Sarutobi Sasuke - Sarutobi Sasuke

Japanese: 猿飛佐助 - さるとび・さすけ

A character created by the Tachikawa Bunko in Osaka in 1914. He is said to have been active around 1615. He is said to have been one of the Ten Braves of Sanada who served as the personal guard of Sanada Yukimura. Sanada Yukimura was a real person. He entered Osaka Castle at the invitation of Toyotomi Hideyori, and fought against Tokugawa Ieyasu's forces, with his older brother (Nobuyuki) as his enemy. During the Winter Siege of Osaka (1614) and Summer Siege of Osaka (1615), he harassed the Tokugawa forces together with Kimura Shigenari and Goto Matabei (Mototsugu) until the fall of Osaka Castle, and was killed in battle at Chausuyama in Kawachi (Osaka Prefecture) on May 7, 1616. He survived as a central figure in Kamigata lectures among the pro-Toyotomi Osaka people, and the image of one of the Ten Braves who worked freely under Yukimura emerged. The monkey Sarutobi was inspired by Son Goku from Journey to the West. The story was told by Tamada Gyokusui, a storyteller, and was transcribed by Yamada Kei, who had fled from Tokushima and lived with him, together with his children. The book was published as a small paperback with a list price of 25 sen by Tachikawa Bunmeido in Osaka between 1911 (Meiji 44) and 1923 (Taisho 12). The system involved returning the previous book and receiving the next one, and by adding only 5 sen to the money initially deposited, the new book could be purchased. This made the book extremely popular among apprentices who had to wait a long time while running errands. Sarutobi Sasuke, a ninja who could transform into anything he wanted just by making a seal, became a figure of admiration for apprentices who had little freedom. Sarutobi Sasuke is said to have been created by Yamada Atetsu, the child of Tamada Gyokusui's second wife who became a dentist, but it was the apprentices of the Taisho period who protected and nurtured this hero. In the Tachikawa Bunko, all the kanji were given furigana to make them easy to read, so readers could read freely with their elementary school education, and by reading this library, readers learned the kanji on their own. Just as Tamada Gyokussai ran out of material, his stepdaughters, who had been writing the stories up until then, took over the original storytelling, and Sarutobi Sasuke appeared in the 40th story. After the boom of the Tachikawa Bunko died down, this hero, written by Yamada Atetsu, was passed on to comedies by Enoken (Enomoto Kenichi) and novels by Oda Sakunosuke, and has survived the Showa era even during the war, to this day, and even gave birth to the film "Sanada Fuunroku" (1963, based on the original story by Fukuda Yoshiyuki and directed by Kato Tai), which depicts the 1960 Security Treaty protests with Sarutobi as the protagonist. Makiichi Adachi, a reporter for the Shin-Osaka Shimbun, who had been researching the history of Kamigata storytelling, visited Ranko Ikeda, a member of the creative collective Survivor, and not only wrote The Heroes of Tachikawa Bunko (1980), but also gave Ranko Ikeda an opportunity to write her memoirs, Onnamon. Incidentally, Sarutobi Sasuke studied ninjutsu under the hermit Tozawa Hakuunsai in the mountains, working hard to save firewood and water, and this aroused interest among young boys and girls in the educational subjects of senjutsu and ninjutsu that are not taught in schools.

(Tsurumi Shunsuke)

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

Japanese:

大正3(1914)年に大阪の立川文庫によって創造された人物。元和1(1615)年ごろに活動したとされる。真田幸村の親衛隊として動いた真田十勇士のひとりという。真田幸村は実在の人物。豊臣秀頼のまねきに応じて大坂城に入り,実兄(信之)を敵として,徳川家康の軍勢とたたかった。大坂冬の陣(1614),夏の陣(1615)において大坂城の落ちるまで木村重成,後藤又兵衛(基次)らと共に徳川勢をなやまし元和1年5月7日に河内(大阪府)茶臼山に戦死した。豊臣びいきの大阪人の間に上方講話の中心人物となって生きのこり,幸村の下で自在にはたらく十勇士の人物像があらわれた。猿飛の猿は,『西遊記』の孫悟空から思いついたもので,講談師玉田玉秀斎の口演を,徳島からかけおちしてともに住んでいた山田敬がその連れ子たちとともに筆記して小型文庫本として大阪の立川文明堂から,定価25銭で明治44(1911)年から大正12(1923)年にかけて出版された。前の本をかえして次の本をもらうという仕方であると,はじめにあずけたお金にわずか5銭ほど足すだけで新刊を手にいれることができるので,使い走りで待ち時間の多い丁稚小僧にたいへんな人気があった。印をむすぶだけで変幻自在の忍術家猿飛佐助は,自由のとぼしい丁稚たちにとってあこがれを託する人物となった。猿飛佐助は玉秀斎の後妻の連れ子で歯科医となった山田阿鉄の創作といわれているが,その英雄を守りそだてたのは大正時代の丁稚小僧たちである。立川文庫には読みやすいように漢字にすべてフリガナがついていたので,小学校の学歴で自由に読め,この文庫を読むことで読者は漢字を自力でおぼえた。ちょうど玉田玉秀斎が種ぎれになったところでそれまで筆記をしていた後妻の連れ子たちの創作講談があとをついだわけで,猿飛佐助の登場は第40編目であり,山田阿鉄作のこの英雄は立川文庫のブームが去ってから,エノケン(榎本健一)の喜劇や織田作之助の小説にうけつがれて,昭和時代を戦争中にさえ絶えることなく生きのびて今日に至っており,1960年の安保闘争を猿飛を主人公としてつくった映画『真田風雲録』(福田善之原作・加藤泰監督,1963)をも生みだした。上方講談以来の歴史をしらべていた『新大阪新聞』記者足立巻一は創作集団生きのこりの池田蘭子をたずね,彼自身が『立川文庫の英雄たち』(1980)を書いただけでなく,池田蘭子に回顧録『女紋』を書くいとぐちをつくった。ちなみに猿飛佐助は山中で仙人戸沢白雲斎について薪水の労をとって忍術の修学をしたことになっており,仙術と忍術という学校では教えない教育課目への関心を少年少女のうちにかきたてた。

(鶴見俊輔)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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