I was watching a Japanese period drama.
This type drama is called a "Taiga drama." Taiga
sort of sounds like "tiger" and means "great river."
This episode takes place abut May 1575 before the
Battle of Nagashino. The main characters are Chiyo
and her husband, Kazutoyo. According to the drama,
they were married 8 years and had no children.
Chiyo's uncle tells her if she can't produce an heir,
then they should produce an heir by concubine. One of the
women, in Kazutoyo's life, Korin, rescued him in one battle.
Anyway Korin is ninja (spy) of the koga branch. She offers to be his concubine. Sounds a bit like Abraham, Sarah and Hagar doesn't it?
I guess that practice of having a concubine was not
just in the Middle East. But Kazutoyo says he does not want
a concubine. I don't know if this is 21st century attitudes
projected to the past or his real convictions.
As an aside, I thought it was interesting that Chiyo's friends encouraged her to drink some yam soup to get pregnant. Ironically, I heard from someone that the Mexican yam was used by the indigenous people to PREVENT pregnancy.
I should mention in a previous episode, the warlord Nobunaga, who
is Kazutoyo's boss orders a son of one enemy warlord, who was captured to be killed. If people complain about the brutality of war today, they
should watch Japanese dramas. In the drama about the Tokugawa family,
Ieyasu Tokugawa orders the death of his rival's son, who was about 8 years old, I believe. I guess the warlords of Japan were quite ruthless. Showing mercy may be seen as leading to someones downfall.
If I remember correctly, the leader of the Heike (Taira) clan spared the sons of one woman of the Genji clan because she was beautiful. The two sons revived the fortunes of the rival Genji (Minamoto) clan and destroyed the Heike. The story of the destruction of the Heike clan is in the work called HEIKE MONOGATARI (Tale of the Heike). This time in history was also known as the Genpei wars and took place
around 1180 - 1185 A.D. So, my guess is the moral of the tale to later warlords, was to be ruthless. And later warlords of the 1500-1600's certainly were ruthless.
BTW the GENJI MONOGATARI is NOT related to the HEIKE MONOGATARI. In other words it is NOT the other side of the story. GENJI was written about a hundred years before and concerns a certain prince. The wikipedia mentions that there was some debate as to authorship. Sort
of sounds like the debate about whether there was more than one Isaiah.
Well, I think I will also mention a half hour drama which comes before
the Taiga drama. It is an "asadora" or morning drama watched by
Japanese housewives. But they don't tell us Americans that it is for
housewives only. The drama is called WAKABA. The main character in
asadora is one young girl. And the drama covers her life from child
to adult. What caught my attention was the question of having children. Wakaba the main character is pregnant. She is concerned
because her husband is planning to start his own business. Abortion is
not really mentioned. But I think it is implied. She is wondering what to do if she is pregnant. It is interesting to hear what the characters tell her. They say that children are a "gift from heaven." She still has her doubts. But then she goes to her spot in the woods.
And then a wind blows and lights shine. To her that is a sign (from her deceased father or the gods?) approving of her pregnancy. Japan
legalized abortion in a vote in 1948. They are now facing an
of an aging population and a low birthrate. This means taking care
of the aged will be a problem.
I have no idea, why certain Biblical themes come to mind when watching
Japanese TV. When I saw the drama about the regency called HOJO TOKIMUNIE, I thought about the rivalry between the son of the wife versus the son of the concubine, reflecting the Isaac / Ishmael rivalry. (My friend Grandma, wrote in response that the reason why I see Biblical themes in these dramas is SIN and SINNERS; topics which are not only covered in the Bible and Japanese drama, but also the daily news).
I understand the Taiga dramas are not really accurate. A lot of fiction is involved. Part of the reason, is we don't always know
much about the characters. The gross facts of history can be accurately portrayed, but there were no microphones to record all the dialog back then.
Guy
# posted by GuyTak @ 5:16 PM
