Edo’s Wildest Night Out… Starring Birds скачать в хорошем качестве

Edo’s Wildest Night Out… Starring Birds

‘Fires and quarrels are the flowers of Edo.’ Tonight’s quarrel stars birds — and the whole city seems delighted. We’re inside a two-storey Yoshiwara pleasure house, at its loudest and most chaotic hour. At the centre, a crow and a heron have erupted into a full brawl. In Japanese culture, these two form the symbolic pair uro — black versus white — a contrast so sharp it even lends its name to fierce Go matches, uro no arasoi. But this is no board game. The crow is so fired up that his short coat has slipped off, revealing a black chest wrap, tight trousers, tattooed arms, and the unmistakable swagger of a firefighter. A hawk grabs him, trying to pin him down before things get worse. The heron is no calmer. He swings a candlestick wildly. A pigeon senses disaster and clutches his arm to stop the blow, while a goose tackles him from behind. The fight clearly broke out mid-banquet. A table has flipped, bowls shattered, trays scattered, and even the roasted head of a sea bream sails through the air with a look of pure shock. A young kamuro runs for her life. She’s labelled ‘Mitori’, meaning observer — as if her job is simply to witness the chaos and escape when needed. Around them, more bird firefighters stand ready. On the left, a swallow and a kingfisher — muscular, tattooed, unmistakably backup fighters. The kingfisher’s cloth is patterned with shōgi tiles, quietly judging the match like a strategist. On the right, an eagle and a pheasant seem to be cheering instead of helping. Every workplace has those guys. The noise spreads. Sliding doors fly open. In the VIP room, a crane and a rooster drink calmly. The male entertainers, usually called taiko-mochi, become tori-mochi — bird entertainers — waving their arms and offering live commentary instead of drumming. The women serving them are labelled shaku-dori, a pun on oshaku, the attendants who pour drinks. Deeper inside, a warbler and a sparrow linger with two courtesans named Nukume-dori, the warming bird, and Yonaki-dori, the night-crying bird. Behind them, a customer who can’t pay is detained — the familiar punishment called inokori, the late-night holdover. Next door, an irritated owl complains loudly that his assigned companion hasn’t arrived, scolding the attendant known as Toko-o-tori, the bedding man. Downstairs, yūjo crowd the staircase to watch the spectacle unfold. Each bears a punning name: Tsuma-o-tori, the hem-lifting girl; Mawashi-o-tori, the multi-client girl; and Kyaku-tori, the customer-getter. At the very bottom, one girl quietly hands a bowl to a resting kamuro who wants nothing to do with the madness above. This is Utagawa Yoshifuji’s 1867 print ‘Kuruwagayoi iroiro seirō zensei’, literally ‘Frequenting the pleasure quarters in many ways: the house at its peak’. But Yoshifuji added playful furigana that read, ‘Asobi wa toridori kago no nigiwai’ — ‘Play comes in many colours; the pleasure quarter is a lively birdcage.’ Since yūjo were often called ‘birds in a cage’, he pushed the metaphor to its limit, turning customers into actual birds while giving the human staff comic names ending in ‘-tori’ or ‘-dori’. It’s a sharp reversal of Edo society, disguised as slapstick. Now, more than 150 years later, we watch this wild night through a small screen. Is this the cage of our own time — or a window into a world we never knew? If you enjoyed stepping into Edo’s most chaotic night out, please like the video, subscribe for more stories hidden inside Japanese prints, share it with someone who loves visual storytelling, and leave a comment telling me which bird you were watching first. __________ Utagawa Yoshifuji 歌川芳藤 Frequenting The Pleasure Quarters In Many Ways: The House At Its Peak (Play Comes In Many Colours; The Pleasure Quarter Is A Lively Birdcage) 廓通色々青楼全盛 (くるわがよい いろいろせいろうぜんせい・あそびはとりどりかごのにぎわひ) 1867 __________ #japanesehistory #japanhistory #japaneseculture #japaneseart #historicjapan #history #japanesetradition #japanesetraditional #japanesetraditionalculture #historylovers #historylover #japan #japanese #ukiyoe #japanesepainting #japanesepaintings #japaneseart #edo #edoperiod #edojapan #meiji #meijiera #meijirestoration #bird #birds #birdlovers #crow #heron #pigeon #goose #swallow #kingfisher #eagle #hawk #pheasant #crane #rooster #warbler #sparrow #owl