A History Lesson With Otaku Elf (Part 3)

 A History Lesson With Otaku Elf

(Part 3 of 4)

    Welcome back to Beyond the Anime, and the third entry in my Otaku Elf history series! This time, Elda teaches Koito and Koyuzu about Edo era children's toys, a new elf with an interesting connection to Elda and Yolde arrives, and there's even a mention of "best girl" contests existing hundreds of years ago.

Elda showing Koito and Koyuzu how to make origami

    When episode 7 started out with Koyuzu asking Elda what types of toys and games kids used to play with in the Edo period, I knew this would be a fun topic to research. It hardly comes as a surprise at this point that Koito's first guess, hanafuda cards (which came in decks of 48 with beautiful colored pictures of flowers, animals and other designs), has been added to the increasingly long list of things mentioned on this show that were once banned by the government. 

    Hanafuda cards were first created around the time foreign playing cards were outlawed, only to later become banned as well due to their use in gambling. However, this just led to the people finding creative ways around the ban, much like the time when large, fancy clothing patterns were forbidden. Their solution was to simply change the design of the cards every time the government banned one that became too popular. This went on for around 250 years until the cards became tolerated during the Meiji era. Fun fact, the popular game company Nintendo was originally founded at the beginning of the Meiji era to produce hanafuda cards. 

 "Returning Sails of the Kite (Ikanobori no kihan)" by Torii Kiyomitsu I (Japanese, 1735–1785)

    Another favorite passtime, kites were first introduced to Japan during the 700s but truly flourished in the Edo period roughly 1,000 years later. The rectangular shape common of Chinese kites evolved into new forms, and many kites in this era were shaped like animals such as fish, cranes, and even dragons.

    Elda told Koito and Koyuzu that the kites were banned for being too popular. While it is true the Tokugawa shogunate banned flying kites in 1655, this was a result of several accidents, including falls from rooftops - although their popularity may have played a part in that. Flying kites was only allowed on New Year's Eve, which became a tradition, but now it's common to see kites during many different celebrations throughout the year.

The "big sister doll" (left) is dressed as a geisha, and the dolls on the right are two boys playing a game called beigoma 

    Elda does manage to name a few fun activities of the Edo period that hadn't been banned, and one of them is origami, the well-known art of paper folding. Another popular toy from the Edo era among young girls was big sister dolls (anesama ningyo), three-dimensional figures made from washi paper (also used for origami), usually less than a foot tall. The styles of the dolls varied by region, but most of them wore traditional outfits and displayed common behaviors just as the one in the picture above carrying a candle. Elda said girls used to dress them up and play house like many girls from the present day still do.

    Fun fact, the boy dolls shown in the above photo are playing beigoma, a top game that was also popular with children of the Edo period and later became the inspiration for a modern children's game featured in the anime Beyblade.

Koito & Koyuzu blowing bubbles at the shrine

   The street vendors of the Edo period that Elda mentions were called "Botefuri". Not to be confused with Bofuri, the anime about an MMO-playing girl who raised her defense to ridiculously high levels and became a force of destruction, this was the name for merchants who sold everything from food to common items like dishes and brooms - even, as Elda told the girls, goldfish and insects like crickets and fireflies. They typically carried their wares in large baskets attached to a yolk on their shoulders. 

    The history of the street vendors was unexpected. At the time, the shogunate issued licenses to seniors, children under the age of fifteen, and people with disabilities as a way to provide support for the socially vulnerable, with the main cause of this being fires in Edo that left children orphaned and many others unable to support themselves. It was considered work that didn't require any skill, but people of all ages started to become botefuri due to the ease of entry into this profession.

    Although I was unable to find mention of merchants selling the bubble soap Elda is shown making for Koito and Koyuzu, there is evidence of bubble-blowing in the Edo period! Artwork dating back to the 1700s depicts people in Japan blowing bubbles for recreation, and interestingly, the same is true of French art from the same time period. (See reference links at the end of this blog post.)

Street merchants of the Edo period

    The second half of the episode focuses on Elda's participation in a modern day stamp rally in hopes of winning a prize, which she compares to a tour known as The Seven Deities of Good Fortune in Yanaka. This tour still exists today as a journey through the town to seven different temples believed to bring good luck. Visitors can receive seal stamps at these temples, collecting them all like a stamp rally. She probably wishes she had some of that luck when it comes to random draws! 

    Elda laments that she needs to leave her shrine to accomplish this task, reminiscing about the street merchants - the previously discussed botefuri, who used to come right to her door for home deliveries. I couldn't find evidence of the home deliveries myself, but Elda does specifically mention samurai row houses, located near the feudal lord, and Elda lives in the shrine, so it's possible they were given special treatment or simply benefited from living in highly populated areas.

