Shikitei Sanba

A writer of joke books, humorous books, yellow-covered books, and collection books from the late Edo period. His real name was Kikuchi Hisanori, also known as Taisuke. He was commonly known as Nishinomiya Tasuke. His other names included Honchoan, Shikisanjin, and Tarariro. He was born in Tawaramachi, Asakusa, Edo. His father, Mohei, was a woodblock maker, and the illegitimate son of Kikuchi Ikinokami, a shrine official at Hachijo Kojima Tametomo Daimyojin Shrine. He started working at a bookshop early on, where he became familiar with gesaku, and became a gesaku writer at a young age. He was said to have a simple personality, typical of an ordinary Edo resident, a drinker, quick to quarrel, and prone to anger, but he also had business acumen, running a medicine and cosmetics store in Nihonbashi Honcho and successfully selling his own inventions, a lotion called "Edo no Mizu" and toothpaste. His son Toranosuke, who went by the name Shikitei Kosama, was also a comic book writer.

His first work was the yellow-covered Tendō Ukiyo no dezukai (Tendo Ukiyo de Seisou) (1794) published at the age of 19. From then on, he recognized himself as an orthodox Edo comic writer, and inherited the style of yellow-covered novels from before the Kansei Reforms, which was characterized by light wit and humor, but he could not keep up with the times and published the popular tale of revenge, Ikazuchi Taro Goaku Monogatari (The Tale of Raitarō the Evil) (1806), which sparked the popularity of the gokan format. He also wrote sharebon (comic stories), and his works, such as Tatsumi Fugen (Tatsumi Fugen) (1798), follow the popular style of depicting the true feelings of customers and prostitutes, but are characterized by detailed depictions. He also wrote yomihon (reading stories), but his forte was in the comedy genre. His first works were "Gejo Suigen Maku no Soto" (The Playhouse's Elegant Sayings Outside the Curtain) and "Drunken Temperament" (A Drunken Disposition) published in 1806 (Bunka 3). In addition to his representative works "Ukiyoburo" (The Bathhouse) and "Ukiyodoko" (The Bed of the Floating World), he also wrote other works such as "Hayagawari Mune no Karakuri" (The Quick-Changing Chest Organ) (1810), "Kyakusha Hyobanki" (Guest Reviews) (1811), "Shijuu Hachikuse" (Forty-Eight Habits) (1812), "Ippai Kigen" (A Cup of Elegant Sayings) (1813), "Ningenbanjuusobokakari" (All Human Affairs are False Plans) (1813), and "Kokon Hyakubaka" (A Hundred Idiots of All Time) (1814). Many of these works are technically linked to the Edo Rakugo storytelling that was popular at the time, and all of them are thorough portrayals of the tendencies and inner workings of everyday people, even down to the words and actions they use, and are written mainly in dialogue, with ironic humor.The humor in Sanba's comic books is not contrived laughter created by creating special characters, as in Jippensha Ikku's "Douchu Hizakurige" (first volume, 1803), but rather a wry smile that emerges from detailed portrayals of the daily lives of ordinary people.

[Goya Jinbo]

"The Art of the Three Horses" (included in Inbara Taizo Collected Works 17, Chuokoron-Shinsha, 1980)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸後期の洒落本(しゃれぼん)・滑稽本(こっけいぼん)・黄表紙(きびょうし)・合巻(ごうかん)作者。本名菊地久徳、また太輔（泰輔）(たいすけ)。通称西宮太助(にしのみやたすけ)。別号本町庵(ほんちょうあん)、四季山人(しきさんじん)、哆囉哩楼(たらりろう)など。江戸・浅草田原町に生まれた。父の茂兵衛は板木(はんぎ)師で、八丈小島為朝(ためとも)大明神の祠官(しかん)菊地壱岐守(いきのかみ)の庶腹という。早く書肆(しょし)に奉公して戯作(げさく)に親しみ、若くして戯作者となった。淡泊な性格で、市井(しせい)の江戸人らしく、酒好きでけんか早く、かんしゃくもちであったと伝えられるが、商才もあり、日本橋本町に売薬・化粧品の店を経営して、自身創案の化粧水「江戸の水」や歯みがき粉を売り出して成功している。一子虎之助(とらのすけ)も式亭小三馬と称して、戯作者であった。

　処女作は19歳で発表した黄表紙『天道浮世出星操(てんとううきよのでづかい)』（1794）であり、以後江戸戯作の正統を自認して、寛政(かんせい)の改革以前の、軽妙な機知と洒落を生命とした黄表紙の作風を継承しているが、時流には勝てず、流行の敵討物(かたきうちもの)『雷太郎強悪物語(いかずちたろうごうあくものがたり)』（1806）を発表し、合巻形式流行のきっかけをつくった。洒落本も執筆し、『辰巳婦言(たつみふげん)』（1798）その他は、流行の客と遊女の真情を描く作風に従いながら、細密な写生に特色をみせている。ほかに読本(よみほん)の作もあるが、本領は滑稽本であった。1806年（文化3）刊の『戯場粋言幕之外(げじょうすいげんまくのそと)』『酩酊気質(なまえいかたぎ)』を最初として、『浮世風呂(うきよぶろ)』『浮世床(うきよどこ)』の代表作のほか、『早替胸機関(はやがわりむねのからくり)』（1810）、『客者評判記(きゃくしゃひょうばんき)』（1811）、『四十八癖(しじゅうはちくせ)』（1812）、『一盃綺言(いっぱいきげん)』（1813）、『人間万事虚誕計(にんげんばんじうそばっかり)』（1813）、『古今百馬鹿(ここんひゃくばか)』（1814）などがある。それらは当時流行の江戸落語と技法的につながるものが多く、いずれも日常生活の人間の性癖、心の表裏を、ことばつきや動作まで彷彿(ほうふつ)させるような徹底した写生で、会話を主とした文章で描き、皮肉な笑いをたたえている。十返舎一九(じっぺんしゃいっく)の『道中膝栗毛(どうちゅうひざくりげ)』（初編、1803）のように、特殊な人物を創造しての、つくられた笑いでなく、一般社会の人々の日常生活を精細に描くことから浮かび上がる微苦笑が、三馬の滑稽本の笑いであった。

［神保五彌］

『「三馬の芸術」（『潁原退蔵著作集17』所収・1980・中央公論社）』

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