is the main character and title of a Japanese novel by Saho Sasazawa, probably best known in the televised version broadcast during prime-time in 1972–1973, directed by

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) and '' Fires on the Plain'' (1959), to the documentary '' Tokyo Olympiad'' (1965), which won t ...

. In 1993, the drama was made into a film, titled '' Kaettekita Kogarashi Monjirō''. Monjirō is a drifter, iconic for his ragged straw hat and cape outfit and long toothpick in his mouth. His stock phrase was "It's nothing to do with me".

Plot

Kogarashi Monjirō or "Monjirō of the Wintry North Wind" (see §Characters below) is a ''toseinin'' (a profession-less gamblerTosei-nin とせい‐にん【渡世人】
, '' Kojien'', 4th ed., 1991.) in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. He travels alone. He is exiled to the island of

Hachijō-jima is a volcano, volcanic Islands of Japan, Japanese island in the Philippine Sea. It is about south of the special wards of Tokyo. It is part of the Izu Islands, Izu archipelago and within the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Its only municipalit ...

taking blame for a crime committed by a friend, but when the friend breaches the vow of silence in order to protest Mojirō's innocence, it shatters his faith in people.

Characters

;Kogarashi Monjirō The character is known for always having a long toothpick protruding from his mouth, which sometimes served as a weapon. He wears a weather-beaten hat (type of ''

kasa Kasa may refer to Places * Kasa (kingdom), a former kingdom in Senegal * Kasa, Sweden, a village in northern Sweden * Kasa District, Kyoto, a district in Kyoto, Japan * Kasa Khurd, a village in Maharashtra, India * Kasa-Vubu (commune), a district ...

'' hat), and a dingy cloak. He also has a famous

punch line A punch line (also punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people Laughter, laugh. It is the third and final part of the Joke#Telling jokes, typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and th ...

, which was "''Asshi ni wa kakawari no nei koto de gozansu'' "It's nothing to do with me" or "It does not concern me", and characterized as a "

nihilistic Nihilism () encompasses various views that reject certain aspects of existence. There have been different nihilist positions, including the views that life is meaningless, that moral values are baseless, and that knowledge is impossible. Thes ...

gambler" or "nihilistic wandering outlaw hero". He is a wanderer (''watari-mono''), and a skilled swordsman, who winds up aiding people he meets in his wayfaring journey, but he maintains he does not act out of altruism or sense of justice, but only retaliates against those who provoke his anger.

Television production

Film director

agreed to take the helm for the TV production partly for financial reasons, hoping to accrue enough capital to fund his cinematic works. The role of Monjirō was played by then-budding actor

Atsuo Nakamura is a Japanese actor and politician. He has appeared in more than 50 films since 1964. His younger brother Katsuyuki Nakamura is a writer. Career Nakamura first joined the Haiyuza theatre troupe in 1962, and became famous for his starring role i ...

. Nakamura Atsuo himself directed episode 8, second season, . Monjirō, especially the TV version, has achieved folk-hero status. The TV show reached 30% rating, and resulted in the opening of the Monjirō exhibit, and the sales of Monjirō

manjū is a traditional Japanese confection, usually a small, dense bun with a sweet filling. They come in many shapes and varieties. The standard manjū has a skin made of flour, and is filled with '' anko'' (sweet azuki bean paste). Some varie ...

sweets and

ramen noodles is a Chinese noodle dish popularized in Japan. It includes served in several flavors of broth. Common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has ...

. The production was plagued with problems. The lead actor Nakamura injured his

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

which disrupted filming, and the series had to go into recess and the hole filled by another program. The troubled production company, also fell into bankruptcy. In 1977, Shin Kogarashi Monjirō was broadcast on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Sadao Nakajima directed the 1972 film version in which the lead role was played by

Bunta Sugawara was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 200 feature films. Dropping out of Waseda University, he worked as a model before entering the film industry in 1956. After years of work, Sugawara finally established himself as a famous actor at the ...

. It has also been adapted into ''manga'' by

Goseki Kojima was a Japanese manga artist. He is known for his collaborations with manga writer Kazuo Koike, the most famous of them being ''Lone Wolf and Cub''. Biography Kojima was born in Yokkaichi, Mie, on the same day as Osamu Tezuka. After getting out ...

, famous for his samurai comic series ''

Lone Wolf and Cub is a Japanese manga series created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. It was serialized in Futabasha's manga magazine '' Weekly Manga Action'' from September 1970 to April 1976, with its chapters collected in 28 ' volumes. ...

'' read not only in the United States but internationally.

Analysis

The wanderer who can be classed with other television and on-screen heroes like Zatōichi or and an academic study compares them with the Japanese folk belief in '' marebito'', wandering spirits who help humankind.

Explanatory notes

References