A History Lesson With Otaku Elf (Part 4)

 A History Lesson With Otaku Elf

(Part 4 of 4)

    Welcome back to Beyond The Anime! With the spring anime season coming to a close, this will be the final entry in my Otaku Elf history series, covering the facts from episodes 11 and 12. Episode 10, which followed the slice-of-life daily activities of the shrine maidens and their elf companions, didn't contain any history facts. 

    The town magistrates were high ranking samurai and vassals of the Tokugawa shogunate. There were typically two serving the area of Edo at the time, and sixteen total throughout the country. Just as Elda explains in episode 11, these magistrates took on the role of mayor, judge, and chief of police - as well as overseeing tax collection and firefighting. 

    After the unification of Japan by Ieyasu Tokugawa, the feudal period system of individual military or citizen groups handling security in a given region switched over to the one Elda describes. Samurai who previously fought against foreign enemies, as well as each other during the power struggle leading up to Tokugawa's victory, became the new police force under the direction of the town magistrates. In addition to providing security, they would also solve crimes - like the detective work mentioned in this episode. This system remained in place for over 250 years, becoming one of the world's first police states, until the Meiji period ended the samurai era and established a new structure based on European police systems. 

Edo period wood block print showing samurai police capturing criminals on a rooftop

    The expansion of the canal system that Elda attributes to Ieyasu Tokugawa has an interesting story behind it. This groundbreaking project was originally done to facilitate the construction of Edo castle, removing land from an area to the north in order to reclaim the shallow part of the Edo Bay near the castle and adding moats that extended for miles in an outward spiral. A canal named the Dosan-bori was formed linking the castle to Edo Bay and was used to transport materials needed for the castle's construction. They continued to dig more canals later on, and the waterways became a major feature of the capital.

    In 1603, around the time Elda would have been summoned to Japan, a bridge was built over the Edo River which was used as a starting point for the five major roads throughout the country that linked the capital city with outlying providences. Elda even mentioned these roads, and the post stations set up along their paths, in an earlier episode! Preserved canals still exist to this day, and locations such as the Kurashiki Bikan historical quarter offer boat tours through the town with views of the beautiful traditional style buildings.

Nihonbashi Bridge in Edo

(Katsushika Hokusai)

The background image of this screenshot from the episode was definitely based on the real life artwork above! The boats, the buildings, even the mountains and clouds, are a perfect match!

    The first half of the final episode focuses on Koito attempting to learn archery in order to participate in the shrine's yearly ritual, which is supposed to bring fortune to fisherman. Elda brings up a real archery competition that used to be held during the Edo period at a location named Sanjusangendo temple in Kyoto, a Buddhist place of worship with a name that translates to "temple of thirty-three bays". This temple hosts over a thousand Buddhist statues, and apparently, notches from the arrows can still be seen in the aged wooden structures today.

    The competition, called Toshiya, was held at the 120 meter hall just as Elda says, with challenges that ranged from one hundred shots to a thousand shots, or shooting as many arrows as possible during a 12 or 24 hour period. Adults as well as young boys were allowed to compete, and records of the winners were displayed at the temple. 

    The form of fortune telling that Elda mentions during the second half of the episode has interesting origins as well, and actually became the basis for a well-known treat - fortune cookies! These tsujiura fortune notes were combined with senbei, rice cracker cookies. They were larger and darker than the familiar Chinese fortune cookies, but had a similar folded shape, and the fortune tucked into the bend rather than the hollow inside. Sesame and miso were used to flavor the tsujiura senbei (which literally means "fortune cracker"), so they must have tasted quite different from the Chinese fortune cookies that are typically seasoned with butter and vanilla.

    This marks the end of my Otaku Elf history series! I hope you were able to learn something new from this fun Spring 2023 slice-of-life series that takes inspiration from Japan's Edo period. My favorites of Spring 2023 blog post will be a little late, but stay tuned for my anime/manga comparisons from the season, Oshi no Ko and Insomniacs After School, coming in the next few weeks, and my Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear anime/light novel/manga comparison coming later on!

Sources for further reading: 

- Edo machi-bugyo (magistrate's office): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_machi-bugy%C5%8D

- Hatamoto (the high ranking samurai who served as magistrates): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatamoto

- Edo period police: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_period_police

- Edo Castle and waterways: https://www.worldhistory.org/Edo_Castle/#:~:text=A%20canal%2C%20called%20Dosan-bori%2C%20was%20dug%20linking%20the,features%20of%20Edo%2C%20which%20was%20oriented%20around%20water.

- Edo period historical quarter canal: https://thesmartlocal.jp/kurashiki-bikan-historical-quarter/

- Sanjusangendo: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanj%C5%ABsangen-d%C5%8D

- Sanjusangendo: https://www.discoverkyoto.com/places-go/sanjusangen-do/

- Tsujiura: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsujiura 

- Senbei (Rice cracker cookies): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senbei

- Fortune cookies: https://www.history.com/news/fortune-cookies-invented-chinese-japanese