Ooka Tadasuke
Encyclopedia
was a Japanese
samurai
in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate
. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune
, as a magistrate (machi bugyō) of Edo
, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate (Yamada-bugyō) prior to his tenure as South Magistrate (Minami Machi-bugyō) of Edo. With the title Echizen no Kami
(Governor of Echizen or Lord of the Echizen), he is often known as . He was highly respected as an incorruptible judge. In addition, he established the first fire brigade made up of commoners, and the Koishikawa Yojosho (a city hospital). Later, he advanced to the position of jisha bugyō, and subsequently became daimyo
of the Nishi-Ōhira Domain
(10,000 koku
).
Ōoka was born in 1677, but did not come into public notice until he was 35, when he was appointed an obscure judgeship. When he accepted this job, he found out that there was a long–standing boundary dispute between the farmers of the Yamada and Wakayama (Kishū)
fiefs.
While it was obvious that the Yamada claim was the just one, however, no previous judge had been fool enough to irritate Yoshimune
, Lord of Kishū, as he was very close to the shogun, Tokugawa Ietsugu
. However, Ōoka took up the case, and immediately settled it on its merits. Yoshimune was so impressed that when he became shogun five years later, he took the unusual action of promoting Ōoka over hundreds of other candidates, to the important post of machi–bugyō (magistrate) of Edo
(old name for Tokyo). The post of machi–bugyō combined the duties of mayor, police chief, judge, and fire marshal.
ary status in a number of stories about his unorthodox legal decisions:
One of the most famous stories is called "The Case of the Stolen Smell" where he heard the case of a paranoid innkeeper who accused a poor student of literally stealing the fumes of his cooking by eating when the innkeeper was cooking to flavour his dull food. Although his colleagues advised Ōoka to throw the case out as ridiculous, he decided to hear the case. The judge resolved the matter by ordering the student to pass the money he had in one hand to his other and ruling that the price of the smell of food is the sound of money.
In The Case of the Bound Jizo or Suspect Statue was called upon to discover the thief of a cartload of cloth from a local kimono maker. Ōoka ordered a statue of Jizo
of the Narihira-san Tōsen-ji
, a temple in Tokyo, to be bound and brought forth to be called to answer for dereliction of its custodial duty. When the bound statue arrived in the courtroom, the spectators burst into laughter. Ōoka sternly ordered each spectator to be punished with a token fine for their outburst. Each was ordered to provide a small swatch of cloth as a fine. When the spectators paid their fines, the robbed kimono maker identified the piece of cloth from one spectator as identical to the cloth stolen in the crime. The spectator, who was the actual thief, was arrested, and Ōoka ordered the Jizo statue released as having discharged his duty. In 1925, the statue was removed from downtown Tokyo to a little temple called Nanjo–in on its outskirts. The statue still stands, and is wrapped in rope tied by hopeful victims of thieves. However, the statue is worn almost smooth because of over 200 years of binding.
television series. In one, Ōoka Echizen
, actor Gō Katō
played the lead. In the other, Meibugyō! Ōoka Echizen, Kinya Kitaōji played the same role.
In addition, series such as Abarenbo Shogun
have portrayed Ōoka as an intimate of the shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune
.
Other actors who portrayed Ōoka include Ichikawa Danjūrō XII
in Honō no Bugyō Ōoka Echizen no Kami (Tokyo Broadcasting System
, 1996) and Sakae Takita in the 1995 Taiga drama
Hachidai Shogun Yoshimune.
, it was called Solomon in Kimono: Tales of Ooka, a Wise Judge of Old Yedo. Edmonds' versions were then further presented to American schoolchildren in the 1970s, by the Scholastic publishing house, in books with titles such as Ooka the Wise and The Case of the Marble Monster.
Judge Ooka has also appeared in the Samurai Detective book series by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, including The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn (1999), The Demon in the Teahouse (2001),In Darkness, Death (2004; Edgar award
winner), The Sword That Cut the Burning Grass (2005), A Samurai Never Fears Death (2007), and Seven Paths To Death (2008)
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune
Tokugawa Yoshimune
was the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.-Lineage:...
