The NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (General TV, Sunday 8pm and others), starring actor Yokohama Ryusei Yokohama , has been a hot topic due to the way the kabuki actor Nakamura Hayato plays Hasegawa Heizo Nobui (hereafter referred to as Heizo). He boasts about his family background and falls for the Yoshiwara courtesan Hana no I (Fuka Koshiba), and ends up being played by Tsutaya Juzaburo(Yokohama), earning him the nickname "Kamohei" on social media. Many viewers were confused by the gap between the Heizo he portrayed and the one played by the late Nakamura Kichiemon in the TV series "Onihei Hankacho" (Fuji TV) for 28 years.
In fact, the young Heizo as a playboy portrayed in "UNBOUND" is faithful to the assessment of Heizo in the "Keichoufuinkiji" (Courtesy of the Emperor), written in 1799, four years after the death of the real Heizo. To summarize in modern terms, "He frequented the pleasure quarters, played with bad friends, and squandered away the fortune his father had saved for him. He was a notorious playboy." In the third episode of "UNBOUND" (broadcast on January 19), Heizo wrote to Hananoi, "I've squandered away the savings my parents left me, so I can't come (to Yoshiwara) anymore."
In real life, Heizo inherited the family headship at the age of 28 in September 1773 after his father's death. In April of the following year, he got his first job as a shoin guard in the Nishinomaru. The shoin guard position was considered the starting point of an elite hatamoto career, and was responsible for guarding the heir to the shogunate in the Nishinomaru. The heir at the time was Tokugawa Iemoto. In "UNBOUND," he is played by Oku Tomoya. In the seven months between inheriting the family headship and getting a job, Heizo frequented Yoshiwara and spent all of his inheritance.
◇ Did he get promoted by Tanuma Okitsugu? He was also the target of jealousy from those around him.
The image of Heizo that Onihei fans have of him is heavily influenced by the TV series "Onihei Hankacho" as well as the historical novel of the same name by Shotaro Ikenami, on which he is based. He has a smart way of playing and is an expert swordsman. He is strict with evil, but is also sympathetic to the ugly truths and gives sympathetic judgments.
Historical documents and literature from that time depict Heizō in an image similar to that of the Onihei Hankacho. While patrolling the city as an Arson and Theft Control Officer, Heizō comes across a dramatic quarrel between a husband and wife in a tenement house, drawing a crowd of people. Heizō steps in to mediate and calm the commotion. Afterwards, he would occasionally visit the tenement house to make sure the couple was getting along well, and otherwise keep an eye on the lives of ordinary people. People were amazed at Heizō's skill in apprehending thieves one after another, calling it a "divine feat." As the captured thief was poorly dressed, he bought him a kimono...
On the other hand, he also had a side of being a "smoocher." Before he became a robber, Heizō learned that a fire had broken out and that the flames were approaching the mansion of Tanuma Okitsugu, a powerful man of the time. He took the day off work and rushed to the Tanuma mansion to evacuate the family and servants. He then had his wife deliver the midnight snacks he had ordered to the evacuation site, as well as high-quality Japanese sweets. It is said that Okitsugu was moved when he heard the family's story.
After that, Heizō rose through the ranks quickly and was appointed head of the Sente-gumi at the young age of 41. At the time, there were 34 Sente-gumi groups responsible for maintaining order in Edo, and Heizō was the youngest of them all.
After Okinobu was ousted, Matsudaira Sadanobu took power and appointed Heizo to the Arson and Theft Control Division, with a concurrent position as the leader of the Sente-gumi. Heizo built up a track record of uncovering thieves and was praised by the common people. On the other hand, he also received a constant bad reputation. Some samurai ridiculed Heizo for being a solo act, as he would give money to people in need during his patrols and would build gravestones for those he had captured and executed.
When Heizo tried to find ways to raise the funds necessary for his duties, he was criticized as a "speculator" blinded by profit. Heizo was popular among the common people, and it seems that he had incurred the envy of other samurai.
◇It wasn’t all cool
The Yoshino satsusho, a record of the behavior and reputations of the hatamoto of the time, includes the following review of Heizo: "Heizo is arrogant and always boasts, 'Me, me,'" and "He says that no one is as good at catching thieves as he is, and mocks the magistrates of today, saying they are of no use at all."
Heizo's father, Heizo Nobuo, was promoted from the Arson and Theft Control Division to the position of Kyoto Nishimachi Magistrate, but Heizo never received a higher position despite his achievements. "No matter how hard I work, no one calls me. I'm exhausted. I'm sure I'll just drink myself to death," he complained to a close acquaintance. It's the very lament of a modern-day salaryman.
The real Heizo did not just have the cool image portrayed by Nakamura Kichiemon.
Tsutaya Juzaburo was born four years after Heizō (1750) and died two years after Heizō (1797). During the time of Tanuma Okitsugu, both of them demonstrated their natural talent and unconventionality, with Tsutaya developing a business and Heizō beginning to climb the ladder of success.
In the third episode of "UNBOUND," the 50 ryo that Heizō put into Hananoi becomes the capital for Tsutajō's Hitome Senbon, and Yoshiwara becomes bustling. Hananoi smiles at Tsutajō, as if to show affection for Heizō, who is unaware that he has fallen for Tsutajō's trick, and says, "Saving the Yoshiwara riverside with just 50 ryo is the height of elegance, isn't it?"
I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of story Hayato's character, Heizou, will weave as he interacts with Tsutae. (Text by Kenichi Komatsu)
*1: Hasegawa Heizo's date of birth is not officially known, but in the Kansei Shoshu Shokafu, a record of the genealogy of feudal lords and samurai, it is recorded that he died in 1795 at the age of 50. For this reason, some documents count backwards and say he was born in 1745, but since the age system at the time was based on the Japanese calendar, the prevailing theory is that he was born in 1746. The Sumida Ward Board of Education, which has posted an information board at the site of Heizo's mansion, also states that he was born in 1746. Heizo's ages in the text are also written in the Japanese calendar.
◇Profile
Kenichi Komatsu Born in Osaka in 1958. Joined the Mainichi Shimbun in 1983. In charge of crime and government affairs in the Osaka and Tokyo social affairs departments. After that, he served as the head of the Bangkok branch, editor-in-chief of the evening edition, general manager of the North American bureau, and editorial committee member, before retiring in 2022. While he was an editorial committee member, he wrote the serial article "Walking with Onihei" for over a year, which overlapped the world of the historical novel "Onihei Hankacho" (written by Shotaro Ikenami, Bunshun Bunko) with the historical figure of Heizo Hasegawa and the samurai society of Edo. Based on that, he published "Tokyo in the 21st Century as Seen through Onihei Hankacho - A Reporter Goes with an Old Map in Hand" (CCC Media House). In the past, he served as a guide for a tour of the setting of Onihei Hankacho organized by a travel agency, and was a regular on the FM Edogawa talk show "The Shape of Japan: Edo is So Interesting." He is currently a lecturer at the Yomiuri/Nippon TV Cultural Center for a course on learning about Edo from Onihei Hankacho.