Haira, another isekai'd elf

    Episode 8 introduces another elf to the mix, and it turns out she was brought to Japan even before Elda arrived in the Edo period! Haira was summoned by Toshiie Maeda, one of Oda Nobunaga's leading generals. He was acquainted with Hideyoshi Toyotomi, whose son Hideyori later summoned Yolde, and also a rival of Ieyasu Tokugawa, who summoned Elda. 

    After Nobunaga was assassinated and a power struggle began to determine who would succeed him, Maeda and Hideyoshi were at first on opposing sides of the conflict, but Maeda later switched his allegiance to Hideyoshi, and later supported his won Hideyori on the council of Five Elders. (Maybe this is when he supposedly told Hideyori how to summon Yolde.) This history of rivalry adds an interesting layer to the relationship between the three elves which wasn't really discussed.

    Haira has a gambling habit said to date all the way back to tomikuji, the Edo period's lottery. The method was fairly similar to today's lottery, where tickets were sold and the winners were determined picking numbered wooden planks from a rotating box (as opposed to numbered balls out of a clear bowl). Temples and shrines were the main locations allowed to distribute tomikuji.  

 "Osen of the Kagiya Teahouse at Kasamori Shrine with a View of Nippori in Yanaka" by Suzuki Harunobu

    Haira's miko, Isuzu, is a popular online influencer, and that leads Elda to bring up the topic of local girls from the Edo period who were popular like idols - teahouse girls. There's plenty of artwork from the era depicting them (see references below for more). Osen from Kasamori, whose popularity was mentioned by Elda during the episode, is shown in the picture above. Apparently, there were even rankings that allowed people to vote for their favorite teahouse girl, much like current day anime "best girl contests"! The more I research these history facts, one thing has become very clear - no matter the era, fans never change.

Elda wearing a "mino", a traditional Japanese straw raincoat

    Episode 9 talks a bit more about fashion during the Edo period, specifically what people would wear on rainy days. The raincoat made of straw called a mino that Elda is shown wearing was a real garment. Because rice straw has water-repellent properties which prevents rain from penetrating to the clothes underneath, rain gear was often made of straw for this reason as well as the added benefits of being cheap, easy to make, and lightweight.

    Although the name is different from the one Elda used, I was also able to find evidence of the rental umbrellas handed out by stores during the Edo period. They were called bangasa, a combination of the words for "number" (ban) and "umbrella" (kasa), and as the name suggests, shopkeepers would put a number on these umbrellas they lent to customers on rainy days. The ones mentioned by Elda which she called kashigasa had the names of the stores written on them, while these were differentiated by number and color (each prefecture had their own combination), likely resulting in the name difference. One meaning for "kashi" in Japanese is "grant" or "bestow", and when combined with the word for umbrella, it's also a fitting name.

    The origins of the annual home sweeping tradition Elda speaks of is true as well. Observed on December 13 during the Edo period, rather than closer to the New Year like the modern day tradition, "susuharai" (a slightly different name than the one Elda uses, "susuhashi") literally means "to dust the soot away" and was performed to clean house as well as welcome the deities of the new year, according to Shinto beliefs.

    I hope you enjoyed this exploration of Japanese history and learned something new. Stay tuned for my final post about the historical facts featured in Otaku Elf three weeks from now!

Sources for further reading:

• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanafuda
• https://lammuseum.wfu.edu/2021/12/japanese-hanafuda-cards/
• https://www.insideoutjapan.com/packages/shichifukujin-the-gods-of-fortune/
• "Returning Sails of the Kite", Japanese artwork: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/234528
• Kasumigaseki (with kites), Japanese artwork: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/176288
• https://voyapon.com/yuzawa-traditional-japanese-kites/
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_dolls
• https://paper.gatech.edu/artifact/japanese-washi-doll-set
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washi
• https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g01009/
• "Blowing Soap Bubbles Under The Plum Blossom", Japanese artwork: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/55590
• "Soap Bubbles", French painting: https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1733-chardin-soap-bubbles/
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maeda_Toshiie
• https://www.japanesewiki.com/culture/Tomikuji%20(lottery%20in%20the%20Edo%20period).html
• https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/thanks-to-the-shogun-tokyo-shinto-shrine-has-good-luck-charms-to-help-you-win-idol-tickets
•  "Osen of the Kagiya Teahouse at Kasamori Shrine with a View of Nippori in Yanaka" by Suzuki Harunobu: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/56507
• "A Tea-house Waitress" by Kitagawa Utamaro - https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/52009
•  "Okita the tea house girl" by Kitagawa Utamaro - https://www.wikiart.org/en/kitagawa-utamaro/okita-the-tea-house-girl
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mino_(straw_cape)
• https://www.japan-experience.com/plan-your-trip/to-know/understanding-japan/japanese-umbrellas#:~:text=The%20name%20bangasa%20evolved%20during%20the%20Edo%20period%2C,they%20lent%20to%20customers%20caught%20in%20the%20rain.
• https://www.greenshinto.com/2015/12/30/the-big-clean-up-osoji/