Asō Yutaka’s Easygoing Papa (Nonkina Tō-san) was a hugely popular manga serialized, mostly in yonkoma (four-panel) form, in the newspaper Hōchi Shinbun from 1923 to 1926. Below are examples of this strip, along with related material in both comics form and forms transcending the medium.
NOTE: For more information about Easygoing Papa refer to the index in Manga: a critical guide. All materials below unless otherwise indicated are from the collection of Ronald Stewart)
CONTENTS:
1) Four-panel strip (yonkoma manga) samples with English translations (1924).
2) Twelve-panel strip advertising food seasoning (1928).
3) Color newspaper game supplement (1925).
4) Stills from an Easygoing Papa movie program (1925)
5) Mini-booklet featuring Easygoing Papa by unknown artist (c1925).
6) Manga book making unlicensed use of the Easygoing Papa characters (1926).
7) Postwar commemorative postage stamp (1999)
8) The son of Easygoing Papa (1934)
1) Four-panel strip (yonkoma manga) samples with English translations (1924)
The translated strips here are from the 1924 book by T. Sagara, English Cartoons and Cartoon Stories (7th ed., Bunkosha). In this book the strip’s title is translated as “Father Takes it Easy” and appeared one panel per page. When they were initially serialized in on the pages of Hōchi Shinbun newspaper, they were in a grid 田 form rather than the vertical form common to yonkoma manga today.
Swat the Fly! (1)
Swat the Fly! (2)
Swat the Fly! (3)
Morning Glories
2) Twelve-panel strip advertising food seasoning (1928)
This ad, which appeared in Osaka Asahi Shinbun newspaper, draws on the popularity of Easygoing Papa characters, Papa himself and his neighbor friend Taishō. The ad is for Ajinomoto, a monosodium glutamate food additive which began to be produced 1909 and is still common now. In the 1920s this company often used manga in their ads. During his career, Asō Yutaka illustrated or created strips, even characters, for various product advertisements from banks to toothpaste. (A translation has been added below.)
PANEL 1:
Papa: Hey, Taisho! What’s the matter? why do you look on the verge of tears?
PANEL 2:
Papa: Has being out of work gotten you down?
Taishō: I’m unemployed year-round, that ain’t no big deal.
PANEL 3:
Papa: Are you going hungry?
Taishō: Our “kitchen lodgings” provides meals out of pity.
PANEL 4:
Papa: That’s splendid. I didn’t notice.
Taishō: But Papa, I just can’t stomach the meals.
PANEL 5:
Papa: Why Taishō?
Taishō: All year long, hijiki and fried tofu! The taste is awful, and I just can’t eat it!
PANEL 6:
Papa: I see. Is that why you’re glum? But it’s not just you. I’m in the same boat too.
Taishō: The hardest thing to tolerate is bad tasting food.
PANEL 7:
Papa: I wonder. Things to eat, things to eat. I see, they say, “the Autumn skies are clear and the horse grow stout,” don’t they?
Taishō: Yes, but we are poorly starving horses.
PANEL 8:
Papa: It would probably feel great if we could eat that much, wouldn’t it Taisho?
Taishō: Exactly. I suppose that grass might have the seasoning Ajinomoto) sprinkled on it.
PANEL 9:
Papa: Ah! Yes! I had completely forgotten!
PANEL 10:
Taishō: Indeeeed, this guy had totally forgotten. Heeey, Papa, wait, wait!
PANEL 11:
Papa: I’ve eaten my fill. Eating this much we’ve nothing to complain about, do we?
Taishō: You can tastily eat loads of any side dish with Ajinomoto.
PANEL 12:
Taishō: Heey, horse, if your stomach is ever empty like ours were lend it to us.
Papa: How about that? With Ajinomoto us humans are just like this.
