Shogun and Samurai

＾ Shogun and Samurai Tales of Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu by Okanoya Shigezane (1835-1919) Translated and Edited by Andrew and Yoshiko Dykstra 2 Shogun and Warlords Tales of Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu Contents Acknowledgement The background of the work Story titles The translation Appendix 1. Map of the Old Provinces of Japan 2. Map of the Modern Prefectures of Japan Selected Bibliography 3 Acknowledgement We appreciate our friends, including Professor Paul Varley of the University of Hawaii, Professor George Hlawatsch, and Professor Richard Swingle of the Kansaigaidai University, who read our translations and gave us many precious suggestions. The translation is based on the texts appearing in Meishôgenkôroku by Okanoya Shigezane (1835-1919), Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo, 1943. In translation, we placed family names first in the Japanese style. All the story titles and the information in the brackets and parentheses are supplied by the translators. Diacritics are deleted in popular place-names including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kanto, Honshu, Kyushu. The glossary contains main terms related to the stories. For dates and years, the Gregorian calendar is used in place of the old Japanese way of calculation, as in 1596 for the first year of Keichô. Most of the illustrations come from the Ehon Taikôki written by Takeuchi Kakusai and illustrated by Okada Gyokusan (1797-1802) but was banned in 1804. The translators, Andrew H. Dykstra was Provost Emeritus of the Kansaigaidai Hawaii College, Hawaii, and Yoshiko K. Dykstra, Professor of the Kansaigaidai University, Osaka, Japan 4 The Background of the work and the author ”I will kill the cuckoo if it does not sing,” said Nobunaga. “I will make the cuckoo sing,” said Hideyoshi, and “I will wait until the cuckoo sings,” said Ieyasu. These three views on a cuckoo tersely describe the personalities and characteristics of the three lords who survived the warring period in sixteenth and seventeenth century Japan, and are the main protagonists of this book, Shogun and Warlords. A general view is: Oda Nobunaga 1 took the first step to unify warring Japan; Toyotomi Hideyoshi took over and attained Nobunaga’s half-achieved ambition, the unification of Japan; and Tokugawa Ieyasu assumed the position of the first Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate to rule a unified Japan. The well-systematized new Shogunate succeeded in maintaining peace through more than two hundred and sixty years until the black ships of Commodore Perry appeared at Shimoda in 1853. This book, Shogun and Warlords, is based on the Meishôgenkôroku2, The Records of the Sayings and Conduct of Famous Lords by Okanoya Shigezane, a book that includes tales, anecdotal accounts, and episodes of one hundred and twenty-nine lords from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, beginning with Lord Hôjô Sôun. What was the purpose of Shigezane’s work? His introduction states, “As I read the recent historical writings, the detailed accounts of the conduct and sayings of past famous lords have been recorded variously and have greatly benefited the people. However, unfortunately, these accounts are 1 Oda Nobunaga 織田信長（1534-1582）, Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉(1536-1598）,Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 (1542-1616） 2 Meishogenkoroku 名将言行録 by.Okanoya Shigezane 岡谷繁実 contains one hundred and ninety-two lords and generals’ short biographical tales divided into seventy one maki., and first published in thirty maki in 1871, and later in seventy maki in 1896 which were given to Itou Hirobumi 伊藤博文 and other 5 scattered, and it is difficult to obtain a body of information and materials for each lord. Above all, some information is repetitious and erroneous. So I decided to take notes and quotations from miscellaneous sources and compile my own work to help the serious readers. Since then, I have researched and written down all important information that I found on each lord when reading. Since my own library is not enough, I have borrowed books and used others’ libraries as I expanded my work, which has become quite a strenuous toil. .” The names and the titles of the books and writings to which he refers in his work amount to a total of 1252 including various chronicles, biographies, diaries, and family and clan records as well as lost accounts of battles, revolts, incidents, and events. As Shigezane also mentions in his introduction, “Rather than describing the career of each lord, his behavior, conduct and words are the main features” of this work. Shigezane describes when and how certain actions were taken and orders were issued, and gives the reasons for the deeds and the words of the lords involved. Each story, written in the mixed kanji and kana style, is short and anecdotal, but conveys pin-point views of the protagonists involved. Shigezane began his work at about the age of nineteen in 1854, and finished in 1869. The work was first published in 1871 in thirty maki (volumes). The present book, Shogun and Warlords, includes 164 tales of the three prominent warlords, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu, who distinguished themselves in the chaotic warfare of sixteenth century Japan. The tales describe these lords in terms of their human relationships with colleagues, vassals, and subjects, including retainers and servants. Even when the author’s biased views are discounted, these tales contribute to understanding the contemporary intellectuals in appreciation of the meritorious deeds of the past samurai lords. 