I’d been meaning for quite some time to go rewatch the anime series “Samurai Champloo,” with an eye specifically to how accurate the show’s depiction of Ryukyuan culture is. Mugen, one of the main characters, claims to be from Ryukyu, a brilliant touch I think in a show that makes reference to so many aspects of the Edo period, remixing them into something quite edgy. In making Mugen Ryukyuan, they make reference to something relatively obscure – I wonder how many young Japanese really know anything at all about the history of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and its status relative to Edo period Japan. In historical fact, so far as I know, I have never heard of (read of) any Ryukyuans mingling in with Japanese society, as an independent traveler, as Mugen does. But that’s besides the point; it fits in as a possibility, with just enough thematic accuracy to make the inaccuracies, the remixed/reimagined elements not seem too out of place.
In any case, getting to the point, even within the first ten minutes of the first episode, I can tell this much: I have yet to see anything from Mugen, anything about Mugen, that marks him as Ryukyuan in a historically/culturally accurate manner. His clothes, though not necessarily absurdly out of place for the period, do not strictly speaking resemble anything I’d associate with being distinctively Ryukyuan. He has simple bands tattooed around his wrists and ankles, but Okinawan tattoos are generally known to have been worn by women, not by men, and featured certain patterns on the hands. Mugen’s sword is curved like a samurai’s blade, but it has a rather distinctive, or should I say unusual, style of hilt that definitely marks it (and him, by extension) as foreign. But, I actually don’t know what a Ryukyuan sword would look like. More Chinese, like this? Or more similar to the Japanese swords? The myth of Ryukyuan pacifism – and/or the influence of katate – is too pervasive. We don’t see Ryukyuan swords represented all that often. Finally, one last thing which is quite obvious: Mugen does not have an Okinawan accent, nor does he use any distinctively Okinawan words.
Then there’s the use of the word “champloo” (チャンプルー, chanpuruu), an Okinawan word meaning, essentially, “all mixed up.” It’s a word most commonly used to refer to stir-fry dishes, but I suppose it can be used to refer to anything that’s a jumbled up diverse mix. Such as the ethnic makeup of the local Hawaiian community, which is a total jumble of people of Chinese, Japanese, Okinawan, Korean, Filipino, white, and Native Hawaiian descent, many of them containing a jumble of ethnic backgrounds within themselves individually. In this respect, “appropriation” or no, I think the use of the term for this anime seems quite appropriate, referencing the “remixing” aspect of the style and approach of the whole show. It follows three main characters, but is really just a champloo of aspects of Edo period history & culture, from Ryukyuans and ronin to ukiyo-e and Commodore Perry.
None of this is to say that there’s anything wrong with the show. The show is great. It’s easily one of my favorite series. But, even if I were to hypothetically be trying to conceive of a formal academic essay on the (mis)representation of Okinawan culture in this series, I’m not sure I have too much to say. … I guess we’ll see as the series goes on what else comes to mind.
Nice post. I actually had almost the exact same idea, but taking a more general view of Edo-period history. I haven’t watched the entire series since I was a bachelor student, but I remember that at the time I had the impression that it was a good depiction of the period. Do you have any thoughts on the general accuracy of the show?
I’ve only just started rewatching the show, so I can’t really say yet.
But my suspicion is basically this: Overall, I am sure the show contains tons of inaccuracies. They’re not trying to be totally historically accurate anyway; that’s not the goal. The goal is to sort of mix an Edo period setting with a more modern hip-hop kind of vibe, and to intentionally include anachronistic elements that make the show more amusing and edgy.
But, that said, from what little I remember of the last time I made my way through the series, I gather that they do make reference to many aspects of Edo period history that are otherwise relatively obscure – especially those aspects that are edgy or grungy, taking the romantic veneer off of history. For example, representing ukiyo-e less as “fine art” and more as dirty pin-up girls (bijinga) and akin to hentai manga (shunga); Commodore Perry and his men are portrayed not as noble naval officers from the great, modern country of America, standing for freedom and modernity and blah blah blah, but rather they are depicted as foul-mouthed, self-important, racist assholes, which, quite frankly, is probably what they were.
So, overall, I think in terms of “accuracy,” that’s where this show is most interesting and most valuable. There may be tons of examples of inaccuracies – such as the baseball game played against Perry and his men in order to determine whether they’d be allowed to stay and to “open” Japan – but on a more thematic level, simply in terms of emphasizing the grittiness of Edo period history, stripping away the romanticism, Samurai Champloo might be, strangely, *more* historically accurate than even the most accurate-looking period dramas.
