Deal W.E. Handbook To Life In Medieval And Early Modern Japan

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Shinran (1173–1263) Buddhist monk. After spend-

ing his early years in study and practice at Mt. Hiei’s

Enryakuji, Shinran became a follower in 1201 of

Jodo sect founder, Honen, whose nembutsu move-

ment soon became quite powerful. It drew much

criticism from the other Buddhist schools, leading to

its dissolution at the hands of the government and

the expulsion of Shinran to the province of Echigo,

where he became the ﬁrst priest to be publicly mar-

ried. Pardoned in 1211, Shinran decided to move his

large family to the Kanto region, where he quickly

gained a large following and wrote his most accom-

plished work, Kyogyoshinsho, which described the

path to rebirth in the Pure Land and delineated the

foundational principles of Shinran’s Jodo Shin sect

of Buddhism. Returning to Kyoto in 1235, Shinran

entered his most prolific period of writing, which

lasted until just three years before his death in 1263.

His cremated remains were placed in the Otani area

of Kyoto at the future site of the Honganji.

Shinso

See

SOAMI.

Shizuka Gozen (late 12th century) Shirabyoshi

dancer and mistress of Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

Yoshitsune, one of the heroes of the Gempei War

(1180–85), met with suspicion from his brother

Minamoto no Yoritomo, head of the Minamoto

family, after the war ended. Pursued by Yoritomo’s

troops, Yoshitsune was forced to ﬂee Kyoto accom-

panied voluntarily by his mistress Shizuka. She was

unable to keep up the strenuous pace, so Yoshitsune

abandoned her in the Yoshino region, where she was

captured by monks and taken to Kamakura. She was

allowed to return to Kyoto only after she danced for

Yoritomo against her will. Her life is recounted in

numerous medieval texts.

Siebold, Philipp Franz von (1796–1866) German

physician. Considered the pioneer of Japanese stud-

ies in Europe, Siebold, an employee of the Dutch

East India Company, was sent to Nagasaki in 1823,

where he established a school of “Dutch science”

(rangaku). In 1826, he traveled to Edo to meet the

shogun where he became acquainted with the sho-

gunate’s astronomer, Takahashi Kageyasu. Siebold

and Kageyasu illegally traded Dutch books for

Japanese maps. When the shogunate learned of this

exchange, Siebold was expelled from Japan in 1829

on the grounds that he was a spy and Kageyasu was

sent to prison. He wrote a number of books about

his Japanese experiences including the ﬁve-volume

Fauna Japonica (Japanese fauna; 1833–50) and Nip-

pon, Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan (Nippon, an

archive for the description of Japan; 1832–51).

Soami (Shinso) (ca. 1455–1525) Muromachi sui-

boku painter. Soami was the grandson of Noami and

the son and pupil of Geiami. Besides his fame as a

painter, he also designed landscape gardens, wrote

poetry, and excelled at the tea ceremony. Like his

grandfather and father, Soami served as doboshu, the

curator responsible for the connoisseurship and dis-

play of art works and other valuables owned by the

Ashikaga shoguns. His paintings, mostly landscapes,

were deeply inﬂuenced by the Chinese painting style

of Muqi (in Japanese, Mokkei). Soami is also cred-

ited with designing the famous dry landscape garden

at Ryoanji in Kyoto.

Soga Shohaku (1730–1781) Painter. Shohaku stud-

ied Kano school painting, but developed his own

style reminiscent of Muromachi suibokuga (ink

painting). Much of his work was executed using

monochrome ink applied in broad strokes. He is

best known for his ﬁgural depictions from Chinese

legend and folklore, and for his landscapes.

Sogi (1421–1502) Rinzai Zen monk and poet. Also

referred to as Iio Sogi. Sogi was a famous renga

(linked verse) poet and traveler. See chapter 8: Lan-

guage and Literature.

Sotatsu (Tawaraya Sotatsu) (unknown–ca. 1643)

Artist. Although little is known about his career,

Sotatsu headed the Tawaraya workshop in Kyoto as

a commercial painter of fans, painted screens, ink

paintings, as well as other commercial art venues.

He gradually rose through the ranks to achieve

recognition by the Kyoto nobility. Sotatsu’s vast

repertoire of works comprises illustrated picture

scrolls from classical literature, and ink paintings

that largely depict the Chinese monochrome style

as well as Zen Buddhist subjects, but he is especially

associated with the revival of Yamato-e themes

H ANDBOOK TO L IFE IN M EDIEVAL AND E ARLY M ODERN J APAN

(painted on a much grander scale, using precious

materials such as gold and silver) during the 16th

and 17th centuries. He also created a new “boneless”

technique, by using several layers of ink to create

forms without the use of an outline. Although he

worked in the Edo period, his works resemble the

Momoyama-period style. He often collaborated with

Hon’ami Koetsu.

