The Mouth of Humanity - The Society of Perfumers and the Aesthetics of Drifting in the Early Showa Era (Late Taisho - Early Showa Era)

The Mouth of Humanity - The Society of Perfumers and the Aesthetics of Drifting in the Early Showa Era (Late Taisho - Early Showa Era)

The "ningi" or "mentsuu" handed down in the Kaguishi society was more than a mere greeting; it served as a means of self-introduction and identification. For low-ranked laborers and渡世人 who could not read or write, formalized oral greetings were an important social tool. In the case of Koichiro Sakata, for example, he stated his hometown as "Higo Kumamoto, Ginkojo shitaerimasu" (I'm going down from Ginko Castle in Kumamoto, Higo Prefecture), and then described his present life as "I'm wearing bleached cotton wrapped high on my chest in snow shoes and temporarily living in the woods in Waseda," adding his nickname "Kochan, aka Sagariya," which added a human touch to his words. From the end of the Taisho era (1912-1926) to the beginning of the Showa era (1926-1989), the country was in a period of turmoil after the Great Kanto Earthquake, with perfume makers and day laborers drifting across the country to make a living. Under the Security Law and martial law, mentsuu, which
sharply distinguished between allies and strangers, became a way of life. Furthermore, mentsuu was entertaining, and Takenaka Rō and Fukasaku Kinji, among others, recorded their demonstrations with laughter. This exchange, in which formal beauty and folk humor intersected, was not just a formality, but a culture for those living in an unstable society, and was passed on as a form of mutual support and survival wisdom.