Tarazu Lectures.
Now, let me start the lectures on the witnesss reports in July. This time, I will lecture on #57 and #87 witness reports. I need to lecture on #87 report first because #57 report is directly releted to #87. Now, the lecture on #87. [00:29]
"There are old stairs and handrails under a historical bridge. But there is no passage to go up to the stairs. Did Hyaku Tarazu Sama go through here? And what used to be there beyond the stairs?" [00:45] First, we need to know what this building was. In fact, there was a sign on this building, but the characters have been almost erased by the winds and the rains for the long years.  [00:56] But you can still recognize the vague trace of the characters if you try to see them. Please look here. Picture: A part of the wall of the building. There are something that look like stains here, but these were actually Chinese characters. I will place the characters over the picture here, so please look carefully. 
[01:15] Picture: Five Chinese characters "中了潤巾退" are shown on the picture.
As you can see, the characters "中了潤巾退(chuu ryou jun kin tai)" emerge. The word "中了潤巾退" means what we call neckties in the contemporary world. Thus you will understand that this building was a necktie shop. [01:43] Originally, the word "tie" in "necktie" was a Japanese word "tai". It originated in the Chinese character "退(しりぞく/shiriziku/to remove oneself, to withdraw)" pronounced "tai". Caption: 退＝タイ(to remove oneself＝tai) The necktie, when it came into being, used to be called "潤巾(junkin)" meaning "moist cloth" or "wet cloth". [01:52] Caption: しめった布切れ(wet cloth) Now, let me show you what a junkin looked like.  [02:08] This is the form of a necktie, in another word, a junkin, in its early time. Picture: A man wearing a very long necktie which is longer than his height.
Caption: 潤巾(junkin: wet cloth) A junkin was about 5 to 10 times (the longest kind was) longer than a contemporary necktie.  [02:22] Therefore, a junkin was always touching the ground, and when a wearer walks over a puddle, it would get wet, as you can see.   [02:31] Moreover, the ground was generally poor-drained everywhere in the old times, so a necktie was never dry. That is why it was called junkin, a wet cloth. [02:45] Caption: 潤巾(junkin: wet cloth) A junkin was a part of a male's formal outfit, so men had to waer them all the time in public. Everywhere including the street ground and the floors of buildings were wet all over all the time because of that. [02:56] One day, Hyaku Tarazu Sama looked at those junkins and lamented how unsanitary they were and thought they were not only too long, but also a waste of the resources. He visited a junkin maker at a shop in Mansei-bashi*, Akihabara, in Tokyo. Caption: 
中了潤巾退(Chuu Ryou Jun Kin Tai)
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現在のネクタイ(the contemporary necktie) And he told the junkin maker to make '中了潤巾退(chuuryou junkin tai)', in another word, the contemporary neckties. [03:19] A 中了潤巾退(chuuryou junkin tai) means, as you can understand looking at the characters, "Ending in the middle, the wet cloth removes itself.
