Ōoka Tadasuke was a Japanesesamurai in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, as a magistrate of Edo, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate prior to his tenure as South Magistrate of Edo. With the title Echizen no Kami, he is often known as Ōoka Echizen. He was highly respected as an incorruptible judge. In addition, he established the first fire brigade made up of commoners, and the Koishikawa Yojosho. Later, he advanced to the position of jisha bugyō, and subsequently became daimyō of the Nishi-Ōhira Domain. Ōoka was born in 1677, but did not come into public notice until he was 35, when he was appointed an obscure judgeship. When he accepted this job, he found out that there was a long–standing boundary dispute between the farmers of the Yamada and Wakayama fiefs. While it was obvious that the Yamada claim was the just one, no previous judge had been fool enough to irritate Yoshimune, Lord of Kishū, as he was very close to the shogun, Tokugawa Ietsugu. However, Ōoka took up the case, and immediately settled it on its merits. Yoshimune was so impressed that when he became shōgun five years later, he took the unusual action of promoting Ōoka over hundreds of other candidates, to the important post of machi–bugyō of Edo. The post of machi–bugyō combined the duties of mayor, police chief, judge, and fire marshal.
Famous cases
In addition, the figure has taken on a legendary status in a number of stories about his unorthodox and wise legal decisions, frequently used in rakugo. One of the most famous stories is called The Case of the Stolen Smell where he heard the case of a paranoid innkeeper who accused a poor student of literally stealing the fumes of his cooking by eating when the innkeeper was cooking to flavour his dull food. Although his colleagues advised Ōoka to throw the case out as ridiculous, he decided to hear the case. The judge resolved the matter by ordering the student to pass the money he had in one hand to his other and ruling that the price of the smell of food is the sound of money. In The Case of the Bound Jizō or Suspect Statue, Ōoka was called upon to discover the thief of a cartload of cloth from a local kimono maker. Ōoka ordered a statue of Jizō of the Narihira-san Tōsen-ji, a temple in Tokyo, to be bound and brought forth to be called to answer for dereliction of its custodial duty. When the bound statue arrived in the courtroom, the spectators burst into laughter. Ōoka sternly ordered each spectator to be punished with a token fine for their outburst. Each was ordered to provide a small swatch of cloth as a fine. When the spectators paid their fines, the robbed kimono maker identified the piece of cloth from one spectator as identical to the cloth stolen in the crime. The spectator, who was the actual thief, was arrested, and Ōoka ordered the Jizō statue released as having discharged his duty. In 1925, the statue was removed from downtown Tokyo to a little temple called Nanjo-in on its outskirts. The statue still stands, and is wrapped in rope tied by hopeful victims of thieves. However, the statue is worn almost smooth because of over 200 years of binding.
Ōoka in fiction
Ōoka Tadasuke has been the central character in two jidaigeki television series. In one, Ōoka Echizen, actor Gō Katō played the lead. In the other, Meibugyō! Ōoka Echizen, Kinya Kitaōji played the same role. In addition, series such as Abarenbō Shōgun have portrayed Ōoka as an intimate of the shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune. Ōoka was portrayed first by Tadashi Yokouchi and later by Ryo Tamura. Other actors who portrayed Ōoka include Ichikawa Danjūrō XII in Honō no Bugyō Ōoka Echizen no Kami and Sakae Takita in the 1995 Taiga dramaHachidai Shogun Yoshimune. The Samurai Detective series for young adults by Dorothy Hoobler and Thomas Hoobler features Judge Ooka and his fictional apprentice Seikei. The first book of the series is The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn. He has been mentioned in the manga by Rumiko Takahashi, Ranma ½. Dutch authorBertus Aafjes wrote a five-book series featuring Ōoka. Ōoka as well as one of his famous cases were portrayed in both the manga and anime adaptation of
English presentations
Stories of Ōoka began showing up in English in 1908, in "The Case of Ten-Ichi-Bo, a Cause Celebre in Japan" by W. J. S. Shand, published by the Tokyo Methodist Publishing House. In 1956, an illustrated book was created by I.G. Edmonds, an American military officer. Published by the Pacific Stars & Stripes, it was called Solomon in Kimono: Tales of Ooka, a Wise Judge of Old Yedo. Edmonds' versions were then further presented to American schoolchildren in the 1970s, by the Scholastic publishing house, in books with titles such as Ooka the Wise and The Case of the Marble Monster. Judge Ooka has also appeared in the Samurai Detective book series by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, including The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn, The Demon in the Teahouse, In Darkness, Death, The Sword That Cut the Burning Grass, A Samurai Never Fears Death, and Seven Paths To Death