, as a magistrate (machi bugyō) of Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate (Yamada-bugyō) prior to his tenure as South Magistrate (Minami Machi-bugyō) of Edo. With the title Echizen no Kami
Echizen Province
was an old province of Japan, which is today the northern part of Fukui Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Etchū and Echigo Provinces.Echizen is famous for washi . A text dated AD 774 mentions the washi made in this area. Echizen-produced Washi is still the most commonly sold traditional...
(Governor of Echizen or Lord of the Echizen), he is often known as . He was highly respected as an incorruptible judge. In addition, he established the first fire brigade made up of commoners, and the Koishikawa Yojosho (a city hospital). Later, he advanced to the position of jisha bugyō, and subsequently became daimyo
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of the Nishi-Ōhira Domain
Nishi-Ohira Domain
was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Nukata District Mikawa Province , Japan. It was centered on what is now part of the city of Okazaki, Aichi.-History:...
(10,000 koku
Koku
The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...
).
Ōoka was born in 1677, but did not come into public notice until he was 35, when he was appointed an obscure judgeship. When he accepted this job, he found out that there was a long–standing boundary dispute between the farmers of the Yamada and Wakayama (Kishū)
Wakayama Domain
The was a han or Japanese feudal domain in Kii Province , with income of 555,000 koku. The domain was also known as or . The heads of the domain were Kishu-Tokugawa clan, one of Gosanke...
fiefs.
While it was obvious that the Yamada claim was the just one, however, no previous judge had been fool enough to irritate Yoshimune
Tokugawa Yoshimune
was the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.-Lineage:...
, Lord of Kishū, as he was very close to the shogun, Tokugawa Ietsugu
Tokugawa Ietsugu
Tokugawa Ietsugu; 徳川 家継 was the seventh shogun of the Tokugawa Dynasty, who ruled from 1713 until his death in 1716...
. However, Ōoka took up the case, and immediately settled it on its merits. Yoshimune was so impressed that when he became shogun five years later, he took the unusual action of promoting Ōoka over hundreds of other candidates, to the important post of machi–bugyō (magistrate) of Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
(old name for Tokyo). The post of machi–bugyō combined the duties of mayor, police chief, judge, and fire marshal.
Famous cases
In addition, the figure has taken on a legendLegend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
ary status in a number of stories about his unorthodox legal decisions:
One of the most famous stories is called "The Case of the Stolen Smell" where he heard the case of a paranoid innkeeper who accused a poor student of literally stealing the fumes of his cooking by eating when the innkeeper was cooking to flavour his dull food. Although his colleagues advised Ōoka to throw the case out as ridiculous, he decided to hear the case. The judge resolved the matter by ordering the student to pass the money he had in one hand to his other and ruling that the price of the smell of food is the sound of money.
In The Case of the Bound Jizo or Suspect Statue was called upon to discover the thief of a cartload of cloth from a local kimono maker. Ōoka ordered a statue of Jizo
Ksitigarbha
Ksitigarbha is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism, usually depicted as a Buddhist monk in the Orient. The name may be translated as "Earth Treasury", "Earth Store", "Earth Matrix", or "Earth Womb"...
of the Narihira-san Tōsen-ji
Tosen-ji
is a Buddhist temple in Katsushika, Tokyo, near the Yamamoto House and Mizumoto City Park. This temple is famous for the "Bound Jizo" discussed in the Case of the Bound Jizo of Ōoka Tadasuke, a famous judge in Edo during the Edo period....
, a temple in Tokyo, to be bound and brought forth to be called to answer for dereliction of its custodial duty. When the bound statue arrived in the courtroom, the spectators burst into laughter. Ōoka sternly ordered each spectator to be punished with a token fine for their outburst. Each was ordered to provide a small swatch of cloth as a fine. When the spectators paid their fines, the robbed kimono maker identified the piece of cloth from one spectator as identical to the cloth stolen in the crime. The spectator, who was the actual thief, was arrested, and Ōoka ordered the Jizo statue released as having discharged his duty. In 1925, the statue was removed from downtown Tokyo to a little temple called Nanjo–in on its outskirts. The statue still stands, and is wrapped in rope tied by hopeful victims of thieves. However, the statue is worn almost smooth because of over 200 years of binding.
