#Gamou Ujisato

[odaclan]

蒼眼赤髪～ローマから来た戦国武将～

(Blue Eyes and Red Hair: The Sengoku Warrior from Rome)

This manga was written based on a rumour that a knight from Rome named “Lortes/Rortes” had become the first ever foreign Sengoku samurai. He was said to have come to Japan as one of the guards escorting the missionaries. He entered the employment of Gamou Ujisato in 1577, and changed his name to Yamashina Katsunari 山科勝成. He participated in many battles and was a commander with great skills. Supposedly he set sail for a trip to procure ships for his master to use in the Korea invasion in 1593, but was shipwrecked and perished.

Other claims include that he was a member of the Knights of Malta order and that his full name is Giovanni Lortes. 

This story was supposedly taken from a Gamou clan archive 御祐筆日記抄略 (I don’t know how this is read). To my understanding, while “Yamashina Katsunari” was documented in a documentation about foreign affairs by the government, the story that has all the embellishments about Rome and such was from an article in the Meiji era magazine “The Sun” by a Watanabe Shuujirou.

Many parts of the account are dubious, such as this man supposedly having gone back to Europe to buy more weapons multiple times in less than 10 years, which doesn’t make any sense due to the difficulty of the travel at the time period. In comparison, the Tenshou embassy took 2 years just to go from Japan to Rome (one way trip). 

Many experts think that this account is completely bogus because of the suspicious elements in it. This man with such grand accomplishment is not recorded or known anywhere else. On top of that, Gamou Ujisato was Nobunaga’s son-in-law, this man was supposedly involved with Nobunaga to some degree. If there was a foreign man that was such a prominent figure in the retinue, you’d think that one of the missionaries would mention this fact (such as whichever priest who supposedly brought him there in the first place). 

Some historians also claim that the text has wording and phrases that sounded more like 1600s-era. It makes this text to be likely one of those fluff Edo-period fairytales/folklore pieces. Maybe it was written by someone who was aware of William Adams’ existence? Or worse yet, completely fabricated by whoever gave Watanabe the documents, using another, more valid, Gamou clan records as the basis.

If anything about this story is real at all, then at best it’s only that “The Gamou family had a vassal named Yamashina Katsunari once”. Everything else including his European origins are suspect. 

(incidentally I’ve started tagging posts about stories that turned out to be nonsense as “Sengoku Fake News”, ha ha ha)

#manga #pop culture #japanese history #gamou ujisato #Sengoku period #Sengoku Era #Sengoku Fake News #Warring states #Warring States Period #Warring States Era #Sengoku

[daeva-agas]

[Ikesen Historivia] Mikumo Sasuke, the “real” Sarutobi Sasuke

“Sarutobi Sasuke” and the rest of the “Sanada Ten Braves/Warriors” are fictional characters, from an Edo era historical novel about the Sanada. 

But with a lot of legends, sometimes the fictional characters are based on an existing real person. The texts『淡海故録』and『茗渓事蹟』 (sorry I can’t find the readings for these) said that “the real Sarutobi Sasuke is actually Mikumo Sasuke Kataharu 三雲佐助賢春, the son of Mikumo Shinzaemon Katamochi 三雲新左衛門賢持 ”

The Mikumo is a vassal clan to the Rokkaku of Oumi. Not much is known of Kataharu, but his father had perished in a battle against the Azai clan. Katamochi’s brother Shigemochi succeeded him as the head of the family. The Mikumo eventually surrendered to the Oda along with their lord, although word has it that Shigemochi became a ronin. Later, when Hideyoshi came to power, Shigemochi served Gamou Ujisato.

(Well, that would depend on how much the Ikesen universe actually matters to the “present day universe”)

ETA: In response to a comment-reblog that said the Mikumo clan had died out, they actually did not. They did become somewhat more obscure, and perhaps scattered.

