Lingrui Ge
Miriam Gross
HIST-1733
February 15, 2017
Musui’s Story
Katsu Kokichi’s “Musui’s Story” is an autobiography that descriptively accounts on the life of Katsu Kokichi during the Tukogawa period in Japan. Taking the name Musui upon retirement, Katsu Kokichi was an adventurous man who’s live revolved around controversy and immoral accounts and activities such as prostitution, crime, family quarrels, and generally shortcuts to getting prosperity in life. In essence, Musui’s story is told to forewarn the readers against making the similar life choice in life that he made and full of regrets. The challenging childhood which characterized Musui’s life especially from birth and being given up for adoption at the age of seven after a stint in the hands of a nurse are typical hardships that were synonymous with the then Japanese society in which he lived (Katsu 4). He never got opportunity or interest in reading and writing but only engaged in horse riding and sword fighting skills at an early age. Further, his relationship with family members was often squabbling since he kept getting into troubles with his father and the grandmother. His life revolved around controversy of fighting, quarrelling, disobeying, and running away from the realities of life early in youthful stage of his development.
Musui’s life took a twist for worse when he ran away from home at the age of 14 where he spent several months sleeping and begging by the road sides and shrines. He was fortunate to escape a near-death encounter from malnutrition when he got rescued by a priest. One of the funny incidents during this time was when he hit his testicles so hard on a sharp rock that could barely walk from the pain and the swollen testicles from the impacts of the sharp rock. His testicle infection persevered until he could no longer continue fishing, resorting to return home for two years, as a bedridden fellow. However, he recovered well at home where he later joined and became a leader of various groups of swordfighters while also mastering the concept of fencing. He used to bully the opponents who were defeated in the swordfights. Musui is practically in serious financial problems when he became too indebted to live in the village, forcing him to run away in a bid to protect himself from the soaring financial problems (Katsu 10). This was the second time Musui was running away from home and making mistakes in his life as opposed to staying and facing his troubles all by himself.
Musui’s life on the road took a rare twist as he masqueraded as a very influential person to gain favors and survival antics. Meanwhile, his parents kept beseeching him to come back home, which he eventually accepted following the troubles that kept hovering and compiling against him while he was away from home. His father was disheartened by Musui’s characters and resorted to teaching him a rare lesson by imprisoning him in a homemade cage for three years. He spent his life from 21 to 24 years in the home prison where his father locked him up to enable him cool down his wayward ways of life. Here, his life was typically rogue and uninspiring with lack of education and fighting everything just to have his way in life. He managed to keep his appearance as a samurai by ensuring that he survived through crafty and shortcuts (Katsu 31). He did this through art and craft in making and selling of swords, offering security services within the local red-light district, teaching of such techniques and skills as Japanese fencing (Kenjutsu), and also playing for a pay. This gave a second side of his life, which reveals a concerted effort to survive no matter what.
Musui’s autobiographic account of his life’s journey continues with various adulthood ups and downs, especially financially where he spent most of his time and life at Yoshiwara. This district was renowned by samurai as pleasure district, where Musui spent his time smoking, engaging in commercial prostitution, goes partying, and spending his profits indiscriminately. He gets lots of income from mystic masquerading activities only to spend it all on prostitutes. He further steals from the rice coffers belonging to his brother, and often got into negotiation affairs with landlords and peasants over money. These poor reputations forced him to retire as he could no longer the moral authority to transact any sort of business but he kept up with his shortcuts to riches and spending the proceeds into the pleasures that life offered around. Later in life, he begins to lend out money to gamblers at high interest as well as tricking people such as his landlord into accepting his financial aid (Katsu 102). These were the tactics of survival that were employed by Musui as he continued with his lackluster life. In the pleasure district, he accounts of how he found profitable venture in offering protection to brothels and district merchants. In the end, Musui asserts that he lived a full life with fun, although he regrets harming his family and the reputation, which caused him a life of poverty.
