Novel
Shank's Mare
東海道中膝栗毛
Jippensha Ikku · 1822
Synopsis
Yajirobei and Kitahachi have squandered an inheritance in Edo; one owes money to a rice merchant, the other has lost his apprenticeship over an embezzlement, and both leave the city under the pretext of a pilgrimage to the Ise shrine, according to an American documentary source. From one post station to the next, they think only of eating, drinking and seduction, cheat and are duped; at Odawara, they scald themselves in an old-style bath whose use they do not know.
Context
The first cycle, along the Tōkaidō road to Kyoto and Ōsaka, was published from 1802 to 1809, and the sequel, by the Kiso road and towards the shrines of Konpira and Miyajima, from 1810 to 1822; in 1814, the author added an introduction giving the past of his heroes, according to an online dictionary of Japanese art. The book appeared at the height of the boom in leisure travel, among the guides prompted by the public's curiosity, and Hiroshige illustrated scenes from it. It is regarded as the typical work of the kokkeibon, the comic book.
Who it is for
Made up of episodes along the road, it is read in stages, for those who like bawdy comedy and travel narratives.
Prizes and reception
Translated into English by Thomas Satchell as early as 1929, it is for the historian W. G. Aston the funniest book in the Japanese language.
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