Musui's Story

by Kokichi, Katsu; Teruko, Craig

• ISBN13: 9780816512560
• ISBN10: 0816512566
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-07-01
• Publisher: Univ of Arizona Pr

Summary

A series of picaresque adventuresset against the backdrop of a Japan still closed off from the rest of the world,Musui's Storyrecounts the escapades of samurai Katsu Kokichi. As it depicts Katsu stealing, brawling, indulging in the pleasure quarters, and getting the better of authorities, it also provides a refreshing perspective on Japanese society, customs, economy, and human relationships. From childhood Katsu was given to mischief. He ran away from home, once at thirteen, making his way as a beggar on the great trunk road between Edo and Kyoto, and again at twenty, posing as the emissary of a feudal lord. He eventually married and had children but never obtained official preferment and was forced to supplement a meager stipend by dealing in swords, selling protection to shopkeepers, and generally using his muscle and wits. Katsu's descriptions of loyalty and kindness, greed and deception, vanity and superstition offer an intimate view of daily life in nineteenth-century Japan unavailable in standard history books.Musui's Storywill delight not only students of Japan's past but also general readers who will be entranced by Katsu's candor and boundless zest for life.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii	(2)
Introduction	ix
Prologue	1	(8)
Childhood	9	(14)
I Run Away	23	(20)
Youth	43	(18)
I Run Away Again	61	(10)
Adult Years	71	(38)
Life after Retirement	109	(38)
Some Other Incidents	147	(9)
Reflections on My Life	156	(3)
Notes to the Translation	159	(10)
Appendix One: Genealogy of Katsu Kokichi	169	(4)
Appendix Two: Currency in the Tokugawa Period	173	(2)
Bibliography	175	(2)
Credits for the Hiroshige Prints	177