Utagawa Yoshitora (歌川芳虎: ca. 1836-1887) (artist )
Tōken Gonbei (唐犬権兵衛) from the series 'The Lives of Brave and Hot-blooded Heroes' (Yūretsu kekki den - 勇烈血気傳)
05/1866
9.625" x 14.25" Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Kinchōrō Yoshitora ga (錦朝楼芳虎画)
Artist's seal: kiri in red
Date seal: V/1866
Lyon Collection - another print from this series, but with a different publisher and carver There is a section in Cecilia Segawa Seigle's book, Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesans, that describes on the pages 56-58, the rivalry between ruffian gangs in Edo in the 17th century and especially to one true event centered around the Yoshiwara.
Some were just plain thugs and others were what were classified as otokodate, defined as having a "chivalrous spirit; heroic defence of the weak; chivalrous man; champion of justice; knight in shining armor". Seigle wrote on pages 57-58: "One of the best known of these clashes involved the legendary Banzuiin Chōbei, leader of the town yakko gang Roppō-gumi, who was killed by members of a gang of hatamoto yakko called Jingi-gumi. The thirty-six-year-old Banzuiin had developed a reputation as the most chivalrous of otokodate, a Robin Hood character who commanded much respect from his followers in the band."
"The apocryphal account summarized here appears in Kyūmu nikki, an 1806 compilation of many newsworthy Edo events from unknown earlier sources. Mizuno Jūrōzaemon, leader of the hatamoto gang Jingi-gumi, invited Banzuiin to his mansion under the false pretense of offering reconciliation. Although Banzuiin suspected duplicity, to avoid the accusation of cowardice he accepted the invitation. He then presented himself alone at the Mizuno mansion and was winded and dined. When he finally relaxed, the entire band of the Jingi-gumi ruffians fell upon him and savagely murdered him. His corpse, then hurled from a bridge into the Kanda River, was discovered three days later floating downstream."
"The incensed Roppō-gumi followers, led by Banzuiin's lieutenant, Tōken Gonbei, planned revenge. Gonbei himself had a special reputation as a strong man. He was said to have killed by hand two ferocious tōken (dogs of imported breed) that had attacked him. [The choice of bold type is our own.] He was also remembered for his marriage to the popular Yoshiwara courtesan Tamakatsura."
"According to Kyūmu nikki, on the seventh-day memorial of Banzuiin's murder, Mizuno took an eighteen-member entourage to the Yoshiwara to celebrate his enemy's death. After two days and two nights of debauchery, the Jingi-gumi party left the Yoshiwara in the cool air of dawn, laughing and singing loudly. When they reached the Dike of Japan, they were set upon by Tōken Gonbei, and his men. The dike, a lonely causeway running along the canal from the Sumida River to the Yoshiwara, was often used by bandits and assassins to ambush men returning from brothels in the Yoshiwara. It was an uneven contest: eighteen sober and prepared men against eighteen samurai with a hangover. Immediately Gonbei assaulted the leader, Mizuno. Grasping the collar of Mizuno's kimono, Gonbei shouted: "This is in thanks for your slaughter of our leader Banzuiin by your cowardly trickery. It would be easy to finish you off here, but I don't have a sword to kill a nonhuman like you! He then produced a razor and unceremoniously sliced off Mizuno's nose and ears. Under strict orders not to kill anyone, Gonbei's subordinates, too, sliced off the ears and noses of the Jingi-gumi samurai. Bloodied and demeaned, the hatamoto were not permitted even the dignity of suicide: Gonbei's men had completed the insult by taking away their swords. Borrowing straw hats at the teahouses along the way and surrounded by a growing throng of jeering spectators, the mutilated men trudged back the long road to Edo."
"According to Kyūmu nikki, Mizuno and his followers were condemned to death by the baukufu's magistrates for their misconduct over the years and for bringing disgrace to their class. At various times, apparently, a number of hatamoto yakko including Mizuno Jūrōzaemon were indeed condemned to death by seppuku for their lawless behavior. Kyūmu nikki's accounts and dates are unreliable, but Banzuiin's death at the hands of Mizuno Jūrōzaemon and his followers, and Tōken Gonbei's revenge. are actual events."