Fun of Good Old Japanese - 江戸・明治に学ぶ　楽しむ生き方

Author : Miyamoto Tsuneichi （ 1907-1981 ）、著者：宮本常一 Part1 of this article   Fun during nomadic life (2) 、流離（さすら）いの中の楽しみ (2) Wayfarers resting under the pines at Suzukawa - west along old post-road from Tokyo to Kyoto, Japan (1900-1910 、東海道･富士市鈴川？)　 https://www.loc.gov/item/2020637826/ ・ Knowledgeable person 、世間師（二）  The next knowledgeable person is Sakon Kumada who lived in the south part of Osaka Prefecture. His face became ugly because he got heavily burned during the Satsuma Rebellion (1877).  He was engaged in producing freeze-dried tofu. After his wife passed away when he was fifty-two, he retired; he started wandering when he was fifty-six. He liked traveling, however he knew it was difficult to stay in a mountainous area. He met a fortune-teller whose name was Ohkawa in Kyoto and he followed him . Ohkawa walked around villages, because he might be able to help a person in need. He was invited by customers by word of mouth. He was a good man; he asked ...

Author : Miyamoto Tsuneichi （ 1907-1981 ）、著者：宮本常一 Part1 of this article   Fun during  nomadic life 、流離（さすら）いの中の楽しみ ・ Knowledgeable person 、世間師（一）  Surprisingly, there were young wanderers even in the pre-modern era. They were versed in the ways of the world and were called “Seken (society)-shi (instructor)” or a knowledgeable person. They sometimes taught and advised villagers who spent most of their time in their village.  Masuda Itarou , who was the neighbor of the author and was born in 1852, went to Ehime Prefecture in Shikoku Island to work as a sawyer . They worked in a mountain and talked various stories at night, which included strange storied such as about Tengu (monster), wolves, raccoon dogs and so on. There were no TV so they just talked, and they widened their knowledge. Lumber yard - hewing timber (1904) 、材木加工場 https://www.loc.gov/item/2020637737/  Itarou became a carpenter and started wandering. He went to Kumamoto in Kyushu Isl...

Author : Miyamoto Tsuneichi （ 1907-1981 ）、著者：宮本常一 Part1 of this article     Entertainments (singing and performance) 、歌などの芸能・余興の楽しみ ・ My grandfather 、私の祖父  Dr. Miyamoto wrote about the way of life of his grandfather in the chapter. His grandfather was born in 1846, grew up four children and passed away in 1927. He was summoned by the samurai lord (daimyo) and went to the battle field as a worker in 1866.  Miyamoto family owned a narrow land (0.5ha, 1.2ac), so they couldn’t live without working as tenant farmers. They were poor, and his grandfather worked hard . He got up at 4 AM, went to a mountain to work, returned home and had a breakfast (porridge). Then, he went to a field. After lunch, he had naptime and had a light meal. He went to the field again and worked till after dark. He also worked at night. In a rainy day, he made various things from straw such as sandals. Handmade straw products  Nagano City Museum 、長野市立博物館  His grandfather e...

1960 年出版 Author : Miyamoto Tsuneichi （ 1907-1981 ）、著者：宮本常一 人の楽しみの発見度： Excellent  ★★ ★    Dr. Miyamoto was a folklore scholar who walked around Japan , interviewed people how they lived and recorded. He wrote a lot of books and papers; his entire set of writings consists of 52 volumes.  It is said “The Forgotten Japanese” is his masterpiece. People’s lives from the latter half of the 19 th century to the first half of the 20 th century are written in it. It was much more difficult to live than now. However, people found fun times. I’ll highlight them. Those are lost lifestyles.  Although he wrote about each person, I wrote about each fun thing: working, entertainments, wandering far from home, lovemaking and studying .  The title of English version is “The Forgotten Japanese: Encounters with Rural Life and Folklore”; you can buy it on Amazon ( Amazon | The Forgotten Japanese: Encounters with Rural Life and Folklore | Miyamoto, Tsuneichi, Iris...