Dosan Letter

 Video on Saito Dosan and Nobunaga 

I would to continue on the recent Saito Dosan document Witten in 1552 discussing his concerns on Nobunaga. Here are some questions I am asking at the moment. How did Dosan find out about Nobunaga's behavior? Spies of course. Both Dosan and Nobunaga had spies, so it would not be surprising if that was the case. Letters from Nohime? High possibility. She probably knew Nobunaga was crazy at the same time knew that he was NO idiot. At the moment, we do not know who was Dosan corresponding to. I would sure like to know.

From the document, Dosan was concerned and admired Nobunaga. I find this interesting because the two have not met yet. When they finally met in 1553 at Shotokuji, there is a reason why Dosan hid at an abandoned shack. He wanted to know if the rumors were true about Nobunaga. At first, is was true. Nobunaga was wearing bizarre clothing. However, Nobunaga changed his attire before meeting Dosan. When Dosan finally met Nobunaga in person, he knew his son-in-law was no fool.

I have posted this before, but it is now a good time to review why the two met at Shotokuji in the first place.

Dosan never met Nobunaga in person 

To see if Nobunaga was a fool

To find out if Owari was weak enough to invade 

To find out if the Saito/Oda alliance was good enough to continue 

Everyone know the answer, Nobunaga was no fool and the alliance was solid. As for the document, I think it does show Dosan cared and admired Nobunaga even if he was still green and in the process of unifying Owari. At the same time, he knew his son-in-law was the future probably from contacts with Nohime or others.

Nobunaga no tame!