Japan's Legendary Characters

The character shown above is Yuki–onna (the Lady of the Snow). She is a spirit/ghost of the Japanese folklore (yokai). Varying from one region to another, different legends have been told from generation to generation about her appearance in snow-tempests. Allegedly, she disguises herself as a beautiful woman to attract men and kills them to suck their blood. One more romantic version accounts that she fell in love with a man she had allured and could not kill him. So, she kills herself in order to let her man to live. Sad!

Ohori Tsuru

Ōhōri Tsuru (1526–1543) was an onna bugeisha (female samurai) and the daughter of Ōhōri Yasumochi, the head priest of the Ōyamatsumi Shrine on the island of Ōmishima in Iyo Province, located in the middle of the Seto Inland Sea. In the mid-sixteenth century, the island was under threat from Ōuchi Yoshitaka, the daimyō of the Suō Province. Fighting took place in the jurisdiction of the shrine and Tsuru’s two elder brothers were killed. When Tsuru was fifteen years old her father died of illness, and she inherited the position of chief priestess. She was well versed in martial arts and despite her young age, she was a brave young-woman.

Ōyamatsumi Shrine is believed to have been founded by Jimmu, the first emperor of Japan and was once one of the most important shrines for the samurai class. It is today a sort of mecca for people interested in samurai weaponry and martial arts. It houses a collection of armours and helmets, as well as weaponry, including swords, spears, halberds and arrows, some dating back 800 years. They amount to about 80% of the total registered as National Treasures of the country. To mention a few, on display here are the swords of famous Minamoto brothers, Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, as well as Tsuru’s armour, the only extant female medieval armour.

In 1541, when Yoshitaka made further moves to invade Ōmishima, Tsuru took charge of the military resistance and drove Yoshitaka’s warriors back to the sea. Four months later the invaders returned. Ohara Takakoto, Yoshitaka’s general was being entertained on his flagship, waiting for the right time to attack. Tsuru saw the opportunity and raided his fleet. At first Takakoto mocked her presumption, but not for too long, as Tsuru cut him down with one stroke. A deluge of hōrokubiya (spherical exploding bombs) from Tsuru’s army followed. Swords swept and clashed. At the end, Tsuru claimed victory, saving the island from the intruders. She became known as the ‘Joan of Arc‘ of the Ōmishima Island. Two years later, at the age of seventeen, Yoshitaka’s men killed her fiancee. Distraught Tsuru committed suicide by drowning. Her last words were, ‘As Ōmishima’s ocean is my witness, my love shall be engraved with my name’. Today, her story is hugely romanticised. Her extant samurai armour, hints on her existence, yet records that she had died that young are still to be found.

Aizu-Matsudaira Clan

During the Edo Period, (1600 – 1868), the Takatō Domain was located in what was known as the Shinano Province. It is today part of the city of Ina, located in the modern Nagano Prefecture. Takatō belonged to the Hoshina family and in the early 17th century the head of the clan, Hoshina Masamitsu, adopted the illegitimate son of the second Tokugawa Shōgun, Hidetada. As a result, the Hoshina family’s fortunes rose. Larger and larger fiefs were given to them until finally they were moved to Aizu, a domain then rated at 240,000 ‘koku’. The adopted child was named Hoshina Masayuki, and eventually, he became the head of the clan. He rose into prominence when his half-brother Tokugawa Iemitsu (grandson of Ieyasu) became shōgun. Later, Masayuki acted as a regent for Iemitsu’s successor, the underage fourth shōgun, Tokugawa Ietsuna.

By the end of the 17th century, the Hoshina family was allowed the use of the Tokugawa hollyhock crest and the Matsudaira surname. From then on they became known as the Aizu-Matsudaira clan. In the house code set down by leader Masayuki, there was a specific injunction to serve the shōgun with single-minded devotion, and it was this injunction which the family took great pains to show its adherence to, even if its true objectives were those of improving status and prestige.

Aizu was known for its martial skills, and maintained at all times a standing army of over 5000, which included a skilled group of onna bugeisha. It was often deployed to security operations on the northern fringes of the country, as far north as southern Sakhalin. Also, around the time of the American Commodore Perry’s fleet arrival, who forced Japan to open its ports, after more than two centuries of seclusion; Aizu had a presence in security operations around Edo Bay (modern Tokyo).

