was born Otani Kokichi in
Edo. He was a low-ranking
samurai
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
who was adopted by the Katsu family in order to marry the only Katsu daughter, Nobuko. Kokichi's father, Otani Heizo, was a minor official in the shogunate. His half brother, Otani Hikoshiro, was twenty-five years older than Kokichi. After their father's retirement as family head, Hikoshiro became responsible for all the family; he was a noted calligrapher and Confucian scholar and was twice distinguished as district administrator within the shōgun's domain.
By contrast, Katsu Kokichi led a life of idleness, never achieving an official post and supplementing his small (41 koku) income by dealing in swords, among other things. The other things, contrary to samurai-class ideals, included acting as a security guard and lending money at high interest. When Kokichi's son Rintaro (later to become the famous naval commander
Katsu Kaishū
Count , best known by his nickname , was a Japanese statesman and naval engineer during the late Tokugawa shogunate and early Meiji period. Kaishū was a nickname which he took from a piece of calligraphy (Kaishū Shooku ) by Sakuma Shōzan. He ...
) was fifteen, Kokichi retired as family head, passing on that duty to young Rintaro.
During his last days, Kokichi wrote an autobiography (one of the few surviving from pre-Meiji Japan) titled ''Musui Dokugen'' ("Musui's Story"), narrating his life and adventures in a style much like that of the
picaresque novel
The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for "rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corru ...
. This book is an excellent description of low life in Edo during the late
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
. Katsu Kokichi died in Edo in 1850, three years before Commodore
Matthew C. Perry
Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a commodore of the United States Navy who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). He played a leading role in the o ...
reached Japan. The autobiography has been translated into English by Teruko Craig, under the title ''Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai.''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katsu, Kokichi
Samurai
1802 births
1850 deaths