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Caption:

「中了」➡中ほどで終わり(ending in the middle)
「潤巾」➡湿った布(wet cloth)
「退」    ➡ 退く(to remove oneself, to withdraw) Thanks to this, with chuuryou junkin tai, men could walk over puddles without getting their neckties wet, and also could save the resources. [03:38] Caption: ↑中了潤巾退！！ Now next, I will explain why this building has no passage to get to the stairs. They blocked the passage from the street to the stairs as a part of the campaign to promote chuuryou junkin tai.  [03:57]  
Please look here. Picture: ↓ (An arrow pointing to the lower left side of the picture.) There is a water canal here. This building was reconstructed so that people could enter the building only by way of the water canal.  [04:09] Consequently, the comfortableness to wear a chuuryou junkin tai was emphasized and people flocked into this building to downsize their junkin to chuuryou junkinn tai. [04:23] But that verbal explanation by me is not enough for you to picture how it actually happened. Please look at this picture I have obtained, which is the original painting used in the posters for chuuryou junkin tai's sales campaign.  [04:32] Picture: A man with a very long necktie, the end of which is soaked in water, and another man with a necktie in the contemporary length are standing on a boat. The poster had the sales message, 
"Yuki wa bisho nure, kaeri wa dorai." **
(Going there all wet, and coming back dry.) The sales message demonstrated most clearly the change that you may go to the shop with your junkin all wet because of going through the canal, but you will come back dry, comfortably wearing a chuuryou junkin tai.  [04:55] In those days, this sales campaign was a great success and the word "退く(shirizoku/to remove oneself, to withdraw)" from the word "中了潤巾退(chuuryou junkin tai)" made waves across the country as a kind of praising words. When they saw a man wearing a chuuryou junkin tai, they would compliment saying, "Yo! Shirizoite-ru nee!(Hey! You are nice and withdrawn!)". This kind of conversations were heard here and there. [05:18] And a quick digression. As chuuryou junkin tai became popular, many other goods were developped, taking advantage of the popularity of it. Among them, the most loved thing by fashion-concious people was a drink called "shirizoki bran***(退きブラン/withdrawn brandy)" searved at a "tarazu bar(足らずバー/shortage bar". Actually, alchohol was removed from this drink, shirizoki bran, resembling brandy. So the men who drank this drink at a bar on the way home from work would arrive(withdraw toward) home quickly being sober, so it was welcomed by their wives, according to a historical document.  [05:52] That is the story about the old chuuryou junkin tai shop existed in Mansei-bashi, Akihabara, where Hyaku Tarazu Sama's work bloomed. [06:02] ----------     ----------     ----------     ----------
Next, I will lecture on the witness report #57.
"I found a sign for a seat for the handicapped at a hospital in Tokyo, but the sign is missing the chair, so it looks as if a handicapped person has to do a wall sit. Is this a work by Hyaku Tarazu Sama?"
 [06:20] This sign does not mean that you have to wall sit as it looks. It means that you can sit where this sign is. [06:31] This sign is one of the recycled ones, which were going around when chuuryou junkin tai became popular. It originated in the previously discussed necktie shop. At that time, the chuuryou junkin tai shop  had to make a waiting room for the customers flooding in to the shop. And this sign was placed here and there in the shop. The customers waiting to be served would sit down where these signs were. [06:31] Then, where can you find the same sign in the photo? In fact, you have already seen it. Look here.  [07:17] Picture: A sign of a person sitting down is shown on the picture. The customers waiting would sit on the steps.  [07:24] This system of service was adopted by a lot of public facilities later. But later, the system changed to the style in which  if customers wait for a few minuites at the sign, the person in charge will bring the  chairs to them, instead of the syle they sit where the signs are. [07:45] So please do not worry. If you wait for a few minuites at this sign patiently, a step-shaped chair will be brought to you soon. I can say that this is one of the styles of service emerged because of the popularity of chuuryou junkin tai.  [08:02] That's all for the lectures this time.
Now, I will withdraw(shirizoku). [08:14] *****     *****     *****     *****     *****
Translater's note: Mansei-bashi, Akihabara * : Mansei-bashi (literally 'ten thousand ages bridge'), at present, is an area with a lot of electric appliance shop buildings and adult-entertainment businesses, but it used to be a town of craftsmen. Kanda River that goes through the area was an important water canal for trade transportation. In Edo Period(1603-1868), high-rank retainers of Shogun lived in the area with their family craftsmen living near by, which made the area the town of skilled craftspeople. "Yuki wa bisho nure, kaeri wa dorai." **
(Going there all wet, and coming back dry.) : A funny parody of an old Japanese children's song "Tooryanse/とおりゃんせ(Go through the gate)" with a phrase, 
"Yuki wa yoi yoi, kaeri wa kowai."
(Going there is alright, alright,  but coming back is scary.) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oBNhD3n3zpY
At 0:36 and 1:24, you can hear the phrase. Shirizoki Bran***
:(withdrawn brandy) A spoof of 'Denki Bran'. Denki Bran: (electric brandy) A brandy based cocktail created and became popular in Tokyo in 1880s and later. At first, its alcohol content was 45 percent, and it became popular because its electrifying taste reminded of electricity which was considered modern at that time.