お江戸豆吉 けんか餅（読みもの）
Oedo Mamekichi: "Quarrel Rice Cakes"
カテゴリー: Japanese Children's Books、おすすめ！日本の子どもの本、読みもの／chapter books and novels
『お江戸豆吉 けんか餅』
11歳の豆吉は、田舎から出てきて江戸で評判の高い菓子屋「鶴亀屋」に住み込みで働いていた。店の者はみな親切だが、気が短くてけんかっ早い若旦那の米蔵が苦手だ。若旦那は背が高くて見た目も怖い。ある日、客と大げんかをした若旦那にかんかんに怒った旦那様が、浅草の小さな店を借りて、そこで働き一人前になるまで帰ってくるな、と言い渡した。そしてあろうことか、豆吉は見張り役としてついていくように頼まれてしまった。
豆吉は泣きたい思いだったが、同じ家に住み、一緒に仕事をするうち、だんだんと若旦那の人柄がわかり、扱い方も心得るようになった。相変わらずけんかは絶えないが、菓子作りの腕前は大したものだ。若旦那も豆吉のことを認め、自分の菓子を作ってみろ、と教えてくれた。若旦那みたいな上品な薄い餅にはならないが、工夫して自分の大福を作った。うまい、と一番に気にいってくれたのが若旦那のけんか相手の辰五郎で、いつの間にか豆吉の大福には「けんか餅」という名前がつき、うす餅大福と並ぶ店の名物になった。
威勢がよくて、けんかっ早い江戸っ子の毎日を描いた作品。若旦那、豆吉、周囲の人びとのテンポよいかけあいが心地よく、江戸の活気がいきいきと伝わってくる。あちこちに差し込まれているコラム「豆吉のお江戸豆知識」もおもしろく読める。（汐﨑）
| 出版社 | フレーベル館 |
|---|---|
| 初版年 | 2021年 |
| ISBN | 978-4-577-04972-3 |
| ページ数 | 192頁 |
| サイズ | 19×13 |
| 対象年齢 | 11歳から |
| キーワード | 江戸っ子、暮らし、和菓子、仕事 |
Oedo Mamekichi: "Quarrel Rice Cakes"
Eleven-year-old Mamekichi moves from the countryside to Edo (now Tokyo) to work as a live-in employee at Tsurukameya, a confectionery shop with a good reputation. The master and mistress and the other employees are all kind, but he has a hard time with twenty-three-year-old Yonezo, the shorttempered and quarrelsome young master. Yonezo is tall and scary. One day, furious with Yonezo for getting into a big fight with a customer, the master rented a small store for him in Asakusa and told him not to come back until he’d made a success of it. And of all things, he sent Mamekichi to keep an eye on him!
Mamekichi wanted to cry, but living and working with Yonezo, he gradually came to understand his personality and learned how to treat him. Yonezo was still quarrelsome, but he was extremely good at making sweets. He also gave credit to Mamekichi and told him to try making his own confections. Mamekichi couldn’t make the elegant thin rice cakes Yonezo was known for, but he came up with his own version of daifuku rice cakes filled with sweet bean paste. These proved especially popular with Tatsugoro, the customer with whom Yonezo had quarreled, and they were soon dubbed “quarrel rice cakes” and sold alongside Yonezo’s rice cakes as a store specialty.
This work depicts the daily life of spirited, quick-tempered Edoites. The fastpaced dialogue between the young master, Mamekichi, and the people around them is delightful, vividly conveying the liveliness of Edo. The text boxes entitled “Mamekichi’s Edo Trivia” are also interesting. (Shiozaki)
- Text: Kiryu, Tamaki | Ill. Noma, Yotaro
- Froebel-kan
- 2021
- 192 pages
- 19×13
- ISBN 978-4-577-04972-3
- Ages 11 +
Edoites, lifestyle, Japanese sweets, work