In the eighth month of 1334, an anonymous text was posted on the riverbank at Nijō in Kyoto. It opens: Konogoro miyako ni hayaru mono, youchi, gōtō, nise rinji. What is in fashion in the capital these days: night raids, robbery, forged imperial orders. It mocks the disorder under the new Kenmu government. Its only surviving copy is in the Kenmu nenkanki.
In 1853, a comic verse is said to have mocked the arrival of Perry’s ships: Taihei no nemuri o samasu jōkisen, tatta shihai de yoru mo nerarezu. Jōkisen, a fine tea, wakes us from the sleep of peace. Just four cups, and no sleep at night. Jōkisen sounds like the word for steamship.