This CD contains horror stories produced by the voice works of Teiyu Ichiryusai, who is the leading storyteller of horror stories. He has been recognized as an important intangible cultural asset and a living national treasure in Japan in 2002. The contents of stories in this CD are written about closed spaces such as a room,a secret chamber, and a darkroom which are related to the theme of Silent Hill.
Moreover, the background music, which effects his storytelling and strikes audiences’ horror, is produced by Akira Yamaoka. The correspondence between his voices and the music produce unique sound and style which is so-called “Kyou-dan” (It means storytelling with reverberate voice). The following 12 titles of each chapter of the story mean Japanese pitch names in the principle of traditional Japanese music.
1. Ichikotsu
2. Tangin
3. Hyoujou
4. Shosetsu
5. Shimomu6
6. Soujou
7. Fushou
8. oushiki
9. Rankei
10. Banshiki
11. Shinsen
12. Kamimu
Title: Can’t Escape From Yoshiwara In The Rainy Night
Background
This horror story is told about a deep-seated hatred and revenge by murdered mother and her daughter who attempted suicide because they were deceived and sold into prostitution in yoshiwara by a bad person. Yoshiwara was a famous district in where there were many brothels for the Edo-era, present-day in Tokyo, Japan.
In the early 17th century, there was a widespread meal and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. The main reason for establishing these nightless cities was the Tokugawa shogunate’s trying to prevent the nouveau riche chonin (townsmen) from political intrigue. The yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 1700s, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. The area had over 9,000 women in 1893. These women were often sold to the brothels by their parents at the age of about seven to twelve.
If the young girl was lucky, she would become an apprentice to a high ranking courtesan. When the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. The girls often had a contract to the brothel for only about five to ten years, but massive debt often kept them in the brothels their entire life. There were very few ways for a young lady to get out of the brothel due to all of her debt. One way out of Yoshiwara was for a rich man to buy her contract from the brothel and keep her as his personal concubine. Another would be if she managed to be successful and clever enough that she was able to buy her own freedom. This did not occur very often, though.
Characters:
Gennsai: A man professed to be a fortune-teller. However, this is the outward appearance. He is a rascal who extorts money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes kills people.
Gonji: Gennsai’s junior male peer.
Osato: A seventeen years-old daughter of Osaku and Heibei
Osaku: Gennsai’s elder sister and Osato’s mother
Heibei: Osato’s father
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Abstract
In Fukagawa Kueicho (now in Tokyo), a man whose name is Gennsai was
doing a rapacious business pretending to be a fortune-teller. He often extorted money
from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes murdered people. Meanwhile,
a crackdown on such crimes by shogunate officials had been strict, his business fell on
hard times. This situation was enough to make him plot evil.
Osaku, who is Gennsai’s elder sister, was living with her husband, Heibei and her seventeen years old daughter, Osato peacefully. However, one day, Heibei died suddenly by apoplexy and their life had grown worse off day by day. Soon after hearing this news, Gennsai approached Osaku with his proposal in regard to sending Osato to his acquaintance in Edo (now is Tokyo) for working. He told that his acquaintance, a timber merchant sought somebody to take care of his younger sister who was ill in bed. Gennsai also tried to set Osaku at ease by talking that she could get remittances and letters regularly from Osato if she would work there. Finally, Osaku was persuaded by Gennsai to send her daughter to Edo for working.
One day, Gennsai took Osato to Edo to introduce her to his acquaintance. However, it was a complete lie to deceive her into coming to Edo. He didn’t have no intention whatsoever of helping her get a job from the beginning. He finally took her to his junior male peer, Gonji, who arrived in Edo in advance to conspire to Gennsai. On the other hand, as Osato was not knowing at all that she was taken in fooled, she was taken to a brothel in Yoshiwara with Gonji. Gonhi was receiving money from an owner of the brothel in exchange for leaving a new young prostitute.
