The Peacocks Who Terrorize Edo

A young man stands on the wooden planks of Nihonbashi and blocks the midday traffic. He wears a kimono of women's silk dyed in garish persimmon and purple. The sword at his hip is a monstrosity that measures nearly five feet from guard to tip. He does not draw the weapon. He simply leans on it and forces the terrified merchants to squeeze past his scabbard. He spits smoke from an oversized pipe and dares the city guards to intervene.

These men are the refuse of the Warring States era. They call themselves Kabukimono or the crazy ones. The recent fall of Osaka Castle ended the age of constant warfare and left thousands of soldiers without masters or stipends. They roam the streets of Edo and Kyoto in tight gangs. They terrorize civilians to prove they still exist. The Shogunate views them as a dangerous infection in the new body politic. They are a visible reminder that the peace is fragile and enforced by bureaucracy rather than honor.

Most of these men were born in the fires of the Sengoku period. They grew up expecting to die for a lord on the battlefield. The Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 changed the landscape. The Tokugawa victory centralized power and left many samurai domains in ruin. These warriors drifted to the major cities. Some found work as low ranking servants to hatamoto retainers while others turned to banditry. They took the aesthetic of the eccentric warlord Maeda Toshiie to an extreme. They adopted names like the Great Swords. They swore blood oaths to each other rather than to a feudal lord. The shogunate issued edicts in 1611 and again this year to curb their behavior. They banned the long swords and the outlandish hair. The Kabukimono ignored these laws. They created a subculture of slang and secret handshakes that mocks the rigid social ladder.

The smoker taps the ash from his pipe onto the clean street. He signals to his companions and the colorful blockade dissolves. They stride toward the pleasure district of Yoshiwara. The authorities are gathering lists of names and tightening the nets. These peacocks will not survive the coming winter of strict Tokugawa law. Their rebellion will fade into the stylized movements of the theater that bears their name.