Musui's Story

“I myself have resolved to follow the path of righteousness henceforth. More than anything, devote yourself to learning and act in accordance with the teachings of the past.”

Katsu wrote his autobiography after retiring around the age of 37. He claims that he is reformed at the time of writing despite a lifestyle of impropriety up until this point. Having only taught himself basic literacy in his twenties, the author seeks to pursue learning as part of this reformed lifestyle.

“There can’t be many in the world as foolish as I am. So let me say this to my grandchildren and great grandchildren—listen to what I have to say, and may the scoundrels and fools, especially, take my story as a lesson.”

Katsu uses the same hyperbole as in his Prologue as a starting point for the first chapter. He declares that he wants his descendants to learn about his life as an example of what not to do. Katsu believes that his life experience and misadventure qualify him for the role of teaching such life lessons.

“I got it another fight over a kite, again with some boys from Mae-chō. There must have been twenty or thirty. I took them on alone hitting and punching, but they finally got the better of me. I was cornered on a large rock in an open field and struck over and over with bamboo poles. My hair had fallen loose all over my face, and I was sobbing. I took out my short sword and slashed left and right. But I knew I was beaten and decided then and there to commit hara-kiri. I stripped to the waist and sat down on the rock. As it so happened, a rice dealer by the name of Shirokoya was standing nearby. He talked me into giving up the idea and took me home. After this, though, all the boys in the neighborhood became my followers. I was seven at the time.”

Katsu describes himself as an active child and a troublemaker. He gets into many fights with the neighborhood boys. After one particular incident, the author claims to have tried to commit hara-kiri at age seven. Hara-kiri was ritual disembowelment for the samurai carried out for different reasons, including as a way out of dishonor. Assuming the boy’s feelings were legitimate, such a dramatic response demonstrates how early samurai boys absorbed the values of the Tokugawa shogunate. This incident also shows that the young author learned that acting so theatrically in public could be used as a form of manipulation—all the neighborhood boys respected him from this point forward. The author describes many other instances of dramatic manipulation, including another failed hara-kiri incident later on.

“I got up my courage and spent the whole day beginning. By evening I had received about a peck of rice and wheat and 120 or 130 copper pennies. The innkeeper was a good-hearted man and put me up for the night.”

As a young teen, the author escapes from his home, where he does not want to follow the rules. He quickly runs out of money and is forced to temporarily lead the life of a beggar as a result. This incident is the first time Katsu begs for money after being robbed. The kind innkeeper is part of a theme of luck in which Katsu encounters many positive people along the way who help him in one way or another.

“For several days I lay low, hoping that no one I knew would see me. On the fifth day I went as far as Ryōgoku Bridge. The next day I hid in the graveyard at the Ekōin temple and left only to buy something to eat. I used up my money and had to crawl out under the fence every evening to beg. But not many people were willing to give alms at night, and I was hungry most of the time.”

As a teenage runaway, Katsu stays away from home for months. He encounters many problems, such as procuring basic necessities. As time goes on, his situation gets worse. At times, he cannot find food, and, later, he becomes quite ill. This level of defiance is a personality trait that the author demonstrates throughout the entire autobiography.

“After I presented myself, Ishikawa said, ‘Tell me about your experience as a beggar. Keep back nothing.’ I told him everything from the very beginning. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘you might say it was a kind of toughening-up experience, and you came through all right. I’ll see to it that you get an appointment soon. Be patient.’”

Katsu’s interaction with commissioner Ishikawa is his first attempt to get an administrative job with the shogunate according to his social class. This incident turns out to be one of the many unsuccessful attempts throughout Katsu’s life described in the subsequent chapters. The lack of official state employment likely exacerbates Katsu’s misbehavior. 

“It was plain as day that I had stolen the money. All the same, everyone looked the other way, and the incident was passed over. As for the two hundred ryō, I spent it all in the Yoshiwara in less than a month and a half. After that I had to scrounge from the rice agents at the shogunate warehouse and other moneylenders.”

The author’s older half-brother, employed by the government, entrust him with the shogunate’s money meant to be sent to the treasury. Katsu cannot resist the temptation and steals some of that money. Instead of facing punishment, Katsu’s family, particularly his father, enables his behavior. The family is guided by good intentions of not ruining Katsu’s life. The result, however, is that the author continues to engage in similar behavior with impunity.

