my uncle would always say, "Order some Yasuke."
Our home used to be in Moto-Tsukuda. My mother’s older sister and her husband lived with us. My father commuted from there to the Dai-ichi Life Building.
"Every morning, a jeep came to pick him up," my uncle once mentioned in passing. "Up to Tsukuda-Kobashi."
Our house was tucked away in a narrow alley. I can just imagine my father, dressed in his military uniform, striding briskly down that quintessential downtown street. I have envisioned that scene countless times.
I was born at Tsukiji Maternity Hospital. But soon after my birth, my father was transferred to the Yokosuka Base, so we moved there with him. Our old home in Moto-Tsukuda was left for my aunt and uncle to live in. My father passed away, and after various circumstances, my mother and I moved back to that house when I was in third grade. That means my aunt and uncle had lived there alone for nearly eight years.
My mother and I lived on the second floor. The first floor remained my aunt and uncle’s living space.
After returning to Tokyo, my mother started working as a hostess in Ginza. Even as a child, I could tell my mother was a beauty, so she must have been quite sought after. It was the late 1950s, before the Tokyo Olympics—a time when Tokyo, having survived the war, was still alive with its own energy.
In truth… most of my "original landscape of Tokyo" was destroyed by the economic boom surrounding the Olympics.
Cities like NYC and Paris accumulate layers of history, but Tokyo is a city that sheds its past entirely. The thought that my original landscape now exists only in my memory is unbearably sad.
Now, speaking of my aunt and uncle, who lived in Moto-Tsukuda—while writing this, I suddenly remembered something.
Whenever there was a celebratory occasion, my uncle would always say, "Order some Yasuke."
"Yasuke" referred to sushi. "Atsuraeru" (誂える) in this context meant to order something, but in Ueda Akinari’s Ugetsu Monogatari, there is a phrase: "佐用氏にゆきて老母の介抱を苦(ねんごろ)に誂(あつら)え" —so I suppose the usage wasn’t incorrect. Maybe "atsuraeru" carried a sense of something special, rather than just "ordering."
However, when my aunt spoke, she would say, "Shall we order some sushi?" She never used "Yasuke" to refer to sushi. "Yasuke" must have been men’s language.
Why was sushi called "Yasuke" in the first place? Without some knowledge of theater, you wouldn’t be able to guess.
It comes from the Jōruri play Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura.
In the third act, the "Sushi Shop Scene" features a character named Yasuke.
Taira no Koremori, who had taken refuge at a sushi shop in Shimoichi Village, called himself Yasuke.
For the men of Edo, theater meant kabuki, so this reference was probably common knowledge. By the way, when my aunt said "theater," she meant Shinpa (a modern drama genre). Isn’t that an interesting distinction?
As for Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura, the "Sushi Shop Scene" is never performed alone—it is always paired with "Kinomi / Kogane-go no Uchijini." If you ever have the chance, do visit the Kabuki-za to watch it. And if possible… order some Yasuke during the intermission.
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