Nobunaga no Tegami

While I was in Japan last month doing more research on the Battle of Okehazama, I had the opportunity to watch a television program "Nobunaga no Tegami."  If anything that I have learned from the program was that Nobunaga probably did not write all of his letters.  His yuuhitsu/secretary did the actual writing, while Nobunaga wrote his signature and stamped his Tenka Fubu seal on the letter.  For example, the 17 Points that Nobunaga wrote to Ashikaga Shogun Yoshiaki in 1573 was most likely done by his secretary.  As for the very personal letters, I presume Nobunaga wrote himself.

What also caught my attention is how difficult it is to read brush writing.  Scholars have to use huge complicated dictionaries to figure out which is the correct kana or kanji written.  A time consuming task indeed.

Tenka no tame!