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Sex and Migration in the Transpacific Underground
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Home / No.16 (March 19, 1912)

No.16 (March 19, 1912)

Takita used to work at a sawmill in Wattsburg near Cranbrook around the summer of 1908 but frequently went to Cranbrook whenever he had free time. Unlike other places, Cranbrook is relatively tolerant where even straight men freely enter devil caves from back entrances without officially being their customers, have them serve alcohol and drink heavily. Takita, who is neither straight nor smart, got his spirit rot completely after visiting caves from back entrances and entered into a devil relationship with Mary, the Fukuoka woman I mentioned above.

In fact, since there were all kinds of jobs available in Fernie after the great fire of early August of 1908, Takita traveled there to work that summer. But he returned to Cranbrook in the fall and finally abducted Mary. This incident was extremely comical, which became a widespread rumor among the Japanese in the city. In addition, people had no idea who hid her and where she was taken. Oshichi, who was the manager of the house in which Mary was working, and her man Makino together searched for Mary everywhere but could not find her. After a while devil Shinpei Matsumoto and his wife came to pimp Miyaji and reported that the woman was hidden in their mountain. Mary was finally found and temporarily taken back, which caused a great quarrel; fifty-year-old Tanigawa, who was a cook at Oshichi’s, cried and pleaded with Mary to change her mind and stay with him, promising that he would mend his ways, making a big scene in front of a lot of witnesses. After all this idiotic performance, they resolved the issue with cash and Takita secured her. Being overly dramatic, Tanigawa cited his favorite gidaiyu* song, “My life is over! I have been good-hearted lately but, my ill luck, I had bad prostitute-fortune. Mary’s mind was turned over to Takita just like how the living world keeps flowing. With this aged body I cannot do anything but just leave immediately without resisting anybody.” Tanigawa packed up his baggage and fell into Vancouver. Meanwhile, Takita moved between places a few times with the woman, and eventually settled in Michel. What a tangled story.

*Gidaiyū is a school of jōruri puppet theatre, which was one of the dominant forms of entertainment during the Edo period.
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