Vermin in the Pit, Wazo from Shin-nyu #1 (The Most Disliked Villain)
1958 - 1963

Yama no Dani, Shin-nyu no Wazo #1 (Kirawaremono no Buraikan)
[Vermin in the Pit, Wazo from Shin-nyu #1 (The Most Disliked Villain)]
20.9 x 29.9 cm Ink Painting

The following affair supposedly occurred in the third decade of the Meiji era (1888-1898). Wazo was famous as a villain and the talk of pits in this region. He could hold a 72-liter barrel filled with sake with one hand and another empty barrel with the other. He would ask others to guess which was filled with sake or empty, moving them up and down. Weak people were intolerably bullied by him. He robbed some merchants of their goods, saying that he borrowed them, though he paid nothing. He compelled someone to eat something when the person yawned before him. If someone smiled, he accused him of making fun of him, saying that he was born ridiculous.
It was said that not only miners in his pit but also the people living near the pit at that time hated him like a viper. He was the vermin in the pit with the audacity to ill-use his power and as strong as a sumo wrestler body. He seems to have behaved so recklessly and furiously that all the people in the pit were very afraid of him as a man so terrible that he could stop a child from crying. He went to the mine store in his pit to get what he wanted, holding a long Japanese sword in his hand without having any money with him. He "borrowed" some goods, threatening the salesclerks of the store with the sword. If the salesclerk urged him to pay the cost, Wazo drew the sword and told him to take it if he could.

Words in the Parentheses at the Top Right
mukashi yonto daru: 72-liter barrels in the old days

Lettering on the Barrel
Seishu: refined sake
Masamune: brand name of the sake


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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