The Autobiography Of A Tokugawa Samurai By Katsu Kokichi

The late 19th century was a very different time for many living in Japan. The Tokugawa regime was leveling off, and the people of Japan who weren’t as wealthy had to find a balance between religious serenity and making money. The three most predominant religions of this era were Shinto, Confucianism and Buddhism, and an abundance of citizens living in Japan were often rooted very heavily in their religious backgrounds solely because these religious were seen more as ways of life than a religious practice. However, even the most devout of worshipers don’t always start off that way. In Katsu Kokichi’s book Musui’s Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai, Kokichi begins his life as a down and out Samurai, adopted by the Katsu family at

the age of 7 after being given up at birth and raised until that point by a wet nurse. Over the course of the story, Kokichi doesn’t seem like the average worshiper or believer in faith; but this low-class samurai actually might contain more love for his faith than anyone else through his love of knowledge, dedication to spiritual places of worship and selflessness to the earth. Kokichi was actually devout to his religion long before he was Musui. Through this story, Kockichi allows the reader a mere peak into the differentiations of worship as well as how religion works for people of different socioeconomic standing during the Tokugawa Period.
While Kokichi was growing up in the Katsu home, the family did not have a lot of money. Nonetheless, Kokichi enjoyed a plethora of different activities. However, it seemed that all of these activities revolved around him getting in trouble. Kokichi was never fond of school. He even said, “I hated studying and everyday slipped out through the fence and into the Sakura riding ground, where I spent hours riding.” Because of his lack of devotion to his studies and his behavior, many of Kokichi’s family members and friends believed that he was destined to live a rocky adulthood based on his childhood actions. However, what his family doesn’t understand is that while he isn’t in school, he is still learning. He spends his time out side of the classroom improving his horse riding and fencing skills as well as sword fighting, a very crucial aspect to samurai life. Without even knowing or caring for it, Kokichi was displaying his religion all along through nature and learning.
The followers of Edo or the period in Tokugawa Japan when Buddhism, Shintoism and Confucianism all shared popularity , such as Musui, believe in a deity called Kami.

However, Kami is not an anthropomorphic deity. Kami is in everything. The concept of Kami is very difficult to explain because Kami is everything and nothing at the same time. Kami are not divine nor are they omnipotent. For many living in poverty during the Tokugawa period, culture and shires were often in the foreground when highlighting the relationship between the family or individual and religion. Similarly, Kokichi first comes into contact with Kami when he runs away for the first time. Out in the middle of the woods, Kokichi wanders to the Ise Shrine. Kokichi uses the Ise Shrine to help look out for his overall well being when he is traveling. He was originally advised to pray at the shrine for guidance, but instead spent most of his days begging for alms and would try to find shelter in other shrines he stumbled upon along his travels. Kokichi was still on a path of destruction. He even used the power of religion to convince a priest that he was a pilgrim there to pay his respects at Ise only to get free food, a good night’s rest, a free bath, a temporary sum of money for the remainder of his travels as well as a amulet. Realizing he could do this throughout his travels, he continued to fool people at other

shrines.
For people living with more wealth in Japan, unlike Kokichi, Religion is used in a completely different way. Instead of using religion to get over on other people, like Kokichi did, people with stability and means would use their religion as a way to showcase their wealth and demonstrate a superiority over other people as well as highlight their socioeconomic class standing. The reader gets a sense of this when Kokichi is an adult and sets up an association for a Shinto priest of a Marishiten Cult in Honjo named Yoshida Hyogo. However, Kokichi withdrew his association very soon after when Hyogo started talking very rudely to a friend of Kokichi’s because he had money and wanted to be the man in charge. Along with him, Kokichi convinced other people he brought along to leave the cult mainly because he was no longer the pinnacle of concern even though he gave so much time and energy to the association. Even with age, Kokichi was still distraught and on a path of destruction.
Kokichi didn’t start really changing his ways until he came back home after his second time running away.

His father locked him in a cage for a few years and during this time, he made Kokichi learn to read and write as well as realize the error of his ways and truly look back at the life he had led thus far. This point in his life could be argued as the awakening of the Kami inside of him. His time being punished in the cage actually did him a lot of good. He became well read, understood how to deal with his moral issues, took responsibility for his actions, as well as learned to be a better fighter. Although he had been a skilled swordsman since a very young age, he started to read military manuals and learned how to settle issues with communication instead of just fighting. This earned him a lot of respect within his community and within himself. However, Kokichi’s true change in character arguably came after some advice from an old man in his community who told him that he should, “try to return a good deed for every act of ill will.” After this encounter is when Kokichi’s life changed dramatically. His situations at home improved and her started acting astoundingly different than before, when he was a child. He was moving on from situations when he would normally fight to walking away or simply using his words to handle a disagreement. If Kokichi would have never been awakened religiously, who knows where he would have ended up? He was in a place of very sad turmoil

and turned his life around and expanded his mind to see the world around him and beyond. This is when he became Musui. From this, religion hones down on the idea that peoples’ focuses should be on more than just themselves.
Even though Musui had his transformation from his childhood, there is still a strong correlation between religion and power within the story. Although Musui became a Buddhist priest, he was not more devout than he was before. Although poverty and socioeconomic class did play a strong role during the Tokugawa Samurai Regime, it did not change Musui. His own philosophies along with his religious awakening are what changed him. A great sum of the people living during this period still used religion to enhance their own lives in a way that would help them first, and everyone else second. Whether it was through creating a cult, begging at shrines or gaining status over time, religion in Tokugawa Japan was more focused on enhancement of the social well being of the people than on praise to the deity. When it comes to the idea of Kokichi not being as devout as Musui, there isn’t an argument. He was always devout, he just needed the religious aspects in his life to open up and show him a brand new way of thinking in order for him to be the better person that everyone always hoped he’d be.