Matsudaira Katamori was the daimyō in charge of the Aizu han during the Boshin War. His army fought against the Meiji Government forces in the Battle of Aizu. They were eventually defeated and Katamori was kept for few years under house arrest in Tōkyō. Katamori’s life was spared, and he later became the Chief Priest of the Nikkō Tōshōgū Shrine, the Shintō shrine where Tokugawa Ieyasu is enshrined.

Izumo no Okuni - the Founder of Kabuki

Izumo no Ōkuni, (a supposed descendant of Uzume-no-Mikoto) was the originator of kabuki, a classical Japanese dance-drama. Ōkuni was believed to have been a maiko at the Grand Shrine of Izumo who began performing this new style of dancing, singing, and acting in the dry riverbeds of Kyoto. The style became immediately popular, and Ōkuni was asked to perform before the Imperial Court. The kabuki art form departed from the old, traditional Noh style of drama. The theatre companies Ōkuni initiated were named after her and members were initially limited to female dancers and actresses. Incorporating sword fights, the performances were eccentric and the dances unrestrained and suggestive. In the wake of such success, rival troupes quickly formed, and kabuki became an ensemble dance and drama performed by women — a form very different from its modern incarnation..

Much of kabuki’s appeal during this era was due to the ribald, suggestive themes featured by the troupes. Then the lure was further augmented by the availability of the performers for prostitution. Kabuki became known as ‘prostitute-singing and dancing performance‘. Thus, the participation of women was officially banned in the first half of the seventeenth century by the shōgun, who thought that the sensuality of the dancers had a detrimental effect on public morality. Young boys dressed as women then performed the programs, but this type of Kabuki was suppressed in 1652, again because of concern for morals. Finally, older men took over the roles, and it is this form of all-male entertainment that has endured to the present day. Kabuki plays grew in sophistication, and the acting became more subtle. The ban on women was lifted with the Meiji Restoration. Today, Kabuki theatre is highly revered and known for the stylisation of its drama and for the elaborate make-up and costumes worn by its performers.

Ishikawa Goemon

There is little historical information on Goemon’s life. He first appeared in the biography of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1642, where he is referred to simply as a ‘thief‘. In the Edo Period, Japan was a feudal society ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate. People lived under the rigid status of the regime, where criticism of authorities was strictly forbidden. Goemon was seen as a man against the authorities in those days, with legends portraying him as a ‘chivalrous robber’, akin to Robin Hood of Western culture. Allegedly, he was born a ninja in Iga in 1558. An apprentice to the ninja master Momochi Tanba, Goemon trained under him at Mie Prefectures’ famed Akame 48 waterfalls near Nabari. Goemon and his teacher had fallen out when Goemon had an affair with Momochi’s wife, getting her pregnant. Stealing one of his master’s swords, Goemon escaped to neighbouring Kansai region where he formed and led a band of bandits and thieves. Eventually he took the name Ishikawa Goemon, and started robbing rich feudal lords, clerics, and merchants, giving his spoils to the poor.

Goemon and his band were commissioned to assassinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was the absolute ruler of Japan by then, but was captured when they tried to invade the residence of the Kampaku. In 1594, fifteen members of his robber group were crucified on a riverside, but the execution method of Goemon was much crueler – boiling with his young son in a cauldron filled with oil, heated over a bonfire – enacted at the Sanmon gates of Kyoto’s Nanzen-ji Temple. Goemon lifted his son over his head, trying to salvage the boy, but he knew there was no escape. Hence, as the temperature of the oil increased, he sank his son into the cauldron to kill him rapidly, with a lesser pain death.

Later he became a folk hero, portrayed often in kabuki, bunraku and in any other sort of entertainment media of the time; perhaps as a metaphor for the anti-authoritarian exploits of the Tokugawa-family. Surprisingly, his culture was tolerated. The Toyotomi-family, who was exterminated by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the siege of Osaka Castle, was deemed by the Bakufu an enemy. Hence, Goemon was the rival of a rival, making him a friend. As Goemon had damaged Hideyoshi, it was OK for people to flatter him. Goemon is today still very popular as the main character, not only in traditional forms of entertainments, but also in manga, TV series and video games.

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Ohori Tsuru

Aizu-Matsudaira Clan

Izumo no Okuni - the Founder of Kabuki

Ishikawa Goemon

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