Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai

Musui’s Story is an autobiography of a lower-ranking Japanese samurai written by Kokichi Katsu after his retirement and was completed around 1843. This English-language edition was translated by Teruko Craig and published by the University of Arizona Press in 1988. Musui’s Story was initially released as a series in a Japanese journal in 1899-1900. The narrative takes place during the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate. The shogunate was the military government of feudal Japan in the Edo period between the years 1603 and 1868.

One of the primary reasons Musui’s Story is an important historical document is that it depicts ordinary life in Japan during the late Edo period without embellishment. Whereas the Japanese society at that time adhered to a strict class-based, hereditary hierarchy and social etiquette, the memoir’s author broke many of the social and legal rules. Instead, Katsu describes his life as full of lying, manipulating, boasting, cheating, womanizing, fighting, stealing, and spending time with questionable characters. In this sense, the memoir provides a rare glimpse into an authentic functioning of a society without the type of stenography that one may find in historical records before the emergence of contemporary history writing.

The text of this edition is also accompanied by maps and historical, thematic illustrations from roughly the same period by such well-known artists as Keisai Kuwagata and Kazan Watanabe. Both types of images provide documentary support. The maps help situate the locations in Edo-period Japan discussed by the author. In turn, the illustrations offer a greater understanding of the society of the given period from the Japanese point of view.

Katsu was not a professional writer, a scholar, or a government administrator. He reveals that he only taught himself literacy in his twenties. As a result, the original Japanese text uses colloquial language and slang. The text appears to be written how the author spoke. For example, Katsu typically avoids the formal politeness for which the Japanese language is known. The two exceptions are the Prologue and the final chapter, “Reflections on My Life,” in which the language is more formal.

Musui’s Story is typically described as an autobiography, but it can also be classified as a memoir. On the one hand, the author covers events from birth to age 42 at the time of completion roughly in chronological order, making the text an autobiography. On the other hand, Katsu covers the given events rather selectively, focusing on particular themes and including many reflections and memories, classifying the text as a memoir. For instance, one theme to which the author returns repeatedly is good luck. Katsu believes himself to be extremely lucky and blessed because he avoided heavenly punishment despite his less-than-perfect lifestyle.

Born to the Otani family, Katsu is adopted by the Katsu family, which lacked a son when he is approximately seven years old, to have him head the household and marry the only daughter Nobuko as was customary. Musui is the name the author adopted after his retirement as a lay Buddhist priest, which was also common.

Musui’s Story begins with a Prologue and ends with “Reflections on My Life,” which functions as an epilogue. The Prologue and the Epilogue mirror each other. The author engages in hyperbolic self-flagellation and lists many of his misdeeds. His declared purpose is for his descendants and others to use his memoir as a manual of what not to do. He also claims to be a reformed man and offers suggestions for leading a proper life. The rest of Musui’s Story comprises seven chronological chapters: “Childhood,” “I Ran Away,” “Adult Years,” “Youth,” “I Ran Away Again,” “Adult Years,” “Life after Retirement,” and “Some Other Incidents.”

Katsu is a troublemaker who prefers fighting with the neighborhood boys to schooling. His rebellious nature results in his initial escape from home, but then at age 14 he experiences homelessness and has to beg for money. Eventually returning home, Katsu continues to get into trouble even after he marries Nobuko, the daughter of his adoptive family. He regularly visits the pleasure quarters in Yoshiwara, has poor money-management skills, and even steals from the shogunate.

Unable to receive a government appointment throughout his life, Katsu relies on a small stipend of 41 koku according to his hereditary social status, comprised of fief income and rice. This income is insufficient to sustain a family of five or six people. As a result, the author finds other ways to make a living, primarily dealing with swords and less-than-reputable pursuits such as money-lending. Unable to take responsibility and frustrated by the lack of work, he abandons his wife and young son and runs away again.

Upon his return, the author pursues the same disreputable lifestyle regardless of what his family, specifically his two biological half-brothers, Hikoshirō and Saburōemon, attempt in terms of both help and punishment. Both brothers are employed by the shogunate and act as the source of stability in the author’s life. Katsu continues to engage in illegal activities, such as shadow lotteries. He runs a sword business, travels, improves his formal fighting skills, participates in many informal street fights, and frequents the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. He often ends up in debt. In a vicious cycle, Katsu visits shrines to repent for his behavior and then promptly returns to his misadventures. The author also admits to beating his devoted wife, with whom he had four children, on a daily basis.

Ultimately, Katsu’s lifestyle catches up with him, and under family pressure, he formally hands over the family headship to his 15-year-old son, Rintarō. He is about 37 at that time. During retirement, Katsu engages in similar disreputable pursuits but without the pretense of trying to get a job with the shogunate. He then takes on the name Musui and becomes a lay Buddhist priest. This position does not require any special training or actions.

Precisely because Musui’s Story is not written by a professional writer and because the author is so honest—even defiant—about his misdeeds, the text serves as a fascinating historical record of Japan during the late Edo period. This autobiography describes authentic social interactions and highlights the type of issues that the Japanese people faced in a strictly hierarchic society under the Tokugawa shogunate.