Monday, September 12, 2022

In Nobunaga's Own Words

I will share a passage from Oze Hoan's Shinchoki on Nobunaga's destruction of Mt. Hiei.  The passage was translated in Sources of Japanese Traditions Volume 1 (p. 306)

"I am not the destroyer of this monastery. The destroyer of the monastery is the monastery itself. As you know I am one who has not known a moment of peace. I have risked my life. I have devoted myself to hard work and to a life of denial of my personal desires. I have given myself to the hardships of warrior  life in order that I might restrain the turbulence within the land, check the decline of imperial prestige and restore it, improve the prevailing manners and customs, and perpetuate the benefits of government and religion. But last year, when Noda and Fukushima of Settsu Province were about to be subdued and their strongholds about to fall, Asakura and Azai seised the opportunity of my absence to invade Shiga in this province at the head of several tens of thousands of mounted troops.

Those who help rebels are themselves traitors to the country. If, moreover, they are not destroyed now, they will again become a peril to the nation.  Therefore not a single life should be spared."

Nobunaga no tame!

No comments: