(Voice actor) Ms.Carolyn Miller

Tomikuji is the predecessor of the current lottery. It’s a form of entertainment for the people to dream of immediate wealth, although it is statistically hardly likely. Yet people buy it because you cant win if you dont play. Human nature has not changed much since the old days. The world’s first lottery was started in China during the Han dynasty. It is said to have been started by Zhang Liang, who was a strategist and statesman of Emperor Gaozu, the establisher of the Han dynasty, to collect money for building the Great Wall of China. Others say Caesar, the Roman Emperor, used it to raise funds for construction projects. Since the old days, it seems to be customary for lotteries to sell dreams to the people in order to collect a big budget for building things. The tomikuji of Japan that took place in the Edo period under the Tokugawa administration was run by shrines and temples. They used tomikuji for Kanjin (soliciting donations for building construction or repair, errecting making statues etc.) for shrines and temples. The tomikuji was popular at Yushima Tenjin shrine, Meguro Fudo temple and Tenno-ji temple of Taninaka. These places were called the Three Tomi of Edo and were bustling with visitors. The Tokugawa administration banned tomikuji several times, but the Three Tomi locations, including Tenno-ji temple of Taninaka, received special permits from the administration even after the tomikuji prohibition, and continued operating. The events announcing the tomikuji winner were very exciting. They placed the same number of tags as tickets sold in a large box, and stuck a gimlet through a hole on the box. The tag that got pierced by the gimlet was the winning number, and the person with the same number ticket was given the winning money. While tomikuji contained the dreams of the people, it also created much drama, so it came to be depicted in rakugo and kodan (*they are both storytelling performances). The rakugo “Tomikyu” is one of the classics. Kyuzo, who had lost his job and family from his drinking problem, buys tomikuji at the prompting of his friend and starts thinking he has won. Even I can relate to the scene, of fantisizing about what to buy and where to go with money won. Hearing that there was a fire in the direction where his friend, to whom he is indebted, lives, he rushes over. He was allowed into the house but again makes mistakes while drunk on the sake that was served as a sympathy gift to the fire victims. His pathetic ways and the repetition of his mistakes are funny yet understandable. The rakugo, “Tomikyu” portrays realistic people of Edo and takes place in Tenno-ji of Nakatani. Read the story here, and if you have a chance, see the rakugo also.