Who Is Yajirobei (Yaji) (Yaji-san)?
The know-it-all hero of the road
Tochimenya Yajirobei
Yajirobei is the main hero of Jippensha Ikku's Shank's Mare (Tokaidochu Hizakurige), a man who walks from Edo to the Ise Shrine with his companion Kitahachi. He is affectionately known as "Yaji-san." Born into a merchant family in Fuchu in Suruga Province (today's Shizuoka City), he blew his whole fortune on pleasure and moved to Kanda Hatchobori in Edo.
In the story, he sets out on the journey when life hits a dead end, using the excuse of shaking off his bad luck. At an inn in Odawara, he pretends to know how to use a goemon bath and climbs in wearing wooden clogs. At the inn in Mishima, the friendly traveler who has been so kind to him steals his travel money. Vain, quick with words, and never learning from any failure, he is funny precisely because he never changes.
Yaji often turns events into kyoka, comic poems in a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern. The term "Yaji-Kita," born from the pair's names, is still used for a carefree, entertaining duo or for a trip full of laughs.
Episodes featuring this character5
NEWEpisode 1
Rock Bottom? Perfect Time for a Road TripShank's Mare (Tokaido Hizakurige)
Middle-aged Yaji has lost his home, his work, and every last coin. His buddy Kita just got fired. "Let's shake off this bad luck. We're going to Ise!" Two lovable losers set out from Nihonbashi for Shinagawa in episode one of a road trip from 200 years ago.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 2
Too Proud to Ask, He Bathed in ClogsThe Goemon Bath
Yaji has no idea how to use the inn's Goemon bath, an iron tub heated by a fire underneath, but he's too proud to admit it and insists "Everybody knows that!" He secretly gets by wearing wooden clogs in the tub, his buddy Kita copies the trick, and their first bath on the road, 200 years ago, ends in disaster.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 3
Never Trust a Stranger Who's Too NiceHizakurige: Hakone and Mishima
Yaji finally drags himself over Hakone's brutal slopes and through the mountain checkpoint, then falls hard for a friendly fellow traveler who loves his bragging. After a midnight snapping-turtle prank turns the Mishima inn upside down, the boys wake up to find every coin of their travel money gone.
19 pages
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 5
A Fake Samurai With No Way DownThe Oi River
With no bridge across the Oi River and almost no money left, Yaji dresses up as a samurai to dodge the fare, with Kita as his reluctant retainer. He lords it over the porters from atop their shoulders, until his "sword" does something unthinkable in the middle of the river, and his lie falls apart in the one place he can't climb down.
19 pages