Letter by Manase Gensaku
- Person
-
作者曲直瀬玄朔
- Date
-
制作年 AD17
- Title
- マナセゲンサクヒツショジョウ
- Collections
- Century Akao Collection
- Depository
- Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko) Campus Mita
- Ref. number
- AW-CEN-000165-0000
- 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 Rectangle Font Monochrome Pattern
Manaｓe Gensaku (1549-1631) was a doctor of the Momoyama Period. His real name was Gensaku, but he later changed it to Masatsugu. He inherited his family name, Manase, as well as his profession, from his uncle Manase Dosan after the man had adopted Gensaku when his heir (named Morisada) had died young.In 1582, Gensaku was appointed hogen (court physician), and in the following year, he was given the honor of attending upon the ill Emperor Ogimachi. As a reward for curing the emperor, Gensaku was promoted to the post of hoin (an honorary title granted to accomplished artists, doctors, etc.) and was allowed to call himself Enmei-In (lit. life-extending doctor), which he later changed to Enju-In (lit. longevity-extending doctor). He wrote many books on medicine, including Iho-Meikan (lit. Medical Almanac) and Enju-Satsuyo (Enju Digest), to name a few. The addressee of this letter is Isogawa Ryoan (1574-1661), a publisher of the early Edo Period. Ryoan had studied medicine in Kyoto but went down to Kokura, in Buzen Province (today’s Fukuoka Pref.), accompanying military general Hosokawa Okimoto. In the following year, he published Taiheiki (The Chronicle of Great Peace), which became a hit, and upon Tokugawa Ieyasu’s order, he later published Azuma Kagami (Eastern Mirror). Ieyasu then ordered Ryoan into the service of Matsudaira Tadateru (Ieyasu’s son) living in Kawanaka-Jima, in Shinshu (today’s Nagano Pref.)Ryoan’s reputation as a competent doctor attracted patients from far and wide, and he wrote several medical books, such as Yakuseki Yoroku (lit. Medicine Digest) and Shinkyu Yoryaku (lit. Acupuncture and Moxa Burning Digest). The letter shown here is one of the very rare samples of authentic handwritten letters rendered by Gensaku. From it, we learn that Ryoan had visited Kyoto to treat the illness of the military commander Fukushima Masanori (1561-1624) of Aki Province. In the letter, Gensaku is grateful to Ryoan for having sent him a salted goose and also for Ryoan letting him know that he cannot meet and has to return immediately to Aki.Gensaku also adds some kind remarks about Ryoan’s moving to Nagoya.Gensaku’s hand is widely varied, and although his style is unorthodox, it shows what a trained calligrapher he really was.
少将殿御煩為御見廻御上洛候處ニ御下向に付而直ニ芸州へ可有御下向由扨々御苦労奉察候仍塩鳫一贈給候遠路御懇志至候名固屋へ家御引候哉一世之御労煩と存候処又如此旅行身心之労苦御煩候ハんかと笑止ニ存候頓而御上洛待申候恐惶謹言五月六日玄朔（花押）延寿院［封］了安老玄朔回章
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- Letter by Manase Gensaku
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