3) Color newspaper game supplement (1925)
This color game supplement Easygoing Papa Sugoroku is from the newspaper Hōchi Shinbun‘s Jan 2, 1925 issue. Hōchi Shinbun was the newspaper in which Easygoing Papa was serialized. Sugoroku (or e-sugoroku) is a traditional board game similar to Snakes and Ladders. These games of various designs became common New Year’s giveaways or supplements for newspapers and later children’s magazines through into the postwar period. This one drawn by Asō Yutaka begins at the bottom left corner with Papa escaping from the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and then living in the ruins with his family. As the game spirals towards the finish in the center, players progress through the ups and downs of Papa’s life as he passes various jobs, such as noodle shop worker, postal worker, police officer, actor, and coal miner, before finally becoming rich.
NOTE: Two points of interest on this game are the text direction and panels. First, the text is not right-to-left, but left-to-right as this was the direction used in Asō’s early strips. Left-to-right horizontal writing in Japanese didn’t become common until after 1945. Second, the game is framed as a single strip of film complete with projector sprocket holes. This was quite common in manga of the 1920s and 30s hinting at the influence and interplay of manga with the most popular entertainment of the time cinema.
4) Stills from an Easygoing Papa movie program (1925)
These are stills from a 1925 Moritoku-za movie theatre, Sendai City, program for the movie Easygoing Papa – Flower Viewing Tale. The first still shows the lead actor Soganoya Gokurō dressed as Easygoing Papa with the play’s comic-esque movie set. He holds a sign saying Gokurō’s Easygoing Papa. In the second still, shows Gokurō again on alongside actor Ichiyakko playing Papa’s neighbor Taishō. Both are “flower-viewing” and drinking sake under some cartoonish cherry blossom trees.
Soganoya Gokurō played the lead role in two silent easygoing films made in 1925. Considered the king of comedy in the Tokyo’s Asakusa theatre district, Gokurō would become synonymous with the character. So much so that the commemorative monuments erected in his honor in Akakusa Park and in front of his hometown Kamojima’s train station both picture him as Easygoing Papa. Below is the cover of the 1971 booklet produced to celebrate the erection of the “Easygoing Papa Monument” to Gokurō in Kamojima, Tokushima Prefecture.
In 1949, a sound film Easygoing Papa movie was made with a different actor. At least two Easygoing Papa songs were also made. One was the Nontō-bushi-bushi (Easygoing Papa Song) and the other was the Shosei-bushi – Nonkinatō-san (The Student Song – Easygoing Papa). The recording dates are unknown but you can hear the record of the later performed by Fujinami Shōsei here:
5) Mini-booklet featuring Easygoing Papa by unknown artist (c1925)
This popular character moved beyond the comics medium and appeared in numerous forms, such as toys, a vending machine, stage plays, and as we saw above, film and record. There was also much unlicensed use of the character. An example is the following mini booklet, Easygoing Papa Library no.3: Trip Around Japan (probably published in 1925). Artist and author are unknown. In it, Papa sets out on a trip around Japan on a bicycle but soon moves to other modes of transport and encounters many dangers.
cover
p. 8-9 Departing on a bicycle
p. 24-25 Near miss on a motorcycle
p. 24-25 After bike accident continues by plane
6) Manga book making unlicensed use of the Easygoing Papa characters (1926)
This is another example of the unlicensed usage of Asō Yutaka’s popular characters. This color printed book Easygoing Papa – His Neighbor Taishō (Nonkinatō-san – Tonari no Taishō) published by small Tokyo publisher Shunkōdō to ride the wave of sales of official Easygoing Papa books but at a cheaper price. This type of low-cost multicolor horizontal format manga book would become common in the late 1920s and first half of the 30s, known as akahon manga (for more details see chapter 1 of Manga: a Critical Guide). Below are the cover and two pages from this book each featuring four-panel manga created by Yuasa Jōsaku and. The strips are read in principle from top-to-bottom and left-to-right, but at times the flow (or dialogue order) reads more logically right-to-left within a panel.