Just like in many Asian societies, the class system was common in the traditional Confucian society. Four major classes come out in Musui’s autobiography, which are the Samurais, the merchants, the peasants and the artisans. At the helm of this society were the Samurais. These were the warriors in the society and were supposed to conduct themselves in dignity and honor. They were supposed to be treated with respect by the rest of the members of the society (Szczepanski, n.p).
The peasants followed in the hierarchy. These were the farmers in the society responsible for food production. Their superiority to the merchants and the artisans arose from the fact that they produced food for the rest of the society members. They were however exploited by their rulers being forced to surrender their harvests only to be given it back as charity. Below the peasants were the artisans (Szczepanski, n.p). Sword fighting was a common activity in the Confucian society. The artisans were responsible for making the swords, tools, utensils, clothes, weaponry required for the society defenses among others. The artisan lived in segregated cities away from other classes. At the bottom of the society were the merchants. These were traders both travelling and shop keepers. They were considered the parasites of the society benefiting from the labor of the artisans and the peasants (Szczepanski, n.p). They were also segregated from other classes. They lived in specified parts of the city and were restricted from mixing with the rest of the classes unless during trade.
However, the life of Katsu depicts a change that began taking root in this particular class structure and characterized by the rigidity of its hierarchy. From the book Musui’s story, Katsu had no regard for the class system and went against the much-esteemed values of the Samurais. In fact, his actions represented everything the samurais stood against. He had more concern for self-fulfillment than upholding the virtues advocated by his Samurai family. His life was thus characterized by multiple family conflicts with his father and brothers because of stealing from them (Katsu 44). Katsu’s perception of honor was very different from what his family expected of him. According to him, honor came with wealth irrespective of how it was acquired. Therefore, legitimacy was never his concern in wealth acquisition and often engaged in treachery to acquire it. He tricked the merchants into accepting his loan offers with interest rates that were higher than that permitted (Katsu 148). Additionally, deception was his common tactic of by passing the road barriers. He also used his status as a samurai to extort money from the peasants as well as get free rides from post station officials.
Katsu had no respect for the samurai status. He never respected the privilege that his family status gave him and instead of honoring it, he used it for personal gain. Additionally, he had no respect for his father and brothers, often stealing from them. Besides, Katsu did not derive any prestige in the status his family gave him. He preferred to consort with the commoners and the low life instead of his family spending much of his life on the run (Katsu, pg. xvii). Unlike the culture of the samurai, Katsu did not derive any prestige in wealth accumulation. All he needed was money to spend on his many pleasure adventures that involved enjoying the services of the prostitutes.
Katsu Kokichi’s “Musui’s Story” is a perfect reflection of the typical samurai society in Tukogawa period in Japan when most youth were jobless and the only ways of survival were based on exemplary knowledge of skills and mastery of abilities to beat the adversities of life. In his autobiography, Musui acknowledges that life was critically difficult for him and his peers, hence the concerted efforts mostly in the streets to make ends meet. Here, the author paints the realities of the hardships that people like Musui underwent at a time when Japan was in a serious socio-political and economic stalemate under the influence of Tukogawa. The book is thus a fascinating read about the life of a young and ambitious man and his community who are trapped in the fangs of a bad ancient regime, synonymous with oppression and corruption. The impression that the author gives is that maybe it was less in the powers of Musui to correct the adversities that he underwent during his time.
The fantasy and the laziness in life are also synonymous with the Japanese society in the ancient times that lost hope in the opportunities and values that life could offer. They engaged in various activities for short stint of survival which in the long run became destructive. Finally, the book is essential read in underlying how the youths, a bid to make ends meet no matter what, have had to mess their own life, instead of cooling down their head as Musui’s father had wanted. Youths may not reach far with their ways of handling own life and mainly depends on the other members of the society.
Work Cited
Katsu, Kokichi. Musui’s story: the autobiography of a Tokugawa samurai. University of Arizona Press, 1991.