Page 126 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

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occupation be stopped, one-fifth of their tempted to reassure the court and the ince to Gifu in Mino Province; it signals
land be taken away, and the management townsmen by preventing pillage and gen- his intention to unify Japan under his own
of the areas returned to Toji. The writ is eral lawlessness on the part of his troops. rule through military power. Nobunaga
dated to the twenty-seventh day of the in- To this end he issued under his seal spe- used this seal until the first month of 1570;
tercalary sixth month of the fifth year of cific orders of protection and prohibitions thereafter he used the same characters in
Jôwa (1349). Although the document may against violence to persons or property. a horseshoe-shaped vermilion seal. YK
have been written by a scribe serving Ta- The document illustrated here was is-
dayoshi, the writ is official, since Tada- sued for the protection of Tóji, and con- 62 Letter
yoshi added his kad at the end. TY sists of three articles of prohibition:
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598)
Prohibited in the Tdji complex - hanging scroll; ink on paper
61 Prohibitions Item: Violence and disturbance by our
Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) forces 28.6 48.5 (11 1/4 X 151/8)
hanging scroll; ink on paper Item: Unlawful taking of land and arson Momoyama period, 1590
35.5x53.0(14x207/8) Item: Cutting down bamboo and trees Myohoin, Kyoto
Muromachi period, 1568 Those who violate these rules will be swiftly Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of Japan's most
Kyoto FuritsuSógóShiryókan and strictly punished. This is ordained powerful military leaders, was the son of
Important Cultural Property from above. an unknown peasant. He served Oda No-
The ninth month of the eleventh year of bunaga (1534-1582), and after Nobunaga
Oda Nobunaga is remembered in Japanese Eiroku [1568], Danjô no Jo [Judge of the was assassinated in 1582 by his vassal
history for his attempts in the latter part of Office of Justice] Akechi Mitsuhide (1528-1582), Hideyoshi
the sixteenth century to unify under his defeated and killed Mitsuhide in just nine
Toji was the
Kyoto headquarters of
aegis a nation torn by civil strife among Esoteric Buddhism, and the document is days. In the following year Hideyoshi de-
many contending barons. Having first uni- among the twenty-four thousand and stroyed his rivals Oda Nobutaka (1562-
fied Owari and Mino provinces, he en- more historical documents that constitute 1583), the third son of Nobunaga, and
tered Kyoto on the twenty-sixth day of the Shibata Katsuie (1522-1583). Between 1585
ninth month of 1568, as a supporter of the 'Toji documents." The oval vermilion and 1590 he conquered or brought to
throughout
seal, Tenka Fubu (military rule
Ashikaga Yoshiaki (1537-1597), who became terms the following powerful rivals: the
shogun under his auspices. Upon taking the nation), at the bottom of the left Chosokabe family of Shikoku, the Shi-
began
column is a seal Nobunaga
to use
control of the capital, Nobunaga at-
around the eleventh month of 1567, when
he moved his garrison from Owari Prov-

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