Who Is The Yam-Soup Shop Wife (Mariko teahouse wife)?
A fiery shopkeeper who gives as good as she gets
The Wife of the Tororo Soup Shop
The Yam-Soup Shop Wife is the proprietress of a teahouse in Mariko (also written Maruko) in Tokaidochu Hizakurige (Shank's Mare). A strong-willed woman who gives her husband as good as she gets, she trades words with him until it turns into a physical fight and the shop descends into chaos.
Yaji and Kita, standing nearby, get swept up in the fight and never do get to taste the famous tororo soup. For Yaji, who wants to look good now that he is near his hometown, it is a real stroke of bad luck. The couple going at it with no regard for their customers is the heart of the scene's comedy.
For travelers on the Tokaido highway, stopping to rest at a roadside teahouse and sampling the local specialty was one of the great pleasures of the road. Hizakurige vividly describes not only famous sights but also the daily lives and noisy arguments of the people working in teahouses and inns like this one.
