I just finished watching Demon Slayer, an anime about Kamado Tanjiro, a boy hunting for the demon who slaughtered his family and turned his sister Nezuko into one. A tale full of memorable characters, a compelling story and great shonen action, it could easily be set in any era but it takes place about a century ago in the Taisho-era. Few shows used this time period, but that’s great for me because now I have an excuse to write about how it incorporates its time frame and about one of my favorite red brick buildings.

The Taisho-era (1912-1926) marks the relatively short reign of Emperor Taisho (1879-1926). Though wedged between the long reign of his father and even longer reign of his son, this era was one in which Japan had finally caught up with the rest of the industrial world. Fashion and fads from around the world were now just as at home in Tokyo as they were in Paris or New York and liberal ideas were openly explored. Technologically, Japanese industry was producing indigenously designed steel ships and steam trains instead of simply importing. The world’s most powerful dreadnought was launched at Kure in 1920 and the first purpose-built aircraft carrier came from Yokohama a year later.

Abroad Japan was rising as a global power thanks to its participation in the Great War  as an Allied power, having protected Allied shipping as far as the Mediterranean and taking out the German colony of Tsingtao in China. (Japan also tried to strong arm China while the rest of the Western powers were pre-occupied.)

Taisho-era, colorized. (I’ve waited years to use this.)

Though for Demon Slayer none of this is particularly relevant. Japan’s modernization sent ripples through the countryside, but didn’t drastically alter life from how it had been lived for centuries. Over its 26 episode run only a handful of episodes feature this ‘modern’ Japan and the only thing setting the Taisho-era apart from the Edo-era (1603-1868) are the Demon Slayer Corps uniforms, background characters who’ve donned Western hats with their kimono and telephone poles running through the dirt road towns. The modern age doesn’t really hit until episode 7 (“Kibutsuji Muzan”) when Tanjiro and Nezuko track a demon to Tokyo’s Asakusa entertainment district.

If you wanted to discombobulate an old-fashioned country boy with modernity, this would be the place to do it. During the Edo-era Asakusa was the theater district for patrons of performing arts such as kabuki, but in 1903 Japan’s first movie theater, the Denki-kan (“Electricity Hall”), opened here and by 1912 the Rokku (Sixth) district was full of them. It was a place for people with money going out for shopping and evenings of amusement.

The animators likely did their research at the Edo-Tokyo Museum as their bustling night time street appears to be based on the museum’s model of Rokku as it appeared in 1912.

They also showcase another pair of landmarks, the Nakamise Shopping Street leading to Senso-ji Temple and Ryounkaku or “Asakusa 12 Stories.” Tourists still clog the trinket shop-lined temple street but Ryounkaku is a vanished icon of the era.

Nakamise Shopping Street; note the missing Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate) at the close end of the street. This is a good piece of historic attention to detail as the gate was built in 941 AD and was destroyed in an 1865 fire. The current gate that caps the end of the street was built in 1960 so no gate was present in the Taisho era.

Nakamise Shopping Street was rebuilt after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and again after the area’s destruction in the 1945 Tokyo air raid.

Ryounkaku is the tower on the right. It appears in multiple shots throughout the episode.

Before the Tokyo Sky Tree and before Tokyo Tower, there was Ryounkaku.  Rising higher than any pagoda ever had, when it was completed in 1890 the 60-meter 12-story akarenga (“red brick”) Ryounkaku was Japan’s first skyscraper; it also had the nation’s first elevator and was electrically lit. Sadly, it’s inclusion in the show also helps us narrow down when Demon Slayer takes place as it was destroyed during the Sept. 1, 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. More than 70,000 people died in the disaster which leveled much of the city and took Tokyo until 1930 to fully recover from. Asakusa would remain Tokyo’s favorite place for amusement until it was destroyed again in the World War II fire bombings.

Like the Rokku District a 1/10 scale light-up model of Ryounkaku is present at the Edo-Tokyo Museum. I recommend visiting it because it is one of the most engaging museums I’ve ever been to; it covers the story of Japan’s capital from the beginning of its eponymous era to modern Tokyo. Artifacts, life-sized mock ups of every day places from bridges to banks to portable street vendor shops, models of districts throughout the ages, it has everything for a fun and educational day out.

After Asakusa Tanjiro and friends disappear back into the unchanging backwoods until we see the Infinite Train in the last two episodes. This was a great inclusion because it is clearly a Class 8620, Japan’s first mass-produced, domestically-designed steam engine built for passenger service. These entered service in 1914 so it again slightly narrows down the show’s potential timeline. Two of these magnificent (and demon-free) metal beasts are still in operation so you can ride them. (SL Gunma will hold a Demon Slayer collab in October 2020, though their steam engine is from the 1930s.)

Inosuke’s bewildered reaction to the “creature” upon seeing the train is also similar to reactions Japanese peasants had upon seeing these loud, smokey things streak across the countryside. They referred to them as karyu, “fire-breathing dragons.”

No. 8630 takes Kyoto Railway Museum visitors on very slow, I mean “leisurely,” 10 minute rides down the tracks along the regular train and Shinkansen lines. As SL Hitoyoshi, No. 58654 pulls a nostalgic-themed sightseeing train through Kumamoto Prefecture’s beautiful forested mountains as it follows the course of Japan’s third fastest river.

I look forward to the movie and the next season but hope to see more use made of this particular time in Japanese history. Though now I’m wondering if a demon outbreak will be the cause of the 1923 earthquake.

And now, a Taisho Secret!

Japan uses two calendars (three sometimes, but let’s not get into that), the Gregorian and an Imperial era-name calendar which tracks time according to an emperor’s reign. For example 1912 is the 45^th year of Emperor Meiji’s reign, which makes it Meiji 45. But, since he died that year and Taisho became emperor in 1912 it is also Taisho 1. If it was simple it wouldn’t be Japan.

I once asked my wife if it is more correct to say 1912 is Meiji 45 or that it is Taisho 1 and her response was to sigh and ask why I need to know such things. I then asked if it’s only Meiji 45 up until his death and we count Taisho 1 after and she said that people can’t be expected to remember those things either. I told her Emperor Taisho passed away Dec. 25, 1926. It was the wrong thing to say.

LOCATIONS

Edo-Tokyo Museum
1 Chome-4-1 Yokoami, Sumida City, Tokyo 130-0015
03-3626-9974
https://www.edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp/en/

Kyoto Train Museum
Kankijicho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, 600-8835
http://www.kyotorailwaymuseum.jp/en/

SL Hitoyoshi
https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/train/sl.html

‘Colorized’ Taisho-era from Sakura Wars / Sakura Taisen