MOMOYA TV-Ads007-1961-Tsukigata Noriheita

Time: 30 sec.

Product Name: EDO-MURASAKI

Description of Product: EDO-MURASAKI is a savory preserve made of seaweed, called “Nori-no-tsukudani” in Japanese. It is made with soy sauce, sugar and mirin (rice wine.) It is preservable, and often eaten with Japanese rice.

Year: 1961

Advertiser: Momoya Co., Ltd.

Advertising Agency: YOMIKO Advertising Inc.

Production Company: Television Corporation of Japan

Description of Title: "Tsukigata Hampeita" is the title of the play written by Japanese playwright and novelist Yukitomo Rifu, and also the name of its protagonist. This title, “Tsukigata Noriheita,” is a kind of wordplay as “Norihei” is the name of an animated character appeared in TV advertisements by Momoya Co., Ltd.

The opening of this TV ad begins with a track left the night view with pine trees, a mountain range of Higashiyama in Kyoto prefecture, shiny stars and crescent. Soon the view captures and zooms in the five-storied pagoda. The following scene introduces a young Samurai who eats a heaped rice bowl of Chazuke, a soup-type Japanese rice dish and a Geisha sitting in front of him. They are a parody of the characters from the play “Tsukigata Hampeita” written by Japanese playwright and novelist Rifu Yukitomo. Another Samurai with a traditional Japanese straight-sleeved coat Happi shows up in the middle of this piece. He is also a burlesque character of Isami Kondo who is known as commander of the Shinsengumi, a special police force of the late Edo period.