4. Izo’s Carefree Bachelor Years

During his bachelor years, Izo lived with his brother Kumejiro and two or three other assistants and apprentices. As there was no woman in the house, there was no one who regularly woke early every morning to prepare breakfast.

It was then decided that the loser of a game of rock-paper-scissors each night would wake up the next morning to cook breakfast. Izo was not very good at the game, so he often would end up preparing breakfast for several days in a row. Izo slowly came to the realization that as the boss of their carpenter troupe, he was like a parent to his apprentices, so it was only natural that he would end up making breakfast each day. Izo stopped the game of rock-paper-scissors that night and continued to be the first to wake each morning to prepare breakfast.

Another account suggests that Izo concocted the game of rock-paper-scissors and may have lost on purpose in order to have his brother and other roommates readily accept the fact their senior carpenter was preparing their breakfast for them each day.

This was how Izo spent his carefree bachelor years.

(Adapted from Honseki-sama by Bunchi Okuya, p. 18–19 and Shinpan Izo Iburi den by Eizo Ueda, p. 11–12)

• Next installment in this series: 5. Frog in the Rice Gruel

*Note: This post has been revised since its original publication.