“The outcaste who had been wounded came from the village of Sakaki. He was rewarded by the government a generous stipend of about thirty-two bales of rice a year—more than enough for the support of his family for the rest of his lifetime. A cripple for life, true, but as fearless a man as you’ll ever find.”

The author describes an incident in which a samurai named Sakurai injures a peasant in an argument. Katsu attempts to stop Sakurai, but it is an outcast from the village that does so, as Sakurai “slashed him from his waist to his crotch” (53) and others step in. The shogunate strictly enforces law and order and rewards this outcast for his bravery. The author makes this incident sound like an exciting story, such as the kind one would find in gesaku fiction of the Edo period.

“Inside the cage I jiggled the bars and in less than a month had figured out a way to remove them. I also reflected on my past conduct and came to the conclusion that whatever had happened had been my fault.”

In this chapter, the author runs away from home again. However, this time, he is married with a young son and is evading much greater responsibility. When he comes home, his father puts him in a cage so he can reflect upon his poor behavior. The author claims to have spent three years in this manner without seeing the outside world. However, he has visitors and is allowed read. Assuming this claim was authentic, it indicates both the harshness of this punishment and the family’s level of frustration with the author’s behavior.

“You’re nothing but a back alley Shinto priest and probably don’t know any better. I rebuked you yesterday because you were unspeakably rude to me—an honorable bannerman of the shogun.”

Throughout the autobiography, the author describes routinely getting into arguments, street fights, and more formal fencing matches. In this incident, Katsu rebukes a Shinto priest. It is important to note how often Katsu brings up his social status, underscoring its significance in feudal Japan.

“Now if I, by birth an exalted bannerman of the shogun, put my heart and soul into it, it stands to reason that the gods will swiftly heed my prayers.”

This statement is another example of Katsu using his social status to amplify his importance. Here, the author links his status to his privileged access to divine intervention. The context of this statement is the so-called shadow lotteries, for which Katsu wants to obtain the winning numbers by using a spiritual medium. Therefore, his prayers are directed at an illegal activity.

“I took up religious austerities and penances. I began by going to the Fuji Inari Shrine in Ochiai for a hundred nights. I went next to the Inari Shrine in Oji for a hundred nights and after that to the Inari Shrine in Handa for other hundred nights. I also carried out the cold water penance. Squatting half-naked in front of the shrine altar, I poured bucket after bucket on myself for five or six hours at a stretch. That lasted 150 days, and much of it during the winter, too.”

As the autobiography progresses, the author develops a greater interest in religious engagement—both in Buddhism and Shinto—which were and remain common in Japan. It is unclear to what extent Katsu’s penance is authentic because he continues leading the same lifestyle of impropriety. Detailed descriptions of pouring buckets of water over oneself even in winter amplify the text's dramatic effect.

“One day I went to the shogunate prison in Senju and tested my sword on the corpses of criminals who had been executed. After that I became a student of Asauemon and learned how to lop off the heads of corpses with a single stroke.”

Asauemon Yamada is the official executioner of the shogunate, a hereditary post. The shogunate allows the samurai to practice their swordsmanship on the bodies of executed criminals. The author uses this opportunity to boast about his swordsmanship, such as cutting off heads with a single stroke.

“At the end of the month I made eleven ryō selling a Sukekane of Bizen sword to Matsudaira Hōki-no-kami for Matabei, a clerk at the shogunate warehouse. I got an extra five ryō from Matabei as a tip. Every night I went to the secondhand goods markets in Kanda and Honjo, and being a pretty sharp bargainer, I soon set aside a tidy sum.”

Because the author’s hereditary stipend is modest and he has no official employment with the state, Katsu has to make money in other ways. His primary money-making pursuit is selling and appraising swords. The author dedicates a significant amount of time to discussing every aspect of swords—from fencing techniques to making, appraising, and selling swords.

“I always put giving to others first, helping neighbors as a matter of course and those in need according to who they were. Perhaps, because of this, even in the leanest years of the Tenpō famine, I had one-sixteenth of a ryō of spending money each day.”

The Tenpō famine was a significant famine between 1833 and 1837, and large numbers of the population found themselves impoverished. The author uses this example to emphasize being paid back for his good deeds during a difficult time. Helping others—and boasting about it—is one of the key themes in Musui’s Story.