I’ll see if more comes to mind as I watch further…
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In episode 2, we meet Oniwaka, a possible reference to Oniwakamaru, the childhood name of the warrior otherwise known as Benkei. Benkei was a warrior monk and the constant companion of the great samurai general Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the leading hero of the Genpei Wars (1180-1185). There is debate, I believe, though, as to whether Benkei actually existed historically, or is merely legendary. In any case, he fought with a naginata, just as Samurai Champloo’s Oniwaka does (well, now that I look closer, the anime character has a sort of double-edged naginata, with blades at both ends of the staff).
Another set of inconsistencies or anachronisms occurred to me. Certain characters who feature in the series are associated with the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637-1638. Yet, our main characters also encounter Commodore Perry, who hit Japan’s shores in 1853. I totally get that the show is trying to touch upon a wide range of references selected from across the entire Edo period, and I am not criticizing the show for making the intentional decision to be anachronistic, and therefore less faithful to historical accuracy, in this respect… But, still, I point it out as an instance of inaccuracy.
In episode 5, we meet Hishikawa Moronobu, an aspiring ukiyo-e artist who has not quite yet hit the big time yet. I love the way the show incorporates these genuine historical elements of the Edo period – namely, ukiyo-e and various things about it, plus using the authentic historical name Hishikawa Moronobu. The show makes mention of kabuki actor prints, mikaeri bijin (beautiful women looking back over their shoulder), and other such tropes or themes. It also makes mention of Van Gogh, and his interest in ukiyo-e.
However, while we see many genuine actual ukiyo-e images within the shop in the episode, the chronology is all mixed up. We aren’t told precisely what year the series is taking place, but since Moronobu was among the earliest ukiyo-e artists, it’s anachronistic to have him say he isn’t a big-name artist yet, and then show images by the likes of Kuniyoshi, who lived nearly two hundred years later. Further, in the show, Moronobu claims that kabuki actors dominate the prints, and that he has an innovative, revolutionary, idea to bring in bijin images of beautiful amateur models. Yet, in actual art history, so far as I know, the two evolved more or less simultaneously. Or, if anything, bijinga came first.
In Moronobu’s time, it was all about bijinga. Kabuki had barely gotten off its feet. Everything was monochrome, black and white, with minimal hand-coloring, quite different from the full-color prints we see in the ukiyo-e shop in the show. Still, while there may be some serious holes in the historical accuracy, the basic idea of doing an episode all about ukiyo-e, and poking fun at the fact that ukiyo-e was not always the refined high art we regard it today, is quite enjoyable.
In episode six, we get a few scenes inside a kabuki theatre (woo!), filled with tons of references that only a fan of kabuki would get. I love that they’ve taken the bother to include references to actual plays or characters. Granted, it’s unrealistic that in running around backstage they would run into people made up as characters from so many different plays – which ones are actually being performed that day? (or that month?) – but some are clearly recognizable, including Dojoji being performed onstage, Benkei from Kanjincho performing his hanamichi exit a bit later on, and characters from Shibaraku, Yotsuya Kaidan, Kagekiyo (perhaps?) and a couple more I didn’t immediately recognize, backstage.
The audience yells out “Nakamura-ya!” and other authentic kakegoe, though I’m not familiar with the call of “Noriemon” and wonder if this is an authentic one and who it refers to. And, of course, the amusing situation of our heroes being chased on-stage by the shogun’s men, an actual face-off being mistaken by the audience for being part of the show, and getting kakegoe.
I am quite surprised that they would use the genuine historic name Isaac Titsingh for the Dutch fellow in this episode. I suppose on the one hand, this is an amusing nod to a genuine historic reference, for those few who would get it, but at the same time.. I don’t know much about Titsingh, but it seems strange to me to represent him in this particular way, as so big and strong, and more than a little stupid, naive, and immature, not to mention gay. Was the real Titsingh any of these things? The show’s depiction of Commodore Perry later on in the series seems to just emphasize a stereotyped/exaggerated version of who Perry actually (probably) was – loud, foul-mouthed, obnoxious, racist, and patriotic in the disgustingly over-self-important way that Glenn Beck is. Yet, while Perry is portrayed in this manner, simply emphasizing a long-standing stereotyped image of who he was, how much of this depiction of Titsingh is in any way accurate?