#ikesen history trivia #ikesen sasuke #ikemen sengoku #ikesen

[ambarawanihonkurabu]

3 Kerajinan Tradisional Dari Aizu Yang Telah Ada Sejak Lama

Ada banyak tempat terpencil di pedesaan Jepang yang masih mempertahankan tradisi, budaya dan kerajinan tangan tradisionalnya.  Hal ini biasanya telah hilang di kota-kota besar, namun masih sangat hidup di lingkungan yang sepi dan budaya tradisional yang terawat dengan baik. Salah satu contoh kesederhanaan pedesaan di Jepang ada di Aizu, wilayah paling barat prefektur Fukushima.

Aizu memiliki luas wilayah 5420 km2, yang sebagian wilayahnya didominasi oleh pegunungan, sungai, danau, hingga taman nasional. Daerah Aizu juga masih melestarikan kerajinan tradisionalnya hingga saat ini. Berikut adalah beberapa kerajinan tradisional dari Aizu.

1. Aizu Lacquerware

Sampai saat ini, masih ada peralatan altar Buddha yang dipernis sejak periode Heian di Aizu, ini memberi tahu kita bahwa seni pernis di wilayah tersebut sudah pada zaman itu dan masih tetap bertahan hingga saat ini.

Produksi pernis secara masal dimulai setelah Ujisato Gamou menjadi penguasa Aizu pada tahun 1590. Ujisato mengambil beberapa pengrajin terbaik dari prefektur Shiga, dan mulai membuat produksi pernis di Aizu. Selama periode Edo, industri pernis di Aizu pun terus tumbuh hingga sekarang.

Video di atas bercerita banyak tentang pernis Aizu.

2. Tekstil Karamushi

Kerajinan tradisional karamushi atau serat rami  yang ada di Aizu dikatakan telah dimulai sejak zaman Jomon (sekitar 14.000 SM hingga 300 SM), dan konon merupakan tenun tekstil tertua di Jepang. Sulitnya memanen tanaman rami dan mengekstrak serat alami dari kulit batang bagian dalam melalui proses penggosokan, pencucian, pengeringan, dan pemintalan yang rumit selama satu tahun, dan menenun kain pada alat tenun yang cukup lama membuat harga kerajinan tradisional dari Aizu ini cukup mahal.

Ada sebuah desa di Aizu bernama Showa-mura, yang telah menghasilkan karamushi untuk waktu yang lama. Tapi tekstil karamushi menurun akhir-akhir ini karena semakin banyak orang yang lebih suka membeli produk murah. Selain itu, sebagian besar pengrajin telah pensiun dan generasi mudanya tidak tertarik untuk membuatnya.

3. Katun Dari Aizu

Katun Aizu berasal dari abad ke-17 dengan karakteristik pola garisnya yang khas, serta memiliki tekstur tebal, nyaman, dan memiliki daya serap keringat yang baik, sehingga sangat diperlukan bagi kehidupan orang-orang di Aizu.

Katun Aizu bisa bertahan lebih lama dibandingkan dengan kain katun biasa. Desain katun Aizu juga telah dibuat menjadi modern dan beragam. Meski dulu sangat populer, namun di tahun 2000-an ini hanya ada dua perusahaan yang memproduksi katun di Aizu.

The post 3 Kerajinan Tradisional Dari Aizu Yang Telah Ada Sejak Lama appeared first on Japanese Station.

#JapaneseStation

[odaclan]

Was Nobukatsu ever put forward as a potential successor of the Oda clan headship?

Alas, I missed the memoriam date for Honnouji, so I shall make do with discussing the Kiyosu Conference. To be fair, it was the Julian date of Honnouji that I  missed and, as such, the proper Gregorian date is not actually here yet, but be that as it may...

Something that I’m finding hard to pursue is the issue of what was going on in the “Kiyosu Conference”, where the future of the Oda clan was mediated and discussed. The common knowledge story is that Shibata Katsuie presented Nobutaka as the new heir, while Hideyoshi presented Sanboushi. Nobukatsu was present, but it’s rare to see anyone make a claim that he was presented as a potential successor during the meeting.

Despite modern perception that Nobukatsu was incompetent, it would seem that he was not viewed that way in his lifetime. A review on the Seishuu Gunki (War Chronicles of Ise Province) claim that Nobukatsu was presented in a neutral light and there was nothing deriding him for incompetence. Even if for some reason Tokugawa rule forbids chronicles to say bad things about a daimyou, I should imagine if he had a reputation of being a fool, it would be at least mentioned somewhere. There was no issue in Ota Gyuuichi writing “in his youth Nobunaga had the reputation of being a Fool” in the Shinchoukouki, after all. In which case, if Nobutaka was eligible for nomination as heir, then so was Nobukatsu. 

