Some historical figures become more than just names in history books; some become the stuff of legend. In Japan, most of those historical legends were brave samurai warriors, whose bravery and skill on the battlefield are still talked about to this day.

But not every legend was a hack-and-slasher. Turns out one of the most legendary figures in Japanese history wasn’t a samurai, ninja, or emperor – but a judge. Meet Ooka Tadasuke.

Who Was Ooka Tadasuke?

Ooka was a figure during the Edo Period of Japanese history, around the 17th/18th centuries. He was a samurai, but not in the sense that most people think about; the Edo Period was a time when samurai became more like bureaucrats and officials than warriors.

Fortunately, Ooka was more exciting than a low-level, pencil-pushing bureaucrat. He’s most known for being a judge and, even though he started out as a low-level, local judge, he quickly moved up the ranks.

Ooka’s reputation for being fair and incorruptible was so widespread and well-known that even the big man himself, the shogun, knew about Ooka. The shogun appointed Ooka as magistrate of Tokyo, where he dispensed his own special brand of justice.

Famous Cases

During Ooka’s time as a judge he oversaw many cases, a few of which lead to legendary, unusual verdicts. I’m not the first person to draw comparisons between Ooka and King Solomon, the biblical judge who once rendered a verdict cutting a baby in half.

The Case Of The Stolen Smell

Probably Ooka’s most famous case started when an innkeeper accused a student of stealing the smell of his food. Yes, the innkeeper was actually mad that the student was smelling his food and not paying for it.

Thief! Thiiieeef!!!

How do you punish somebody who’s stealing a smell? Ooka decided that the thief should pay for the smell of food with the sound of money. The so-called thief was ordered to move money from one hand to the other, letting the inkeeper listen to it.

Tough, but fair.

Bound Statue

When a kimono maker discovered that some of his cloth was stolen, he came to Ooka. With no real leads to go on, Ooka decided to hold a trial and bring in a surprise witness.

When the witness was brought into court, it turned out to be a statue of Jizo, a Buddhist figure who not only is supposed to save the souls of dead babies (seriously), but is also supposed to look after travelers, like the kimono maker.

People in the court bust out laughing at the absurdity of the statue-turned-witness. Ooka became furious at the audience’s reaction and demanded that they all be punished, telling them to each hand over a piece of cloth (this probably made more sense in the Tokugawa Era).

Everybody forked over some cloth, and the kimono maker was quickly able to recognize some of his stolen cloth and thus, the thief.

These famous cases have largely been passed down in stories, told verbally over hundreds of years. But what about modern day storytelling?

In TV And Books

If there’s one thing for sure I know about Japan, it’s that they love their historical television dramas. The British have Downton Abbey; the Japanese have samurai drama. There’s even a whole genre for this sort of period drama called jidaigeki.

Ooka has been a major player in a couple of jidaigeki over the years, not only playing a big role in the long-running Abarenbo Shogun, but also playing the lead role in the drama Ooka Echizen. In one form or another, Ooka has been on Japanese TV regularly for the last forty years!

So handsome, so judicious.

Ooka’s legend doesn’t stop in Japan, either. Western writers have also been captivated by the legend of Ooka. Dutch writer Bertus Aafjes wrote a series of mystery novels about Ooka and an American named I.G. Edwards wrote a moderately popular children’s book about Ooka in the 50s. The book was republished several times, each time with a different name, going from Solomon In Kimono to Ooka The Wise to The Case of the Marble Monster.

(While researching this post, I realized that I’d read an Edwards’ story, Ooka and the Honest Thief, when I was a kid. Go figure.)

Will The Real Ooka Please Stand Up?

With Ooka’s widespread popularity, there’s been a bit of confusion about what he actually did and didn’t do. When a historical figure like Ooka becomes so celebrated and talked about, sometimes fantastic stories get tangled up with that person’s actual deeds.

No doubt, Japanese folklore has greatly exaggerated Ooka’s life, and magnified even further by Western authors.

But regardless of what stories are true, it’s clear that Ooka was a wise and fair man, whose deeds transcend his era.