Yoshishiro - Kicchomu

Japanese: 吉四六 - きっちょむ

The protagonist of a comedy handed down mainly in Oita Prefecture. He is known for his wisdom and humorous personality. The Kisshiro depicted in the Kisshiro story is a clown, a kind of trickster. One theory is that Kisshiro was modeled on Hirota Kichiemon, who lived in the area of present-day Nozu Town, Ono County, Oita Prefecture in the mid-Edo period and ran a sake brewery, but there is no definite proof. Ordinary villagers are generally taciturn, but Kisshiro, who is a good talker and humorous, is an outcast from the community. His charming personality, which allowed him to make people laugh with his wit and jokes, made him popular with the villagers, but this was because he was a traveler or a teacher well acquainted with the ways of the world, and he was a foreigner welcomed by the settled villagers.

(Miyata Noboru)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

大分県を中心に伝承されている笑話の主人公。知恵があり,ひょうきんな人柄で有名である。吉四六話で描かれた吉四六は,おどけ者,いわゆるトリックスターの一種である。一説に吉四六のモデルは,江戸中期に現在の大分県大野郡野津町のあたりに住み,酒造業を営んでいた広田吉右衛門とするが確証はない。元来ふつうの村人は寡黙であるが,そのなかで,話上手でひょうきんな吉四六は,共同体からははみ出た存在になっている。頓智や冗談で人を笑わせる魅力的な人柄は,村人に好まれたが,それは世間のことによく慣れた旅人あるいは世間師であったからであり,定着している村人に歓迎される異人であった。

(宮田登)

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