Tenjiku Tokubei (Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

: 天竺徳兵衛) was a Japanese adventurer and writer of the early 17th century. He traveled to Southeast

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

 and South Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

, hence his "Tenjiku

Tianzhu

-Locations in China:*Mount Tianzhu , in Anhui*Tianzhu County, Guizhou , in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou*Tenzhu Tibetan Autonomous County , or Tianzhu, of Wuwei, Gansu...

" (Japanese: 天竺, East Asia

East Asia

East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

n name of "India

Names of India

The name India may refer to either the region of Greater India , or to the contemporary Republic of India contained therein....

") nickname.

He was born in Sendo-machi, Takasago-cho, in today's Hyōgo Prefecture

Hyogo Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...

 in 1612. His father was a salt wholesaler.

The adventurer

At the age of fifteen, in 1626, Tokubei was hired by a trading company in Kyoto. He pursued commercial activities aboard Japanese Red Seal Ships

Red seal ships

were Japanese armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asian ports with a red-sealed patent issued by the early Tokugawa shogunate in the first half of the 17th century...

.

In 1627, Tokubei visited China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

 and Siam (modern Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

) on board a Japanese Red Seal ship. He would stay for some time in Siam and again visit the country on board one of the ships of the Dutch adventurer Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn

Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn

Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn , or simply Jan Joosten, was a native of Delft and one of the first Dutchmen in Japan, arriving as one of William Adams's shipmates on the De Liefde, which was disabled on the coast of Kyūshū in 1600.-Early life in Japan:The De Liefde departed Rotterdam in 1598, on a...

. He also sailed to India

Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...

, to the source of the Ganges, and the country of Magadha

Magadha

Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...

, and returned with great wealth and numerous stories to tell.

Upon his return to Japan, and after the introduction of the Seclusion policy (Sakoku

Sakoku

was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...

), Tokubei wrote an essay titled "Tenjiku Tokai Monogatari" (天竺渡海物語, "Relations of sea travels to India") on his adventures in foreign countries, which became very popular in Japan.

He died around the age of 80 in his home town of Takasago.

The Kabuki character

Tenjiku Tokubei became a popular character of Kabuki

Kabuki

is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...

 and Joruri

Joruri

can refer to:*Jōruri , a type of sung narrative with shamisen accompaniment, typically found in Bunraku, a traditional Japanese puppet theatre.*Jōruri , an opera by Japanese composer Miki Minoru.*Jōruri-ji , a Buddhist temple near Nara....

 puppet dramas, where he was given the role of a magician. He was a popular subject of woodcut prints in the 18th and 19th century.

In September 1795, Kunitaro played the role of Tokubei's wife in the drama "Tenjiku Tokubei Kikigaki Ôrai", while the role of Tenjiku Tokubei was played by Arashi Koroku III.

Conveyor belt sushi

Today, Tokubei is also the name of a chain of Conveyor belt sushi

Conveyor belt sushi

is the popular English translation for Japanese fast-food sushi. In Australia, it is also known as sushi train...

, comprising 49 restaurants as of June 2005.