Josai-ya

A peddler of medicines who travels the streets of Edo in summer. Also called Zesaiya, and called "Josaiya" in Edo, it is said that if you drink this medicine, you will not succumb to the heat of summer. The medicine is carried in a drawer box in a chest of drawers on a shoulder pole, and every time the pole sways, the ring of the chest of drawers shakes and makes a sound, letting you know that Josaiya has arrived. Even in the scorching heat, the sellers do not wear hats or towels. This medicine is a decoction invented by Murata Josai, a drug wholesaler in Sakai, based on a Ming dynasty medicinal method, and was a symbol of summer in Edo.

[Takeshi Endo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

夏に江戸の街を売り歩く薬の行商人。是斎屋(ぜさいや)ともいい、江戸では「じょさいや」という。この薬を飲むと夏負けをしないという。たんすの引き出し箱に入った薬を天秤棒(てんびんぼう)で担ぎ、天秤棒が揺れるたびにたんすの鐶(かん)が揺れて音を発するので定斎屋がきたことがわかる。売り子たちは猛暑でも笠(かさ)も手拭(てぬぐい)もかぶらない。この薬は、堺(さかい)の薬問屋村田定斎が、明(みん)の薬法から考案した煎(せん)じ薬で、江戸では夏の風物詩であった。

［遠藤　武］

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