6 life and times of the three lords, and also help us to grasp how and why they distinguished themselves by overcoming odds and predicaments in very difficult situations. Today, many Japanese businessmen read Shigezane’s work to find hints and ideas to improve relationships with their employees, colleagues, and business associates. The work’s tales convey certain values still held by the Japanese, who enjoy the most high-tech life in the world. Let us briefly survey these three lords’ careers in relation to the tales in Shogun and Warlords. Tales 1 and 2 of Nobunaga and tale 1 of Ieyasu in Shogun and Warlords clearly tell how they were already perceptive and analytical in their youth, and quite distinct from other children of their age. Different from the two who were born in traditional samurai lordly families, Hideyoshi was the son of a lowly, landless foot soldier. However, with the wit and talents described in tales 2 and 3 of Hideyoshi, he successfully climbed the political ladder to the position of Regent of the country. What was the condition of Japan when such a lowly man could climb to heights even higher than the position of Shogun? In 1467, the Ônin War3 began in Kyoto, involving the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, his younger brother Yoshimi, and his son Yoshihisa, as well as the two families of the 3 Ônin War 応仁の乱(1467-1477): The conflict over their inheritance among Ashikaga Shogun Yoshimasa’s 足利善政 younger brother, Yoshimi 義視, and his son, Yoshihisa 義尚, and the two supporting families loyal to the Ashikaga Shogunate, the Hatakeyama 畠山 and the Ｓhiba 斯波, triggered a greater fight between Hosokawa Katsumoto 細川勝元 (leading the Eastern army) and Yamana Sôzen 山名宗全(leading the Western army) which devastated the city of Kyoto over the span of ten years. As a result, the Ashikaga Shogunate lost political power while the traditional shôen (manor system) collapsed, and local military magnates became prominent as they developed into sengoku 戦国 warring daimyo who expanded their territories. The Yamana was a prosperous family in the Muromachi Period once controlling eleven provinces in the Chûgoku Area. Yamana Sôzen (1404-73), nicknamed the “Red Monk”, was one of the protagonists in the Ônin War. For the background of the war, see Varley, pp.123-135: for the causes of the war, see Yoshimura, pp.67-102; for the effect of the war on the people in Kyoto, see Kobayashi, pp.1-31. 7 Hatakeyama and the Shiba, who competed for inheritance rights. Eventually the conflict developed into further struggles between tow great families, the Hosokawa and Yamana. By the time the fighting ended in 1477, the capital was devastated and the suzerainty of the Ashikaga Shogunate had declined while the local daimyo acquired power, and eventually a trend termed gekokujô, the lower supplanting the higher, became prominent as in Hideyoshi’s case. Under these circumstances, those who acquired power by conquering their weaker neighbors wished to go up to the capital to obtain Imperial approval for their political hegemony. Among such ambitious lords, Nobunaga was the first who had the aspiration to unify warring Japan. Oda Nobunaga: Born as the second son of Oda Nobuhide in Owari Province, Nobunaga’s youthful name was Kippôshi, as related in tales 1 and 2. He was a wild and uncontrollable youth, paying little heed to the governance of his domains. The Oda family elder, Hirate Masahide, feeling responsible for Nobunaga’s wild behavior, committed suicide as a remonstrance. Moved by Masahide’s devotion, Nobunaga reformed himself, as described in tales 3 and 4. His strong concern and attachment to Masahide is tersely described in tale 33. Despite Nobunaga’s extraordinary appearance, a certain foreign Christian missionary appraised him, saying, “He was tall, slender, and delicate in constitution and did not seem able to survive misfortunes. Yet his mind and spirit were strong enough to compensate for his physical weakness. I have never met a man with a greater sense of honor than he.” The Nobunaga’s extraordinary appearance deceived his enemies is clearly 8 described in tale 5. Tales 6 and 7 tell how cunning and shrewd Nobunaga was in weakening the power of his future enemy, Saitô Dôsan,4 by using his wife, who was Dôsan’s daughter. Succeeding his father in 1549 at the age of 15, Nobunaga defeated the powerful army of Imagawa Yoshimoto at Okehazama in 1560.

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