Sugita Gempaku (1733–1817) Physician and

scholar. A prominent intellectual specializing in

Western learning, Sugita’s main contribution was to

translate and confirm the information reported in

Western anatomy texts, while serving as the private

physician to the ruler of the Obama domain, a post

he inherited from his father. His most famous trans-

lation is the 1774 work Kaitai shinsho, which was the

first work to spark sufficient Japanese interest in

European scientiﬁc scholarship.

Suzuki Shosan (1579–1655) Warrior and Zen

monk. Shosan was originally a warrior, ﬁghting on

the side of the Tokugawa at the Battle of Sekigahara

(1600) and at the Siege of Osaka Castle (1614–15).

In 1621 he became a Zen monk. However, he chose

not to align himself with either the Rinzai or Soto

Zen schools. Shosan advocated a moral Zen teach-

ing that was based on the idea that one’s daily work,

if pursued in a selﬂess way, was a religious practice

that promoted enlightenment. Eclectic in his

approach to Buddhism, Shosan also taught the spiri-

tual beneﬁts of reciting the nembutsu, the practice of

chanting the name of Amida Buddha closely associ-

ated with the schools of Pure Land Buddhism.

Shosan also believed that it was the responsibility of

the government to restore what he viewed as true

Buddhism to Japan. Shosan wrote numerous texts

expounding these views.

Takahashi Kageyasu (1785–1829) Geographer,

astronomer, and interpreter. Kageyasu served as

astronomer to the shogunate. He also published sci-

entifically accurate maps of the Japanese islands

based on surveys conducted by Ino Tadataka,

Mamiya Rinzo, and Mogami Tokunai. Later, he ille-

gally supplied maps to Philipp Franz von Siebold in

exchange for Dutch books. When his actions were

discovered, he was arrested by shogunal authorities

and sentenced to death. Kageyasu died in prison

before his execution could be carried out.

Takahashi Yoshitoki (1764–1804) Astronomer.

Yoshitoki became ofﬁcial astronomer to the Toku-

gawa shogunate in 1795. Working with Hazama

Shigetomi (1756–1816), he developed the Kansei

calendar, a more accurate calendar that was adopted

by the shogunate in 1798. He also translated a

Dutch version of a French astronomy text, the Traité

d’astronomie authored by Joseph Jérôme Lelande

(1732–1807).

Takasugi Shinsaku (1839–1867) Warrior. Taka-

sugi was a Choshu domain retainer. He gained fame

as an imperial loyalist who fought to overthrow the

Tokugawa shogunate. He was also a military strate-

gist who restructured the Choshu domain’s military

forces utilizing Western troop organization and

ﬁghting techniques. This contributed to the defeat

of the shogunal army in battles waged in the last

years of the Edo period and led to the restoration of

imperial rule. Takasugi, however, succumbed to

tuberculosis and died just prior to the change in

government that marked the start of the Meiji

Restoration.

Takayama Ukon (1553–1615) Daimyo. Also known

as Takayama Nagafusa. Ukon was a noted Christian

lord who was baptized in 1564. He turned against

his anti-Christian lord in support of Oda Nobu-

naga, who was favorable toward Christianity for

political reasons. At various times, Ukon tried to

convert the people of the regions he had control

over. He was banished from Japan in 1614, the

result of the persecution of Christianity by the

Tokugawa shogunate.

Takebe Katahiro (1664–1739) Mathematician. A

student of Seki Kowa, Katahiro discovered the prin-

ciple of integral calculus and coauthored Taisei

sankyo in 1710, a 20-volume compendium detailing

Japanese mathematics. He also ran the shogunal

observatory established by Tokugawa Yoshimune in

1720.

Takeda Shingen (1521–1573) Daimyo. Shingen

was a powerful lord during the Warring States and

H ISTORICAL C ONTEXT

Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He fought several fa-

mous battles against Uesugi Kenshin known as the

Battles of Kawanakajima that occurred between

1553 and 1564. Shingen was involved in the shift-

ing alliances between feudal lords who vied for

power during this unsettled period of Japanese

history. In 1573 he defeated the armies of Oda

Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of

Nikatagahara. However, Shingen died of a disease

later that year.

Tani Buncho (1763–1840) Nanga (Southern school)

painter. Buncho was an eclectic artist credited with

bringing the literati style to Edo. Born to an Edo

samurai family. His artistic education began with

Kano school training and continued to include Tosa,

ukiyo-e, Western traditions, Chinese style, and the

Maruyama-Shijo school. Ultimately he was known

as a nanga painter although his style varied. Buncho

was especially noted for realistic portraits, and he

had a strong inﬂuence on his contemporaries.

Tankei (1173–1256) Kei school sculptor. Oldest

son and pupil of Unkei. Tankei worked with his

father on restoring two Nara temples, Todaiji and

Kofukuji, which had been damaged in ﬁghting dur-

ing the Gempei War (1180–85). Like other Kei

school sculptors, Tankei’s style is realistic.

