With the taiga drama now reaching the middle stage, Tsutaju’s business appears to be expanding. Among these, Sankyoden is likely to be the one making the greatest contribution.
At present, Utamaro is overwhelmingly more well-known, but I feel that Sankyoden far surpassed him in overall ability as a creator. Not only was he a poet, painter and gifted writer, he was also handsome and managed to buy the freedom of two courtesans, making him seem like an Edoite who embodied the pinnacle of sophistication.
It may also be influenced by the fact that I happen to have many works by Sankyoden (Kitao Masanori). My endorsement of Sankyoden is purely personal, but there are also many masterpieces that are objectively highly acclaimed. The yellow-covered masterpiece “Edo Nama Enki Kabayaki,” the jokeboshi masterpiece “Tsūgen Sori,” and the highly acclaimed pinnacle of his work, “Kyosei Kai 48 Te” are all works by Sankyoden. This work embodies a worldview that only Kyoden, a frequenter of courtesans and thoroughly familiar with the customs and practices of Yoshiwara and the sleight of hand of the prostitutes, could have portrayed. He possessed the ultimate understanding of insight and insight. It’s no exaggeration to say that Sankyoden was the pinnacle of insight.

At the height of his powers, in 1791, he was hit by a literary scandal, leading to the shogunate’s suspension of his humorous trilogy, including “Shikake Bunko,” for disrupting society. After being placed under shackles for 50 days, he distanced himself from humorous stories and shifted his focus to moral books, leading some experts to believe that the sharpness of his Kyoden style of insight faded.

However, Sankyoden made a comeback with the 1793 yellow-covered “Kannin Fukuro Ojime Zentama.” His master, Kitao Masanobu, provided the illustrations, and the story reunited the Sankyoden Kitao team. His brilliant portrayal of moral lessons from the protagonist’s inner conflict between good and bad, and his influence on the Edo townspeople continued unabated, even creating a boom with the villain dance.

The playwright who greatly supported Koshodo in the early part of the story was Hosei-do Kisanji, but Santo Kyoden will surely play an active role in the middle part.

Santo Kyoden, a handsome hyper-creator, appears to have had a rather dramatic life. I’m looking forward to seeing how he’s portrayed in Berabou.

The original Edo period works by Santo Kyoden listed above are currently on display at Ukiyo-e Cafe Tsutaju. Please come and see the works of the real Tsutaya Juzaburo and Santo Kyoden.