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USAGI YOJIMBO LETTERS COLUMN
Send comments to: Usagi Yojimbo ~ Letters Column c/o Dark Horse Comics
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UsagiYojimbo
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STORY NOTES The yearly courtesan procession was a sight to behold. The oiran, with her retinue, made an appearance in her finest gowns, on foot-high, black-lacquered clogs called mitsuba-no-kuro-nuri-geta. Her costume was so voluminous and heavy (fifty pounds or more) that she had to be assisted by one or two wakaimono – male servants of a brothel – on whose shoulders she could lean. Her skirts were tied up for easier walking, allowing spectators a view of her bare, white feet. Folded paper peeked out of her collar to be used as a handkerchief. J.E. Becker, in The Nightless City, writes: "The sight of a lovely and bewitching yujo clad in rich silk brocades glittering with gold and polychromatic tints: of her wonderful pyramidal coiffure ornamented with numerous tortoise-shell and coral hairpins so closely thrust together as to suggest a halo of light encircling her head; and her stately graceful movements as she swept slowly and majestically through the Nako-no-cho, must indeed have appeared magnificent and awe-inspiring to the uninitiated." The oiran was a courtesan of high status. The term was supposedly derived from "oira no ane" or "my elder sister," a term of respect used by apprentice courtesans in the Yoshiwara pleasure district of Edo. The oiran should not be confused with the geisha ("art person"), who were women skilled in dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, and conversation. The geisha still exist, but the oiran, as portrayed in period movies and art, have all but disappeared. There are still processions, however. The Bunsui Oiran Dochu in Nishikanbara, Niigata Prefecture, is celebrated usually the third Sunday in April. The Senteisai Matsuri at Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, dates back to the times when court ladies became widows of husbands lost in wars and became courtesans. In sympathy, women don the ceremonial attire to honor them. The visual for Lady Maple was inspired by the character Agemaki from the kabuki play Sukeroku Yukari no Edozarkura. References to this story came from: Kabuki Costume by Ruth M. Shaver, 1966, Charles E. Tuttle Co. of Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan (a profusely illustrated book not only useful for kabuki but for everyday wear as well; this also contained a detailed description of a procession and the oiran's costume); Kabuki: Eighteen Traditional Dramas by Toshio Kawatake and Akira Iwata, 1985, Chronicle Books of San Francisco (beautiful photographs with summaries of plays); Japanese Festivals by Helen Bauer and Sherwin Carlquist, 1965, Doubleday & Co. of New York; Japan by Nebojsa Bato Tomasevic, Michael Random, and Louis Frederic, 1986, Flint River Publishers of new York. I also used Samurai Trilogy Part II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple, directed by Inagaki (available on video), which has Miyamoto Musashi staying at the home of an oiran on which I based the visuals of Maple's private residence, including that vertically swinging gate. An episode of the Kage no Gundan II TV series entitled "The Two-faces Art of Kunoichi" featured a procession, albeit on a limited production budget. |
Dear Mr. Stan Sakai,
My final words on "Grasscutter": Lord Kotetsu, Ryoko, and Kitanamono were intriguing new characters, sinister, mysterious...and you killed all three of them?! Please bring back Ryoko! She was powerful and eerie, and her link with Kitanamono was dramatic.
Some comments on the latest issue of Usagi Yojimbo. Usagi's facial expression on page 2 (panels 1 and 8) and page 10 (panel 5) of "My Father's Swords" [UY Vol. 3, #23] reminded me so much of Sergio Aragonés' Catnippon, I had to chuckle. It's the tiny details that you are so good at including in your depiction of the characters that make all the difference – a raised eyebrow, the beginnings of a sneer, a sideways glance.
A very smooth transition from "Grasscutter" to Usagi's next few solo adventures. A sad and touching story about Chiaki and his father. Matsuo's slaying of the bandits with his own sword while Chiaki was unconscious, Usagi's shock at discovering who he was, and their argument over whether to tell Chiaki the truth were finely handled. Also, in issue #23, we get to see a facet of Usagi's character that he usually doesn't get to express: his mischievous sense of humor, with Gen about spending Hosoku's bounty and with the peasant with whom he won the bet. That satisfied smirk on Usagi's face – priceless! [Vol. 3] Issue #24, "The Demon Flute," was also well done. Usagi, determined to help the villagers but quickly getting into a situation beyond his control – excellent! It makes our favorite ronin more humanly vulnerable while still doing his heroic best. The look of fright and panic on his face on pages 16 and 17 was superb! Overall, the whole atmosphere of suspense and paranoia was well depicted through your effective balancing of black and white (kind of like the film noir mysteries).
Finally, I have a few questions I'm curious about:
1) Is former General Ikeda, whom we've all come to know and love in "Grasscutter," the same "Lord" Ikeda that Sanshobo had served as a samurai years earlier, as mentioned in "The Bonze's Story" [UY Vol. 3, #3]? If so, a meeting of these two men years later, after all the changes their lives have gone through, would be very interesting.
2) Exactly how old is Lord Noriyuki? He's been described by his enemies as a "brat" and a "whelp," suggesting that he isn't 15 yet, the legal age of majority for men in ancient Japanese society. But way back in "Lone Rabbit and Child," he and Tomoe were traveling to Edo to have Noriyuki officially confirmed as the leader of the Geishu Clan by the Shogun. Would an underage daimyo heir be allowed to rule even if he wasn't yet 15? He's always seemed about 8-10 years old to me. How old do you envision Lord Geishu as being at this point?
3) Are you, by any chance, a descendent of the Edo period artist Sakai Hoitsu, who lived from 1761-1829? He was the younger brother of Sakai Munemasa Tadazane, a daimyo of the Himeji area. I know that you were born in Kyoto, and Himeji isn't so far away...Of course, "Sakai" probably isn't such a rare name in Japan, but I was just wondering. (If you're interested in seeing his work, there are some of his paintings in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. His painted scrolls depicting the twelve months of the year and the flowers/animal popularly associated with each are really lovely.)
Larry Hilf
Rochester, NY
1) Yes, General Ikeda is the same lord under whom Sanshobo served.
2) I have taken some liberties in Noriyuki. Samurai boys had their hair turned into topknots and officially became men at age 15. There are many cases in which children were declared the lord of a clan, though the true power was held by regents. Noriyuki is 10-12 years old. I chose to make him a very precocious child mainly for story purposes. He rules with the help of many advisors, Tomoe among them.
3) I am not a descendent of Hoitsu. Though our family names sound similar and are spelled the same in English, we actually use different kanji characters when writing them in Japanese.
Congratulations to Garth Pricer, who was the first person to correctly guess the killer's identity in "The Hairpin Murders"! As a result, Garth is now the proud owner of a brand new Usagi Yojimbo T-shirt!
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"Usagi Yojimbo", including all prominent characters featured in the stories and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Stan Sakai and Usagi Studios. Usagi Yojimbo is a registered trademark of Stan Sakai. Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this publication either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric content, is coincidental.