“Whenever swordsmen got together I was invariably seated at the place of honor ahead of even the teachers.”

Katsu misses no opportunity to underscore his status—not just one of heredity as a bannerman samurai, but also his informal status among his fellow swordsmen. Since Japan has virtually no social mobility during the Edo period, climbing up the unofficial ranks of groups like this based on merit and experience provides an alternative outside the strict social hierarchy.

“I got rid of my debts, took pleasure trips, frittered money away on one foolish thing after another, but I knew enough not to fall into debt again.”

The author manages the affairs of his brother Saburōemon while he is away. At this time, Katsu is able to live reasonably well in comparison to being in debt, which happens often.

“I realize that all the relatives look down on me because I haven’t received an appointment.”

The author makes this statement to his brother Saburōemon, expressing concern about never having had an official position with the government, unlike his biological half-siblings. On the one hand, Katsu is not alone in his predicament, as some families remain without government employment for generations. At the same time, in comparison to his brothers, Katsu may feel a certain sense of inferiority. He definitely feels frustration. His engagement in inappropriate behavior worsens his chances of getting hired by the state because the shogunate investigates its employment candidates thoroughly. As a result, lacking state employment and getting into misadventures becomes a vicious cycle for Katsu.

“I appreciate my brother’s concern. This time, though, may I suggest that you get some candles to light for me, because I’ve already made up my mind to stay in the cage for good and not come out even if I’m forgiven.”

Fed up with the author’s behavior, his older half-brother constructs a cage for him in the yard—not unlike the cage where he was punished when he was younger. By saying he accepts his fate and will never come out of the cage, the author engages in dramatic, manipulative behavior to make his relatives feel sorry for him. The extrajudicial nature of such punishment notwithstanding, this is a tactic that he employs throughout his life.

“Earlier in the seventh month I had submitted a request to my commissioner to become a lay Buddhist priest and changed my name. I received permission from Wakisaka Nakatsukasa Shōyu on the seventeenth day of the tenth month. I took the religious name Musui, but as my shaved samurai hairdo had not yet grown in, I decided to travel under my samurai name as a retainer of Okano Magoichirō.”

It was not uncommon for retired samurai to become lay Buddhist priests. This change of status does not require any special discipline or education. The author adopted the name Musui, which appears in the title of this book. It is also important to note that Katsu retires as soon as he can transfer the family headship to his son, who is only 15 at the time.

“But I, Kokichi, failed to raise the money, and having accomplished nothing, I cannot go back to Edo. In atonement, I have decided to commit hara-kiri tonight. My request is simply this—that all of you here see to it that my corpse is delivered by appropriate officials to my son in Edo.”

This statement comes from one of the most dramatic incidents in Katsu’s autobiography. Unable to obtain the required amount of money from his landlord’s fief and failing at all other methods, the author threatens ritual samurai suicide in front of an audience. It is evident that he has no intention of going through with his act, but he succeeds in convincing the peasants to raise the necessary amount within less than a day. It is quite possible that the author perceived himself as a character in gesaku fiction of the Edo period observing himself from the outside as an actor in his own life.

“I demoted the village officials who had been particularly defiant to the status of plain water-drinking peasants and replaced them with men who served in Gōsetsu’s time. To those who had lent money, I granted the privilege of bearing surnames, and to Shin’uemon, I gave a set of ceremonial robes, a house, and a plot of land with a yield of almost one koku of rice.”

Following the dramatic way the author makes the farmers from his landlord’s fief pay the necessary amount, Katsu punishes and rewards them according to their actions. He appears to enjoy this level of control over their lives. This kind of treatment aligns with his belief that he is entitled to teach others how to lead their lives regardless of his own decisions.

“After that I tried to be more gentle and considerate to my wife. Until then not a day had passed without my hitting her for one reason or another. Maybe it’s because of these past beatings, but she’s suddenly become very sickly over the last four or five years. I know what—from now on I’ll treat her like the retired lady of the house!”

This remarkable admission is the only place in the autobiography where the author makes more than a passing mention of his wife—the mother of his four children. This moment of self-reflection occurs after Katsu decides not to pursue an outside romantic interest. Katsu informs his wife of this interest in another woman—beyond his escapades in Yoshiwara—and claims that his wife will get this woman for him. Despite the elevated social status of being a samurai’s wife, Katsu’s comments reveal the realities under which women lived in Japan at this time.