After a few months passed, Osato was feeling anxious about Osaku without receiving any remittances and letters from her. Although she still believed that her daughter was going well, after all she decided to go to Edo and meet Osato. She visited to Gennsai’s house near Edo first to ask her daughter’s recent situation. Gennsai was surprised at Osaku’s unexpected visit and desperately pretended to be calm. He showed her into his house and explained that Osato had been fine and doing well at his friend’s house. After hearing about Osato’s situation, she felt relieved and requested him to have a look at her daughter. Although he was completely at a loss as to what to do for a little while, he talked her into waiting at his house until he would get permission to meet Osato from his friend after sending a mail. Osaku gave reluctant consent to his proposal and decided to wait patiently in the upstairs of the house.
Every day, Osaku asked Gennsai when she could meet her daughter. However, he dodged her question every time and he gradually began to dislike her existence. Finally, he ignored her and stopped to serve meal for her. After few weeks passed, she has continued to wait patiently while believing to be able to meet her daughter soon. However, she had become emaciated and her drooped eyelid became swollen, making her eyesight worse. So she had continued to wait being on the point of death upstairs.
On the other hand, Osato finally realized her situation. She was deep in grief and did nothing but cry thinking of her mother every day in a dark small room at the brothel. One day her grief came to a head, she attempted suicide by cutting her neck by a razor and throwing herself down off upstairs of a brothel. She died a miserable death and the sight was shocking to look at.
Soon after Osato’s death, Osaku dreamed that her daughter appeared in her dream covered in blood. Osaku talked to Gennsai about her dream and plead him to meet her daughter. He chided her for her stupid dream and promised to let her meet her daughter before long. Osaku reluctantly went back to upstairs. It began to rain heavily at night. After a while, Genji rushed into Gennsai’s house. He told Gennsai about Osato’s death while running out of his breath. Gennsai was surprised and embarrassed by the news. He suddenly came up with his mind to kill Osaku on this occasion. While Gennsai explained to him about Osato’s mother’s visiting to his house, Osaku looked at them downstairs from upstairs. Genji was surprised at her face and figure like a ghost. Gennsai talked to Osaku that he got permission to meet Osato from his friend and he would take her to his friend’s house right now. Although Osaku wondered why she must have gone in such a bad weather at night, she felt easy soon looking at Genji who would take her to meet her daughter. Gennsai whispered in Genji’s ear to kill her tonight. Moreover, he gave him money for his task. Osaku was happy and made bow to Gennsai and Genji many times.
Osaku, who believed to meet her daughter working at timber merchant’s house, left from Gennsai’s house and followed after Genji. In the rain, they walked for a long time with no particular destination in mind. When they came near to the bridge of a river Genji told her the truth that Osato was sold as a prostitute into a brothel and she committed suicide due to disappointment. Then he suddenly tried to choke her neck on the bridge, but she resisted furiously. Although she escaped from his murder and ran off in a hurry to a riverbank, her stamina was no longer enough to escape from him and she was finally captured and stabbed to death by him. She disappeared into a river.
After he killed Osaku, he decided to go back to Gennsai’s house by a palanquin to get rest of money. Fortunately he could catch a palanquin and ordered a driver to go to Gennsai’s house not going through Yoshiwara where Osato committed suicide. So he was a little excited about his criminal act. After a while since he took a palanquin, he asked a driver where they were. A driver answered they were still in the riverbank. After a certain amount of time passed he asked the driver again whether they were almost arrived at near the destination. However, a driver answered they were still in the riverbank. They also had unpleasant feeling that they couldn’t get out of the riverbank of Yoshiwara.
On the other hand, Gennsai was waited for Genji in his house. He hoped that everything would be going well and their criminal acts would never be revealed. Just at the moment, a light in the room suddenly went out and a sliding door of the entrance opened. Gennsai thought that Genji came back right now, a person who were standing in the dark at the entrance was Osato expressing sad and hateful face covered in blood…
The story ends here. There are many horror stories regarding bitter feelings of the protagonists in Japan like this. I think there was something about these kinds of stories or tragedies that went straight to old Japanese people.
Translation and background notes by Kotaro Fujita
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