign of Matsudaira Sadanobu, the next reign, the economy became tightened and he was suppressed.

Tsutajige’s way of life and business changed drastically, and I think we can see the turning point of the times. As a publishing producer in Edo in the midst of rough times, Tsutajige worked hard while dealing extensively with caricaturists, kyoka poets, painters, and show businessmen. There is much to see in this epic drama, so I recommend that you watch it once without hating it.