Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige

, abbreviated as Hizakurige and known in translation as Shank's Mare, is a picaresque comic novel (kokkei-bon) written by Jippensha Ikku (十返舎一九 , 1765-1831), about the misadventures of two travelers on the Tōkaidō, the main road between Kyoto and Edo during the Edo Period.

The two main characters, traveling from Edo to Kyoto on their pilgrimage to the Ise Shrine, are called Yajirobē (彌次郎兵衛) and Kitahachi (喜多八). The book, while written in a comical style, was written as a traveler's guide to the Tōkaidō Road. It details famous landmarks at each of the 53 post towns along the road, where the characters, often called Yaji and Kita, frequently find themselves in hilarious situations. They travel from station to station, predominantly interested in food, sake, and women. As Edo men, they view the world through an Edo lens, deeming themselves more cultured and savvy in comparison with the countrymen they meet.

They make their way leaving behind a trail of crude jokes and plentiful puns. They make fun of a daimyo procession, cheat shopkeepers out of money and get cheated in turn. At one inn they make fools of themselves because they do not know how to use the bathtub and burn themselves on the bottom, rather than ask for help.

In Ueno, one of them pretends to be Ikku himself, before he is found to be an imposter. On that occasion, they are served hot stones by the innkeeper and debate how to eat the stones, since they are presented on a plate as food. They are soon revealed as fools: the purpose of the stones is to put the konnyaku on in order to take out the water and improve the flavor. Instead, they picked at the stones and burnt themselves trying to eat them, since they had not understood.

Comic events often ensue when Yaji or Kita tries to sneak into bed with women, and this happens at various inns along the road.

In this way, Hizakurige proves to be a sort of comic novel that also provides information and anecdotes of various regions along the Tōkaidō. Written in the Edo Period, tourism was booming. Guidebooks proliferated and this work is indicative of that trend.

A second book was also written, called Zoku Hizakurige, which includes material on the Kiso Valley, Kompira, and Miyajima.

In addition, some of the episodes from this novel have been illustrated by famous ukiyo-e artists, such as Utagawa Hiroshige in his "One Hundred Views of Edo".

See also

*Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san

Sources

* Jippensha Ikku, Hizakurige or Shanks’ Mare, trans. Thomas Satchell (Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc., 1960). ASIN: B0007J7ITK.

* Jippensha Ikku, Travels on the Eastern Seaboard (Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige), in Haruo Shirane, ed., Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900 (Columbia University Press, 2002), pp. 732-747. ISBN: 0231144156.