Letter by Matsura Shigenobu
- Person
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作者松浦鎮信
- Date
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制作年 AD17
- Title
- マツラシゲノブヒツショウソク
- Collections
- Century Akao Collection
- Depository
- Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko) Campus Mita
- Ref. number
- AW-CEN-001135-0000
- License
- CC BY Images license
- Creditline
-
慶應義塾（センチュリー赤尾コレクション）
- URL
- Classification
- Art
- AI Tagging
- Handwriting Font Writing Rectangle Art
Matsura Shigenobu (1549-1614) was an army general who lived during the Momoyama and early Edo periods. Born as the first son to the Lord of Hirado Castle in Hizen Providence (Nagasaki Prefecture), Matsura Takanobu, he was commonly called Genzaburo. But he was also known by Shikibu Kyo Hoyin (lit. “Honorable Minister of the Ceremonial”) or Hirado Hoyin (lit. “Honorable Lord of Hirado”). Both Shigenobu and his father were vassals of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and participated in the latter’s invasion of Kyushu. He received a stipend of 63,000 koku (a unit for measuring bales of rice, roughly equaling 5 bushels) at Matsura and Sonogi in Hizen. When Hideyoshi waged wars of invasion into Korea in the Bunroku and Keicho eras, Shigenobu fought bravely in the army of General Konishi Yukinaga. When the Battle of Sekigahara (between allied forces of Western and Eastern Japan) erupted, Shigenobu challenged the command from Ishida Mitsunari to join the Western Forces. Instead, he sided with the Eastern Forces (led by the Tokugawas). Thus winning Tokugawa Ieyasu’s trust after his victory in the said war, Shigenobu was made the Lord of Hirado and was allowed to continuously rule over his former fiefs as well. In Hirado, Shigenobu opened the Dutch Trade House and British Trade House, thus paving way to the only trade channel between Japan and the outside world. He thus laid the foundation of prosperity based on foreign trade through Hirado. (During the centuries of the isolationist foreign policy of the Tokugawa Bakufu, Hirado was the only seaport that was not closed off to foreign vessels.)This letter conveys thanks for the gift of local sake (rice wine) from Awa (Tokushima Prefecture) and is addressed to Shinohara Genyemon, presumably a descendant of the Shinohara clan which originated in Shinohara County in Awa. Awaji sake was likely a local brew, which Genyemon used to present to Shigenobu every year. Following his thanks, Shigenobu writes that he is enjoying good health and that he sometimes wishes to have a chance to fight and beat the Chinese, though this, he says he cannot say openly. We can see that this veteran warrior, who made a name in the Bunroku and Keicho Korean invasions, still had that fighting spirit in him. As the letter is signed “Silly Old Man,” it was written when Shigenobu was in his 60s. The calligraphic style is, without the slightest doubt, authentic Teika style. Thus, this letter serves as evidence that the aristocratic style was being embraced by the warrior (samurai) class at an early stage.
如例あはち酒給遠国へ毎年差越被申段扨／＼心底感悦申候先以無事之由珍重々々愚老事一段堅固ニ候未二三年ハ一身丈夫ニ可在之躰（体）ニ候其方も我等も達者内々唐人と一合戦仕度候日本ハ御静謐未三百五十年ハ無事ニ可在之と奉恐悦候なつかしく日事ニ候近年ノ内逢申度候謹言肥前六月十三日（花押）篠原源右殿返々同右半兵衛へ一傳申候無事申候や退屈無之被居可給候以上
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