Who Is The Yam-Soup Shop Husband (Mariko teahouse owner)?
A teahouse owner whose marital spat starts a riot
The Husband of the Tororo Soup Shop
The Yam-Soup Shop Husband is the owner of a teahouse in Mariko (also written Maruko, in today's Shizuoka City) in Tokaidochu Hizakurige (Shank's Mare). While making the local specialty, tororo soup, he starts arguing with his wife, and the quarrel grows into a full-on brawl that sets off the commotion.
Yaji and Kita, who stop by looking forward to the famous dish, are dragged into the couple's fight. In the chaos, with tororo flying everywhere, the two end up leaving the shop without eating any. It is a lively scene that comes just after they leave Fuchu, Yaji's hometown.
Tororo soup is made by grating jinenjo, a wild Japanese yam, thinning it with something like miso soup, and pouring it over barley rice. It has long been known as Mariko's specialty, and the poet Matsuo Basho wrote of it in a haiku: "Ume wakana / Mariko no shuku no / tororo-jiru" (plum blossoms, young greens, and at Mariko station, tororo soup).
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 4
Faked Success at Home, Fell Into Yam SoupThe Yam Soup of Mariko (Tokaido Hizakurige)
Flat broke, Yaji slinks into Fuchu, the hometown where he once partied away his parents' shop. There he plays the big success from Edo while quietly borrowing travel money. With the cash, he heads for the treat he's been dreaming of: Mariko's famous yam soup. But when he tries to break up the shop owners' marital spat, all four end up brawling in a sea of slippery yam. To top it off, he leaves all his money behind just to save face.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 11
Broke, Awestruck, and Buying for EveryoneYaji and Kita (The Ise Pilgrimage)
Yaji comes to Ise to shed his bad luck and be born anew. Five minutes after a sacred forest moves him to silence, he forgets the warning and his fare home, and shouts "It's ALL on me!" At the end of the road, two fools feel something real, then turn right back into themselves.
19 pages