films about Yaoya Oshichi--reply

[Bill Tyler]

Yaoya O-shichi and her lover Kichisa[buro] figure indirectly in  
Edogawa Ranpo's wonderful story, Oshie to tabi suru otoko / The Man
Traveling with the Brocade Portrait (1929). The story was made into a  
film version (I was given a copy of it), but offhand I do not know
whether it was a feature film or a made-for-TV production.

The story is set in Meiji (1895). The older of two brothers climbs  
the Twelve-Story Tower, Ryounkaku, in Asakusa and surveys
the city of Tokyo and the park surrounding the tower with a pair of  
binoculars on a daily basis. He is driven to do this because
one day he spied a most beautiful woman down on the ground in Asakusa  
Park. It is love at first sight, and he is desperate to
locate the woman and marry her. For the longest time, he is unable to  
locate her.

He grows increasingly lovesick, and the family
sends his younger brother to check on his brother's bizarre behavior.  
The younger brother follows his o-niisan to
the tower and finds him searching with the binoculars. Suddenly the  
brother catches sight of the girl again, and
the two run frantically down the tower steps--but cannot find the girl.

After much searching in the park, the younger brother finds his  
brother bent over a stereoscopic peep show (nozoki-karakuri)
and looking completely entranced. The peep show consists of a series  
of revolving padded panels (oshie) telling
the story of Yaoya O-shichi.

What the
older brother had seen as he peered down from the tower was a panel  
depicting O-shichi leaning coquettishly against
Kichisa in the lecture of Kisshoji Temple, where O-shichi and her  
parents had sought refuge after their home was
destroyed in the fire set by O-shichi.

Ranpo goes onto weave a story about how the brother, desperate to wed  
O-shichi, devises a plan to be
permanently united with her. When the younger brother reverses the  
binoculars, his o-niisan is whooshed
into the panel--there to remain permanently mounted next to O-shichi  
(in place of Kichisaburo).

It's an unusual take on the Yaoya O-shichi story, but Edogawa uses  
the legend in a masterful way to highlight
the theme of mad obsessions--whether O-shichi's or the older  
brothers. Ah, what we do for love! For further details
see the original story.


On Sep 4, 2007, at 5:03 PM, Frako Loden wrote:

>
> Does anyone know of films based on the story of Yaoya Oshichi, the  
> teenage grocer's daughter who in 1682 burned down her own Edo house  
> to be reunited with her priest lover and was burnt alive for it? I  
> know there are a number of bunraku and kabuki plays based on her  
> story, and a bunraku version is being performed in some American  
> cities this fall. I see imdb.com mentioning a 1923 film ("Yaoya  
> Oshichi") with Nikkatsu Kyoto/Onoe Matsunosuke involvement. Where  
> could I get more details on this and possibly other film versions  
> of Oshichi's story? (Japanese language OK)
>
> Thanks a lot,
> Frako Loden
> Berkeley

William J. Tyler
Associate Professor, Japanese Language & Literature
Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures
Ohio State University
398 Hagerty Hall
1775 College Drive
Columbus, OH 43210-1340
USA

Telephone (direct) 614-292-3184

tyler.20 at osu.edu

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