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　　The Satomi Clan and the Eight Dogs

'Nanso Satomi Hakkenden (The Satomi Clan and the Eight Dogs)' is a very long historical fantasy novel that is written by Takizawa Bakin (Kyokutei Bakin, 1767〜1848) at 19 century. It describes the fate of a warrior family, Satomi in Awa-Kazusa (Chiba prefecture) that was defeated, but was revived by eight warriors. This story was first performed in 1834, and has been performed with many variations for long years after that.

As for me, 'Hakkenden' means a puppet play on TV about 30years ago. Everyone of my generation has known that puppet play, because it had been shown every weekday on TV for two years. I don't know if the others know it, though. The most impressive character was an evil spirit of a noble beautiful woman, Tamazusa. Her evil spirit was very ugly and big. When I watched it, I was a child, so it scared me terribly. After I grew up, I knew the evil puppet was operated by three men. This time, Ennosuke directed a part of that story. It reminded me of the puppet play clearly. But Ennosuke didn't show the evil spirit then. That might be a reason that I was disappointed by his direction a little. After I uploaded this Japanese version, a woman who was the same age as me sent e-mail to me. She wrote about an evil spirit, Tamazusa. This puppet play was a common experience of us really.

Well, its original author, Bakin has a terrible experience. His family belonged to the Bushi class. When Bakin was 10years old, he became the head of his family, because he was adopted as a friend of a grandson of his family's master. After that, he left from his family, and lived alone at his master's mansion. To live alone, itself is terrible enough for a boy. Moreover, his master's grandson was a terrible child. Although that grandson was hard on Bakin, he was patient for four years. However, he run away from the master's mansion finally. He was 14 then.

When Bakin was in the master's mansion, he read and learned many books that were written in Japanese and Chinese. He might have gotten many ideas for his novels then. He became the first professional novelist in Japan, when he was 24. It had passed 10years, after he left from the master's mansion. While he had no practical job, he had been thinking that he would like to have a job to live on himself. I think that he might have been tired of the Bushi society.

Bakin wrote a lot of novels, and they all became the bestseller. 'Nanso Satomi Hakkenden' had 106 books, and it took 28years to write. While he had been writing it, he became blind. After he lost his eyesight, his daughter-in-law Omichi dictated his telling until 'Hakkenden' had finished. Omichi was a widow already then, and was illiteracy, actually. Bakin taught Omichi how to write a character, and she learned and wrote it at the same time. However, always Bakin got angry with Omichi. Unless Omichi had been patient, Bakin couldn't have finished 'Hakkenden'. So I thank for her very much.

Bakin succeeded as the bestseller writer at Edo period, but Japanese literature scholars didn't estimate his works very well at the modern era. The best seller novel is a symbolic being of the times. But it doesn't always mean to be read by people for long years. Many Japanese have read 'Hakkenden' for 200years. It means that this novel is interesting enough to be read for long years, even in the future. So it was very sorry that Ennosuke didn't direct the evil spirit. The bright sphere was beautiful, though. (2002,7,6)