Taigen Suufu (Sessai) was Imagawa Yoshimoto's military advisor. Suufu's father was Ihara Saemon no Jo and his mother was from Okitsu family. Owada Tetsuo has more information on Suufu and his relationship with the Imagawa in his book, Imagawa Yoshimoto. At an early age, Suufu entered Kyoto's Kenninji Temple.
His death in 1555 was a huge blow for the Imagawa family. If Suufu was still alive during Yoshimoto's Kyoto campaign, the chances were high in my opinion that Nobunaga might not have triumphed at Okehazama.
Tenka no tame!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Nobunaga's signature
Just before heading off to work over the weekend, I found this interesting article by Tsuchiyama on Nobunaga's hand signature (Nobunaga no kao wa naze bimyo ni henka no ka). The article stated that in 1567, right after the conquest of Mino, Nobunaga's hand signature was now formal. However, his signature changed every year and on pages 4-5 displayed his handwriting and how it evolved.
Here is the link to the article. The article is in Japanese.
http://nobunagagaku.com/cn16/essay09_03.html
Nobunaga no tame!
Here is the link to the article. The article is in Japanese.
http://nobunagagaku.com/cn16/essay09_03.html
Nobunaga no tame!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Public Works
Nobunaga was one hard core warrior. That is a fact. That being said, he was known as a builder as well. Before Azuchi Castle was constructed, Nobunaga had experience building roads, dikes, bridges, and the like.
Nobunaga building a road providing safe travel. The passage comes from Luis Frois in Lamers Japonius Tyrannus, p. 140.
"He had the roads repaired from the city of Anzuchi to Miaco, a distance of fourteen leagues, in such a way they formed one single road-flat, clean, and straight, and five or six tatamis [ken] wide. Trees were planted on both sides of the road, to provide shade in the summer, brooms were suspended from these trees at certain places and local residents were assigned the task of keeping the road swept clean. He had clean gravel and small pebbles placed beneath the trees along the entire stretch, so that the whole road looked like a garden. There were houses at regular intervals where travellers could relax and take a rest, enjoying the abundance of foods on sale there. And whereas previously it had not even been safe to travel by day in these regions, at least not without company, the people always travelled by night in Nobunaga's era-especially during the summer-and when they wished to test, they could put down their luggage and sleep next to the road as safely as they did in their houses. Nobunaga carried out the same arrangement and repair of roads in many of the provinces under his rule."
Nobunaga made travel safe again. This was important. Goods can move more quickly and safely(good for Nobunaga's coffers) and the morale of the people. The people under his rule knew normality was coming back.
Tenka no tame!
Nobunaga building a road providing safe travel. The passage comes from Luis Frois in Lamers Japonius Tyrannus, p. 140.
"He had the roads repaired from the city of Anzuchi to Miaco, a distance of fourteen leagues, in such a way they formed one single road-flat, clean, and straight, and five or six tatamis [ken] wide. Trees were planted on both sides of the road, to provide shade in the summer, brooms were suspended from these trees at certain places and local residents were assigned the task of keeping the road swept clean. He had clean gravel and small pebbles placed beneath the trees along the entire stretch, so that the whole road looked like a garden. There were houses at regular intervals where travellers could relax and take a rest, enjoying the abundance of foods on sale there. And whereas previously it had not even been safe to travel by day in these regions, at least not without company, the people always travelled by night in Nobunaga's era-especially during the summer-and when they wished to test, they could put down their luggage and sleep next to the road as safely as they did in their houses. Nobunaga carried out the same arrangement and repair of roads in many of the provinces under his rule."
Nobunaga made travel safe again. This was important. Goods can move more quickly and safely(good for Nobunaga's coffers) and the morale of the people. The people under his rule knew normality was coming back.
Tenka no tame!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
More Books
Just before my training started last month, I bought some books at Book-Off.
I plan to read Hisaka Masashi's Takugen over the weekend. That being said, I am trying to schedule my trip back to Japan as soon as possible. Next week I should have post on Nobunaga's public works projects.
Nobunaga no tame!
I plan to read Hisaka Masashi's Takugen over the weekend. That being said, I am trying to schedule my trip back to Japan as soon as possible. Next week I should have post on Nobunaga's public works projects.
Nobunaga no tame!
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