57 pages • 1 hour read
Katsu Kokichi, Transl. Teruko Craig, Illustr. Hiroshige UtagawaMusui's Story
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1843A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key Figures
Kokichi Katsu
Author Kokichi Katsu (1802-1850) was a low-ranking samurai who lived at the end of the Tokugawa-shogunate period, also known as the Edo period, in Japan. He is the author of the given autobiography and a kobushin—an unemployed samurai. His original surname was Otani. The author changes this surname to Katsu due to being adopted into the Katsu family. Such adoptions customarily occurred so that a younger son from one family—who could not inherit a stipend from the father in a primogeniture-like system—could marry a daughter from another family. Katsu eventually does so by marrying the only Katsu daughter Nobuko, who is briefly mentioned in the book.
Heizō Otani, Kokichi’s biological father, served as a low-ranking shogunate official. Kokichi’s older half-brother, Hikishirō Otani, became a well-respected Confucian scholar, calligrapher, and district administrator. Unlike his high-achieving biological family, Katsu leads quite a different life. In his autobiography, he openly describes a life of immorality—stealing, cheating, and womanizing without much regard for others. Katsu receives a small annual stipend thanks to his social status, falling somewhere between the bannermen and housemen samurai ranks. However, this money is insufficient for supporting a family, so he has to supplement his income. Never chosen for an official position in the shogunate, Katsu opts for other endeavors such as selling swords and money-lending.
Katsu’s children are unlike him—as high-achieving as his biological family of origin. His son Kaishū Katsu (known as Rintarō in the book), for example, becomes a well-known naval commander. Much earlier, when the boy turns 15, his father retires and makes him the head of the household.
Katsu wrote Musui’s Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai during his retirement. Katsu’s unorthodox samurai lifestyle makes the work significant, as it describes life in a particular society in an authentic way. The text is also important as one of the only surviving works of its nature from the late Edo period before Japan opened up to the world in the Meiji period (1868-1912).
Heizō Otani
Heizō Otani is Katsu’s biological father. He works as a minor official for the Tokugawa shogunate. The father is the third son of a moneylender. He is adopted into the Otani family as an heir. Heizō Otani has Kokichi with a concubine taking him away from her to be raised by his official wife. In all, Otani raises four children. At age seven, the author is adopted into the Katsu family of the girl, Nobuko, whom he is to marry.
The author maintains a relationship with his father throughout his life. By and large, Otani treats the author leniently compared to his older half-brother, Hikoshirō, who ends up heading the family. His father allows the author to simply get away with stealing the shogunate treasury’s money entrusted to him by Hikoshirō. His father intends not to ruin Katsu’s life. Ultimately, even Otani is fed up with the author’s poor behavior. After consulting with Hikoshirō, he puts his son in a cage after he runs away from his wife and young child.
Otani passes away when the author is 25 years old in 1827. The author mentions his father’s death on several occasions in this autobiography and appears to have been truly affected by it.
Hikoshirō Otani
Hikoshirō Otani (1777-1840) is the author’s older half-brother, 25 years his senior. Upon his father’s retirement, it is Hikoshirō who leads the household formally. As a result, this brother is responsible for the author’s behavior.
Hikoshirō works for the shogunate, becoming the district administrator on two occasions. This older half-brother is an accomplished individual in his own right. He is a talented calligrapher and an intellectual—a Confucian scholar.
In this autobiography, Hikoshirō serves as a stabilizing factor in the author’s life. To the best of his ability, he tries to get his misbehaving sibling out of trouble. At the same time, he is the most strict and consistent family member, whereas others enable the author’s inappropriate behavior.
Saburōemon Otani
Saburōemon Otani is the author’s second half-brother. Like the author, Saburōemon is also adopted into a different family—the Matsusaka family. Saburōemon works as a district administrator like Hikoshirō. He also attempts to get the author out of trouble but always does so after consulting with Hikoshirō Otani—the head of the household. His relationship with the author is poor at times. The author claims to not have spoken to Saburōemon for ten years at one point. Saburōemon also experiences the loss of one of his sons in a murder, which is part of Katsu’s narrative.
Nobuko Katsu
Nobuko Katsu, the author’s eventual wife, is the only female child of the Katsu family. By the time the author is adopted into that family, both of her parents have died. As a result, Nobuko, her grandmother, and the author live in the Otani house as the two children of this future arranged marriage grow up.
Upon getting married, the author and Nobuko relocate to a different house on Hikoshirō’s property. The family has four children—one son, Rintarō, and three daughters, Hana, Jun, and an unnamed third daughter.
Nobuko is barely mentioned in this autobiography. The author describes her as a loyal, devoted wife. He also admits to beating her on a daily basis. Despite her social status as the wife of a samurai, Nobuko must have dealt with much hardship as a result of the author’s behavior, starting from his escape shortly after they got married.
Katsu’s Grandmother
The name of the author’s adoptive grandmother is unknown because he never refers to her by name. She is the grandmother of Nobuko, with whom the author had an arranged marriage, having been adopted into the Katsu family.
The author repeatedly disparages this grandmother for treating him poorly. He even accuses her of being the reason why both of Nobuko’s parents die prematurely. In this sense, the grandmother functions as a negative stereotype of a mother-in-law—or even a fairytale evil stepmother—that the author technically did not have. This grandmother ensures that Kokichi Katsu remembers that he came from a family of a less impressive lineage than his Otani counterpart.
Rintarō Katsu (Kaishū Katsu, Yoshikuni Katsu)
Rintarō Katsu (1823-1899) is better known as Kaishū Katsu. He is the author’s only son. Katsu formally hands over the family headship to him when the boy is about 15 so that he can retire.
Rintarō Katsu becomes a famous figure in Japanese history known for being a naval engineer and a statesman. The author’s son participates in the Meiji Restoration as a mediator. He also reforms Japan’s navy after commanding Kanrin Maru in 1860—the first ship to sail to the West from Japan. During this voyage, the author’s son visits the United States. Later, Rintarō serves as the minister of Japan’s navy in the 1870s and is one of the most powerful officials at that time (“Count Katsu Kaishū,” Britannica, 2022).
Rintarō does not have many mentions in his father’s book. The author describes his judo lessons and the vicious dog attack from which the boy may not have survived. The author also mentions wanting to pass on the family headship to him much earlier than he actually did to avoid responsibility. Rintarō also wrote memoirs, but his father is mentioned in them infrequently.