*Edit: Now that I have Seishuu Gunki, it turns out there were a few stories criticising him for making unwise decisions, but it’s all followed by comments that amount to something like “This is a common thing among samurai lords of this time”, so I’m not sure what to make of it.

So, was he ever a contender in this succession debate? Even in the “common knowledge” stories, when Sanboushi was named the new lord, there were narratives that mentioned that Nobukatsu would take priority in serving as Sanboushi’s guardian over Nobutaka. Meaning that he was still being valued rather highly, even if only due to the order of seniority.

There was a theory that someone had nominated him, and he was indeed named the lord of the Oda due to Hideyoshi supposedly changing his opinion at some point. It’s just that the cited source was a research paperwork from Aichi prefecture that, the last time I checked, was paywalled and I would be required to actually call the office in Japan to make inquiries. 

A few years ago, there was also a discovery of a letter bearing Nobukatsu’s signature and addressed to Hideyoshi. Historians speculated that the contents of the letter indicated that he desired to become his brother’s successor as lord of the Oda. However, due to lack of further information, this is still rather unclear.

As of now, the only detailed citation I was able to find was from James Murdoch’s book:  

A few weeks after the death of Nobunaga all his great vassals assembled at the Castle of Kiyosu in Owari to decide upon his successor. Nobuo (Nobukatsu), the eldest surviving son, was supported by Ikeda and Gamo, a young and brilliant captain of Omi, while Nobutaka’s claims were strongly and hotly urged by Shibata and a certain Takikawa, who had gained considerable reputation and influence during the campaign against Takeda of Kai at the beginning of the year, when he had been made Daimyo of Kodzuke. This Takikawa had an intense hatred for Hideyoshi, and this community of sentiment doubtless had much to do with the support he lent to Shibata’s view of how the feudal law of the Empire should be construed in the case they had to decide.

As might have been foreseen, Hideyoshi came forward as the champion of Nobunaga’s baby grandson, Samboshi. After a long and acrimonious wrangle it was finally decided that Samboshi should be acknowledged as head of the House of Oda, that Nobuo should act as his guardian, and that the administration of public affairs should be entrusted to a board of four—Shibata, Niwa, Ikeda, and Hideyoshi, who were all to rank as equals.

History of Japan by James Murdoch, book 2, pages 190-191

He did not quote or name any source for this, so presumably this was based on a Japanese text. Murdoch tends to only make direct quotes from texts of European origin. 

This means that at some point, there was a Japanese account that made this claim. It just either got lost in the 100 or so years since Murdoch’s writing, or fell out of favour in the public eye for whatever reason. I could not find any Japanese source that present this narrative yet. Considering all the strange narratives Murdoch presented in this very same book, it would make sense if this narrative was debunked due to the source being untrustworthy or being outright absurd. I still wish I knew what the original source was, for further research.

Also interesting is that this text claims that Takigawa (Kazumasu) is the one who hates Hideyoshi. Popular fiction usually depicts Shibata as the one who harbours dislike for Hideyoshi, probably due to the impression made by Battle of Shizugatake. 

Lastly, there is also the issue of a new theory claiming that “All of those are wrong, Sanboushi (Hidenobu) was unanimously agreed as the one sole heir the whole time”. I sure hope there’d be more easily-accessed documentation that I could find, because it’s impossible for me to track down and/or buy all the books that contain the information.

#oda nobukatsu #Oda Hidenobu #sanboshi #Sanboushi #Kiyosu Conference #Hashiba Hideyoshi #toyotomi hideyoshi #shibata katsuie #Takigawa Kazumasu #Ikeda Tsuneoki #Gamou Ujisato #Gamo Ujisato #Oda Nobutaka

[daeva-agas]

If it's too much work to draw a new sprite for him, at least pick a nicer NPC or something... Gamou Ujisato is not some kind of bum, he's a pretty high-class commander.

#tenka story event