MOMOYA TV-Ads056-1968-Saigo Meshimori

Time: 30 sec.

Product Name: SHIITAKE-NORI

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

Year: 1968

Advertiser: Momoya Co., Ltd.

Advertising Agency: YOMIKO Advertising Inc.

Production Company: Television Corporation of Japan

Description of Title: Saigo Takamori, who lived through the late Edo period and the early Meiji era, is one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history. This title, “Saigo Meshimori,” is a kind of wordplay based on his name; “meshi” means "rice" or "meal," and “mori” means "to serve." Thus, “Meshimori” literally means "to serve rice or meal."

Set in the times of political and social transition from the Edo to Meiji period, this piece parodies the story of Takamori Saigo who is a Samurai from the Satsuma domain, today’s Kagoshima prefecture, and one of the most important figures in Japanese history. To explain, the background song in the former part of this TV ad is a parody of a war music titled “Tokoton-yare-bushi,” also known as “Miyasan Miyasan.”The part of its lyrics‘Miyasan’refers to the Prince Arisugawa Taruhito who fought with Saigo in the Boshin War. Also, the long shot of Saigo’s stout figure in the closing scene burlesques a famous blond statue located in the Ueno Park in Tokyo, which was created by a Japanese sculptor Koun Takamura.