Otokodate

• Japanese: 男伊達 (otoko date)

Otokodate were a type of street toughs prominent in Edo literature, theatre, and everyday culture in the early Edo period. They were closely related to the machiyakko (町奴), and engaged in a variety of violent and bullying activities to assert and maintain their power within a neighborhood.

By the early 18th century, however, the otokodate were largely suppressed, living on only in literature and theatre. On the streets, they were replaced by the isami (勇), a figure who performed machismo and toughness, speaking of his various exploits (e.g. street brawls he won), physical strength, and so forth, but without actually engaging in (much) violent behavior.

References

• Tom Gaubatz, "A Barbershop on Every Corner: Urban Space and Identity Performance in the Fiction of Shikitei Sanba," guest lecture, UC Santa Barbara, 7 Jan 2016.