Edo Culture: Daily Life and Diversions in Urban Japan, 1600-1868

Chapter 6. Provincial Culture of the Kasei Period (1804-1830)

95 C H A P T E R 6 PROVINCIAL CULTURE OF THE KASEI PERIOD (1804–1830) The Rise of Provincial Culture The Center and the Provinces Any discussion of provincial culture during the late Edo period must first address the question of whether the city of Edo was truly the center of Japanese culture. Japanese historians have usually agreed that from the middle of the eighteenth century the center of Japanese culture gradually moved eastward, from the Kamigata area to the city of Edo. As we have seen in previous chapters, from the mid-eighteenth century Edo was indeed the site of many new creative forces. Nevertheless, the Kamigata area, especially Kyoto, which had been the most important center of Japanese culture until the Edo period, remained influential as well. Rather than speak of Edo as the cultural center of the land, therefore, it would better reflect contemporary reality to speak of two centers: one in Edo and another in Kyoto. Even during the late Edo period, creative activity in Kyoto had by no means stopped or stagnated. During the nineteenth century Kyoto still played an important role in the production of many cultural artifacts and in the transmission of artistic techniques. Outstanding and innovative examples of Kyoto culture can be found in “literary men’s painting” (bunjinga) and poetry or, somewhat later, in musical works such as Godan-ginuta (Cloth-Beating Music in Five Sections ) and Akikaze no kyoku (Autumn Breeze Music), two instrumental compositions of Mitsuzaki Kengyò (d. 1853). Discussion of the relation of urban to provincial culture is further complicated by the major differences that existed between large provincial castle towns, such as Sendai, Nagoya, and Kanazawa, and isolated small towns or farming villages. To begin to understand the complex relation of urban to provincial culture let us first examine 96 Provincial Culture several Kasei-period cultural communities with members spread throughout a broad geographical region. Cultural Communities in the Provinces One such cultural community was the Shòfû Enshû-ryû (orthodox Enshû school) of flower arranging. A glance at this school’s 1814 register shows a total of 845 members, 501 of whom resided in Edo. Of the remaining 344 provincial members, 300 lived in the Kantò area. Twenty-eight resided in Shinano, six in Hizen, two in Òmi, two in Ise, one each in Echigo, Owari, Suruga, and Tanba, and two elsewhere. The 300 Kantò members were distributed over a large area. As can be seen in Figure 6.1, domiciles of Enshû-ryû flower arrangers were concentrated around three types of sites: highways such as the Nakasendò, Kòshû-kaidò, Kawagoe-kaidò, Nikkòkaid ò, and Sakura-kaidò; important shipping sites on the Shingashigawa , Tonegawa, and Kinugawa rivers; and textile manufacturing centers in the Chichibu area or at the foot of Mount Akagi in Kòzuke province. This map also shows the distribution of members of the Tachibana school as recorded in the Tachibana-ryû shogei monjin denju-roku (Record of Disciples of Various Arts of the Tachibana School). This document was drafted by Nara Teruaki, the leader of the school. Nara had studied in Kyoto; during the Kasei period he was active in Fujimi village (Seta county, Kòzuke province). The Tachibana-ryû practiced reading, writing (calligraphy), painting, flower arranging, and physiognomic divination. Some 145 members are listed for the period from 1789 to 1813. The greatest number of students came from around Fujimi; others stemmed from an area that extended from Kuragano and Tomioka in Kòzuke province all the way to Karuizawa and Oiwake in Shinano province. One member even came from distant Hitachi; yet another lived even farther away in Dewa. Most of these disciples seem to have been members of a stratum of wealthy local gentry residing in textile-producing regions. These students were thus intimately linked to the markets in Kiryû and Maebashi. Other members were upper-class chònin from the post-station villages along highways that led to these markets.1 Statistics for another cultural community are given in Table 6.1. These figures show the distribution of two schools of kyòka poetry. The first column gives figures for the school of Rokujuen (Yadoya no Meshimori) and is based on the Kyòka gazò sakusha burui (Illustrated Catalog of Kyòka Poets) published in 1811; the second column gives figures for the school of Shikatsube Magao and relies on a document Members of...