Cover: Easygoing Papa – His Neighbor Taishō
Water Bathing Episode
PANEL 1:
Taishō: I can’t stand this hear. Maybe I’ll take a bit of a dip in the water.
PANEL 2:
Papa: Oh Taishō, you’ve come up with a great idea, haven’t you?
Taishō: When it’s hot, there is nothing better than this.
PANEL 3:
Papa: Zzzzzzz
Taishō: Zzzzzzz
Police officer: Oh my goodness, this is terrible, dead people! I’ll go call everyone.
PANEL 4:
Papa & Taishō: Hey! What the?
Lumber Episode
PANEL 1:
Taishō: Uh oh, can’t you carry that? Right, I’ll do it.
Papa: Grunt, grunt …
PANEL 2:
Papa: Sure enough, Taishō you are strong, aren’t you?
Taishō: What? It’s not that heavy!
PANEL 3:
Papa: Oh, you’re really speedy, aren’t you? I can’t see ahead!
Taishō: Let’s go. Quickly, quickly.
PANEL 4:
Taishō: Hey, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it?
Taishō’s friend: Hey, Taishō where are you off to today?
7) Postwar commemorative postage stamp (1999)
This postage stamp is one in a series released by Japan Post in 1999 commemorating Twentieth century Japanese design. This is from the 4th stamp sheet in the series focusing on design in the period 1920 to 1925. It included the manga characters Easygoing Papa and Shō-chan.
8) The son of Easygoing Papa (1934)
Despite the strip Easygoing Papa ending in 1926, the character remained well known in the 1930s. After being asked to create something similar for Asahi Shinbun, Asō created a new strip centered on the son of Easygoing Papa, Tadano Bonji, which was serialized as a yonkoma (four-panel) manga from 1933 to 1934. The strips were collected into a number of books published by Asahi. Below is the cover and three strips from the first of these books published in 1934 as a chōhen (long-form) manga. While consisting of short strips, the lose overarching story follows the Bonji as he sets off into the world after high school graduation, consistently meeting with bad luck and learning life’s lessons as he tries to find suitable employment. The first strip (page 2 strip) from the book below is the very first strip of the newspaper serialization which is described briefly on page 38 of Manga: a Critical Guide. The order of the panels are numbered.
Cover: Life Study – Tadano Bonji : Long-form Manga (vol.1)
Page 2
PANEL 1:
Bonji: (exiting school gate) Today, graduation at last. Not a bad feeling, is it?
PANEL 2:
Bonji: Okay, when I return home there maybe (positive) responses from my job applications. Even if only for about ten percent of my hundred applications letters, that would be ten.
PANEL 3:
Bonji: Sheesh. There is nothing like ten. There isn’t even one.
PANEL 4:
Bonji: Using my graduation certificate in place of a hifukidake (bamboo blowpipe used to fan flames) is not a good feeling at all, is it?
Page 14
PANEL 1:
Landlady: Mr. Tadano, registered mail.
Bonji: Oh, it’s here. This is welcome. It’s my suit. It’s my suit.
PANEL 2:
Clothing store clerk: This looks as though it was tailor made for you. You cut a dashing figure in it, don’t you?
PANEL 3:
Bonji: All right. With this, no matter when I’m called up for a job, I’ll be all okay.
PANEL 4:
Bonji’s fellow graduate: Hey, I got a job. Unfortunately, I don’t have a suit. You haven’t gotten a job offer yet, have you? Sorry to ask, but could I borrow your suit? Come on Bonji, please. Thanks! See ya.
Page 15
PANEL 1:
Bonji: (leaving a company office) It seems like I graduated from school specifically to be rejected for work positions, doesn’t it?
PANEL 2:
Tram conductor: This one is full. Please wait for the next.
PANEL 3:
Sign on theater ticket office: Customers Full House
Bonji: Even if I feel like watching a movie or something . . . Darn it, how tedious.
PANEL 4:
(Bonji enters a sentō (bathhouse))
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