Twice ToldHandbill for a mermaid show, kōjō (spoken pitch), signed Tenpō 10 (1839), Hokkaido Museum, Yanaga collection
- Language
- Japanese
- Reading
- transcribed from the page image
- Translation
- ours
- Retrieved
- 10 October 2026
The Hokkaido Museum (北海道博物館) published a colouring sheet, 「江戸時代の人魚の絵にぬりえしよう！」, built on a woodblock handbill (引札, hikifuda) for a mermaid show. The museum credits the handbill as 「人魚の図」, 1836 (Tenpō 7), woodblock, Yanaga collection (弥永コレクション). Page 2 of the sheet reprints the pitch (口上, kōjō) in modern type with readings beside the characters. This file transcribes that page; the handbill itself was not seen except as a small image on page 1.
謹白
抑、此人魚の儀ハ、宝暦七癸酉年、奥州松前のおく蝦夷の漁人某、ある時海上はるかの沖へ漁に出しに、何やらうかみ出るものあり、よくよく見るに、其丈三尺余り、惣身ハ魚ニして、かしらハ小児のごとく、あまり不思議のものゆへ網をひかんとするに、彼魚、手を合せ、かしらをたれ、佗するさま、あまり不便ニおもひ、たすけ帰せしに、さハなくて大に悪口いたし逃行さま、言語さながら人間に異ならず、彼漁師、大に立腹して網を入れ、引上ケ、諸人に見せしむるに、是なん、世にいふ人魚ならん、あまり珍らしき魚なれバ、其後乾物となし、かの漁師の家に留まれども、辺鄙の事ゆへ其侭なりしに、去ル天保巳年、能登の国の某、諸用ありて彼地へわたり、はからざる因縁に右の人魚を交易して所持いたされしを、此度当処遊歴のついで持参いたし、尤、当座摩の御社へ志願の儀にて寄進の望もこれあり、且ハ先年当御座敷にて御覧に入候例にならひ、こたび、諸君子の御一覧に備ふ、尤、一たび閲する時ハ、第一長寿にして、福徳を増長し、疫病をうつらずと、いにしへより言ったへり、よって各被仰合、賑々敷御来駕被成下候得は、寄進の一助とも相成、願主の幸と、催主の銘々ともに、諸君子の高評をこひねがふになん、
天保十亥年四月
Translation
Respectfully stated. This mermaid was caught in the seventh year of Hōreki, the year of mizunoto-tori (癸酉), by a fisherman, whose name is not given, from Ezo beyond Matsumae in Ōshū. He had gone far out to sea to fish when something floated up. Looking closely, he saw that it was over three shaku long, its whole body a fish, its head like a small child’s. It was so strange that he meant to haul in the net, but the creature pressed its hands together and bowed its head as if begging, and he felt so sorry for it that he let it go. But instead it abused him fiercely as it made off, and its speech was no different from a person’s. The fisherman was furious. He cast the net again and hauled it up, and when he showed it to people they said it was probably what the world calls a mermaid. Since it was such a rare fish, he then had it dried, and although it stayed in his house, the place was remote and it was left as it was, until in the Tenpō year of the snake a man of Noto Province, there on business, came by chance to acquire the mermaid by trade. Now, travelling through this place, he has brought it with him. He also wishes to donate it to this Zama shrine out of a devotional wish, and, following the precedent of a showing in this hall some years ago, he is putting it before you for inspection. It has been said since ancient times that whoever looks at it once will, above all, live long, gain in good fortune and not catch epidemic disease. So we ask you to speak with one another and to come together in lively numbers. That would help the donation and bring happiness to the one whose wish this is, and all of us who are putting on the show earnestly hope for your high regard.
Tenpō 10, year of the pig, fourth month.
Notes
This is the pitch printed on a handbill for a mermaid show. It says where the dried mermaid came from, who held it, and what looking at it will do; it is advertising, and the museum itself says such promises of long life and protection from epidemic disease were a stock phrase of Edo shows. The museum suggests the shrine named, 当座摩の御社, may be the Zama shrine in present-day Osaka and says this is not certain; our rendering “this Zama shrine” follows the printed 当座摩 and does not settle which shrine it was.
Dates. The handbill text is signed 天保十亥年四月, which is the fourth month of Tenpō 10, 1839, and the museum’s note and credit line give 1836 (Tenpō 7) instead; the two do not agree and we do not know which the museum took from the handbill. The text also says the catch was in 宝暦七癸酉年, which the museum reads as Hōreki 7 (1757); the sexagenary sign 癸酉 belongs to 1753 (Hōreki 3), so the handbill’s own year sign and era year do not agree. The man of Noto is said to have bought the mermaid in 天保巳年, “the Tenpō year of the snake”, which the museum’s modern rendering gives as Tenpō 4 (1833). Our translation leaves the dates as written.
Uncertain readings. 佗する is taken as 侘する, “to beg”, and 不便 as 不憫, “pity”. 引上ケ is printed with a katakana ケ. Readings printed beside the characters and the museum’s modern-language rendering (p. 3) are not reproduced; the translation above is ours, made from the original, with the museum’s rendering consulted only to check that the sense was not missed. One shaku is a little under a foot (about 30 cm), so “over three shaku” is roughly a yard.