Letter by Sakuma Masakatsu
- Person
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作者佐久間正勝（不干斎）
- Date
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制作年 AD16
- Title
- サクママサカツヒツショジョウ
- Collections
- Century Akao Collection
- Depository
- Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko) Campus Mita
Sakuma Masakatsu (1556-1631) was an army general of the Momoyama to early Edo Period who was deeply attracted to sado (or chado), or the Way of Tea (Tea celemony). Born the son of Sakuma Nobumori (1527-81), Masakatsu used the pen names Fukansai and Sogan. With his father, Masakatsu served Lord Oda Nobunaga and was victorious in many battles, but he had to retreat to Mt. Koya in 1580. The reason for this was said to have been a slander by Lord Akechi Mitsuhide or the neglect of his military duties due to excessive devotion to sado. Masakatsu was later pardoned and allowed to join the forces of Oda Nobukatsu (1558-1630). In the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, Masakatsu fought against Hideyoshi’s army. However, when Hideyoshi and Nobukatsu signed a peace treaty, one of the conditions was Masakatsu’s ritual suicide. In order to prove his innocence, Masakatsu shaved his head and become a monk and assumed the name of Fukansai. He lived as a hermit in Sasahara in Mikawa Province (Aichi Prefecture). After he was pardoned, he served in Hideyoshi’s “Otogishu,” or a group of counselors for non-political matters. Around this time, Masakatsu was active as a tea master and connoisseur, as is evidenced by an entry in Tsuda Sogyu’s Diary. Sogyu writes about the tea party hosted by Fukansai, i.e., Masakatsu.In his senior years, Masakatsu worked close to the second Tokugawa Shogun, Hidetada, and was given a stipend of 3,000 koku (a measure of rice equivalent to approximately 5 bushels) in Musashi Province (Saitama Prefecture). A sentence in Sakuma Masakatsu’s letter exhibited here reads, “I receive no letters since I live in such a remote place,” and it is signed “Mt. Tsukuba.” From these, we can learn that this letter was sent from Mt. Tsukuba in Hitachi Province (Ibaraki Prefecture), close to where Masakatsu was stationed in Musashino Province (Saitama Prefecture). The letter has something to do with the tea master Sen-no-Shoan and his son Sotan, with whom Masakatsu was acquainted with while he was living in Kyoto. It is addressed to Izeki Myoji, a merchant from Nishijin, Kyoto. Myoji and Shoan were close friends. (There is an extant letter preserved at the Yamato Bunka Museum in which Shoan invites Myoji to a tea party hosted by Tawaraya Sotatsu.) So Masakatsu is really asking Myoji to deliver this letter to Shoan. Because of the term “celebration of acquiring age,” Masakatsu may be discussing Shoan’s 60th birth-year celebration. (Note that the 60th birth-year celebration discussed here is not necessarily a birthday. People in ancient Japan used zodiac calendars and a person’s age was determined by the zodiac sign. When the 12-year cycle zodiac calendar makes five cycles, a person becomes 60 years of age, which called for a celebration.)If Masakatsu is indeed discussing a celebration for Shoan, it corresponds to 1606, and Masakatsu was 50 at the time. Sotan at that time was only 28. The “Sekian” mentioned in the letter means Takei Sekian, a warlord serving under General Oda Nobunaga. Thanks to his calligraphic ability, he served as Nobunaga’s secretary. Masakatsu writes that Sotan will readily listen to any advice Sekian might give, regarding the birth-year celebration, and asks Myoji to also convince Sotan to follow Sekian’s advice.
尚以萬事夕庵次第ニ宗旦被致候様ニ御異見頼入候我等も今度之書状にて以書状申入候其以後とくと申遣候へ共無音旦夕御疎敷迄随分／＼ニ候遠国故不得風便御異見頼入候已上いつも心中計御座候在京中貴老御懇情切々御茶給事存出候て当春少老へ書中御伝言申候処相達之由少老より申被越候我等事も子共（＝供）身上相済令満足候御安堵可被下候一、不審老宗旦父子之聞能様ニ貴所御馳走不及申候年老之義萬事を宗旦御まけ候へと毎事ニ申遣候貴老も御申可談候我等も近々に江戸へ罷出候様ニ存候其砌便も自由相成申候毎度なから此書状不審へ御届可被下的便之条先留申候恐々頓首不干斎五月廿一日宗（花押）妙持老几下筑波山
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- Letter by Sakuma Masakatsu
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