Ōoka in fiction
Ōoka Tadasuke has been the central character in two jidaigekiJidaigeki
is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...
television series. In one, Ōoka Echizen
Ooka Echizen
was a long-running prime-time television jidaigeki in Japan. From March 16, 1970 to March 15, 1999, 402 episodes were broadcast. Also, a two-hour special aired on March 20, 2006, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the National Gekijō, which occupies the Monday evening 8:00–8:54 time slot on...
, actor Gō Katō
Go Kato
Go Kato was born February 4, 1938, in Omaezaki, Shizuoka, Japan. He is a Japanese entertainer, and actor.-TV Dramas:*Sosa Kenji Ukon Makoto no Satsujin Chosho...
played the lead. In the other, Meibugyō! Ōoka Echizen, Kinya Kitaōji played the same role.
In addition, series such as Abarenbo Shogun
Abarenbo Shogun
is a Japanese television program on the TV Asahi network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun. The program started in 1978 under the title Yoshimune Hyōbanki: Abarenbō Shōgun...
have portrayed Ōoka as an intimate of the shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune
Tokugawa Yoshimune
was the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.-Lineage:...
.
Other actors who portrayed Ōoka include Ichikawa Danjūrō XII
Ichikawa Danjuro XII
is a Japanese actor. He is the twelfth kabuki actor to hold the illustrious name Ichikawa Danjūrō.He is the eldest son of Ichikawa Danjūrō XI. He first appeared on stage in 1953 under his birth name Natsuo Horikoshi, and in 1958 took the name Ichikawa Shinnosuke...
in Honō no Bugyō Ōoka Echizen no Kami (Tokyo Broadcasting System
Tokyo Broadcasting System
, TBS Holdings, Inc. or TBSHD, is a stockholding company in Tokyo, Japan. It is a parent company of a television network named and radio network named ....
, 1996) and Sakae Takita in the 1995 Taiga drama
Taiga drama
is the name NHK gives to the annual, year-long historical fiction television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white Hana no Shōgai, starring kabuki actor Onoe Shōroku and Takarazuka star Awashima Chikage, the network has hired a producer, director, writer, music...
Hachidai Shogun Yoshimune.
English presentations
Stories of Ooka began showing up in English in 1908, in "The Case of Ten-Ichi-Bo, a Cause Celebre in Japan" by WJS Shand, published by the Tokyo Methodist Publishing House. In 1956, an illustrated book was created by I.G. Edmonds, an American military officer. Published by the Pacific Stars & StripesStars and Stripes (newspaper)
Stars and Stripes is a news source that operates from inside the United States Department of Defense but is editorially separate from it. The First Amendment protection which Stars and Stripes enjoys is safeguarded by Congress to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' interests,...
, it was called Solomon in Kimono: Tales of Ooka, a Wise Judge of Old Yedo. Edmonds' versions were then further presented to American schoolchildren in the 1970s, by the Scholastic publishing house, in books with titles such as Ooka the Wise and The Case of the Marble Monster.
Judge Ooka has also appeared in the Samurai Detective book series by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, including The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn (1999), The Demon in the Teahouse (2001),In Darkness, Death (2004; Edgar award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
winner), The Sword That Cut the Burning Grass (2005), A Samurai Never Fears Death (2007), and Seven Paths To Death (2008)
Trivia
- The city of ChigasakiChigasaki, Kanagawais a city located in central, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 234,400 and a density of 6,540 persons per km²...
in Kanagawa PrefectureKanagawa Prefectureis a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
has a festival for Ōoka in late April. - Ōoka is a major character in the Japanese tokusatsuTokusatsuis a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects ....
series, Shiro Jishi Kamen (White Lion Mask). - Bao Zheng is somewhat a Chinese equivalent of Ooka.