Japan's Traditional Male Entertainer (Houkan/Taikomochi) ARAI |
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Etymological Description of TAIKOMOCHI |
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Although a Japanese traditional performing art handed down from generation to generation, TAIKOMOCHI, to my great regret, has now been such a rarely used or heard word even in Japan that I have seen very few people understand me readily after my mere introduction I am a Taikomochi, which just mean a drum (taiko) holder (mochi) when literally translated into Japanese, leading most people, to whom I introduce myself in such a way, to mistake me for a drum player. Regrettably enough, even some of people who work with Japanese traditional restaurants, to which I am invited as a male Geisha to entertain guests at banquets, tend to receive me, asking if my drum sounds too loud for a banquet or my drum is small enough to be carried into a banquet room, although my traditional performing art is not associated with taiko (drum) itself.
Originally, Taikomochi is a generic name used in place of its formal name Houkan, which consists of two Japanese words Hou and Kan. The former has a meaning of to help or to assist, while the latter contains a meaning of between or among people, suggesting its association with human relationship. Houkan created by the combination of these two words therefore implies to help or assist with human relationship. Accordingly, the role of Houkan or Taikomochi is to entertain guests at banquets together with Geisha (Geiko), while serving as an intermediary between the guests and between the guests and Geisha to allow the merry atmosphere of the banquet to continue without interruption. Then, you may question why Houkan has come to be also referred to as Taikomochi, which literally means drum holder in Japanese. |
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Behind this are several reasons; one has been alleged to be associated with TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi (1536 to 1598), a warlord known to have completed reunification of Japan after its long warring-state period from the middle of 15th century to the latter half of the 16th century, who, in 1585, was appointed Kanpaku, imperial regent or the chief advisor to the Emperor, which he transferred to his adopted son Hidetsugu in 1591, when he was given honorific title Taiko, the pronunciation of which is almost similar to drum in Japanese. Thereafter, he was called Taiko by his aides, who were always required to curry favor with him by flattering (mochi-ageru in Japanese, which literally means to hold up) him. The combination of Taiko and Mochi-ageru has allegedly come to mean to flatter someone with the combined words having corrupted into Taiko-mochi. The second reason has allegedly originated in a story about a master of drum (taiko) performance, who had one of his apprentices hold his drum when performing on it to facilitate his performance on it, leading his other apprentices to envy their drum-holding (taiko-mochi) rival, while calling him taikomochi as a mere drum holder to make them feel easy and happy. The third reason may be found in Shikido Okagami, a guide to the pleasure districts of Japan in the Edo period (1600-1868), published in 1678, which was the first literature to describe Taikomochi, although seemingly for fun, introducing boisterous merrymaking as Don-chan-sawagi in Japanese sawagi (merrymaking) represented as don (the sound of a drum taiko) and chan (the sound of a bell kane, the pronunciation of which is the same as money in Japanese), suggesting the presence of two parties in the merrymaking one who are rich, spending money for entertainment and the other who have no money to spend for such purposes, instead holding a drum (taiko-mochi) and beating it loudly with the sound of don-don to entertain the rich side.
The above-mentioned major reasons are considered to have been combined with other various interesting accounts to cause Houkan to have come to be referred to as Taikomochi. Taikomochi is a term rarely used at the present time, having lost its original meaning of serving as an intermediary between or among people to help develop an atmosphere for their better relations, except that it is occasionally used to express insultingly such a person that follows a persons opinion in a servile manner without rebutting it at all. |
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