Page 129 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

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This letter, in leyasu's informal cur- or Chobo are known, each of them reflect- This wakagaishi (paper of poems'; cat.
sive (sdsho) writing style, is addressed to ing his tender affection for his grand- 58), brushed by Yüsai, contains two poems
Chobo, maid of his granddaughter daughter. YK he composed on cherry blossoms, each
Senhime, and inquires after Senhime's poem based on one line of a Chinese
health. He says that he is sending a certain couplet: Í face flowers all day long / Re-
Tôkurô as a messenger to bring him news 64 Wakagaishi maining flowers are fragrant in the wind.
of his granddaughter: Hosokawa Yusai (1534-1610) The poems convey the peaceful thoughts
hanging scroll; ink on paper
Í am truly concerned about her illness, and Zy.l X 41.0 (1O5/8 X 10 Vs) on a spring day of an old poet who has
caringly I write the following. Momoyama period, late loth-early lived through the vicissitudes of a world
Since Ï worry about how she is feeling iyth century torn by incessant warfare:
in her illness, Ï am sending Tôkurô. How is Two Compositions
she doing? I want to know the particulars. Eisei Bunko, Tokyo
Tôkurô should report back in detail. Hosokawa Fujitaka, or Yüsai, his better- Hôin [Seal of the Law; the highest
To Chobo Daifu known Buddhist name, was a high-ranking Buddhist rank given by the court]
[alternative Buddhist name of
Genshi
Senhime, the daughter of the second warrior and daimyo whose life spanned Yúsai]
shogun, Hidetada, lived at Osaka Castle as the late Muromachi and Momoyama pe- Í face flowers all day long [in Chinese]
the wife of Toyotomi Hideyori until the riods. The second son of Mibuchi Haru-
castle fell in the fifth month of 1615. She kazu, he was adopted in 1540, at the age of Here since the morning sun—
then married Honda Tadatoki. After Tada- six, by Hosokawa Mototsune. He served when at all
toki died in 1626, she lived in Edo under Ashikaga Yoshiharu (1511-1550), the twelfth did the light shift?
the name Tenjuin. The maid Chobo shogun, and after his death became an ally I have not even looked aside
served Senhime, changed her name to of Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), supporting being with flowers all day till dusk.
Matsuzaka Tsubone, and lived until the Yoshiaki (1537-1597), the fifteenth shogun. Remaining flowers are fragrant in the wind
age of ninety. The letter is signed Daifu Later he served Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537- [in Chinese]
(Inner Minister), referring to leyasu. Sev- 1598) and became the daimyo of Miyazu
eral other letters from leyasu to Senhime Castle in Tango Province, with a fief of
120,000 koku.

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