Tensho Shubun (fl. 1414–1463) Muromachi sui-

boku painter. Tradition places Shubun as a student of

Josetsu and teacher of Sesshu and Sotan. Shubun

served as ofﬁcial painter to the shogunate, and he

went to Korea in 1423 or 1424 with a shogunal

embassy. A Zen monk, he created carvings and

paintings for Shokokuji and was associated with its

reconstruction from 1430 to 1440. Shubun is con-

sidered progenitor of the Chinese monochrome ink

style as reimagined to suit Japanese tastes. He is usu-

ally paired with Sesshu as the two greatest painters

of the mid- to late 15th century.

Tetsugen (1630–1682) Obaku school Zen monk.

Tetsugen is primarily known for compiling the

entire Buddhist canon—known as the Obaku or

Tetsugen edition—an undertaking that took 10

years. This was the first time the entire Buddhist

canon was printed in Japan.

Thunberg, Carl Peter (1743–1828) Swedish bo-

tanist and physician. Thunberg studied medicine

and botany with Carolus Linnaeus (1707–78) at the

University of Uppsala and later became a ship physi-

cian for the Dutch East India Company. In 1775,

during a one-year stay in Nagasaki, Thunberg col-

lected more than 800 specimens of plants, and pub-

lished Flora Japonica in 1784.

Tokugawa Hidetada (1579–1632) Ruled 1605–23

as second Tokugawa shogun. Hidetada, Tokugawa

Ieyasu’s third son, became shogun in 1605 when his

father retired. However, he effectively ruled in name

only because Ieyasu continued to run the govern-

ment. It was only after Ieyasu’s death in 1616 that

Hidetada took over actual control of the shogunate.

Hidetada was also a general who led troops at the

Battle of Sekigahara (1600) and the Siege of Osaka

Castle (1614–15), both significant victories that

secured Tokugawa control over Japan. As shogun,

Hidetada continued the work of his father in consol-

idating Tokugawa power and in reforming govern-

ment administration of the country. In particular,

Hidetada created mechanisms for controlling the

power of both the daimyo and the imperial court.

Hidetada also continued the policy of strict regula-

tion of Christianity and it was under his rule that the

policy of national seclusion was enacted. Like his

father before him, Hidetada retired as shogun in

1623, appointed his son Iemitsu to the position, but

continued to rule behind the scenes until his death

in 1632.

Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604–1651) Ruled 1623–51

as third Tokugawa shogun. Known as Takechiyo as a

child, this third shogun of the Tokugawa regime

took the name Iemitsu after his coming-of-age cele-

bration in 1620. Left behind to defend Edo Castle as

a young boy while his father and grandfather

defeated the last of the Toyotomi family in the

1614–15 battles at Osaka Castle, Iemitsu was initi-

ated early into the ways and means of governance in

Tokugawa Japan and was more than ready to take

the reins of power when his father had the imperial

court bestow the title of shogun upon him in 1623.

However, Iemitsu’s succession came only at the

behest of his wet nurse, as his father had favored

Iemitsu’s younger brother for the role—a rivalry

H ANDBOOK TO L IFE IN M EDIEVAL AND E ARLY M ODERN J APAN

that was settled for good when Iemitsu demanded

his brother’s suicide shortly after the death of their

father.

Iemitsu’s reign served to further strengthen the

Tokugawa grasp on Japan, starting in the 1630s

when he issued regulations to clarify the degree of

battle-readiness expected of samurai retainers, up-

dating the feudal laws known as Buke shohatto to

further define the role of daimyo and samurai in

Tokugawa society, and obligating daimyo to split

their time between Kyoto and their domains, leav-

ing their wives and children to reside full time in

Kyoto as “hostages of good faith,” thus guarding

against daimyo revolts. While promoting Confu-

cian and Buddhist thought, Iemitsu also watched

the growing Christian population closely, and after

putting down the 1637–38 Christian revolts in

Kyushu, Iemitsu instituted extreme trade regula-

tions that soon became the policy of national seclu-

sion practiced throughout the Tokugawa peace

until 1853 when the West demanded that Japan

open its ports to trade and diplomatic relations. By

his death in 1651, Iemitsu had cultivated the sho-

gunate to its most mature state, ensuring continu-

ance of the national stability that defined the Edo

period.

Tokugawa Ienari (1773–1841) Ruled 1786–1837

as 11th Tokugawa shogun. Adopted by the childless

Ieharu in 1781, Ienari ascended to the office of

shogun in 1787 and quickly relinquished much of

the initial responsibility for governance ﬁrst to his

head councilor, Matsudaira Sadanobu, and then to

Sadanobu’s successor Nobuaki. Under Sadanobu,

Ienari endorsed policies known as the Kansei

reforms, aimed at improving the plight of the com-

mon people and making the shogunate financially

stable through the promotion of a frugal lifestyle.

After Nobuaki retired from ofﬁce, Ienari opted to

assume all responsibility for the government. How-

ever, under Ienari’s rule, the government returned to

its proﬂigate ways, which undermined public moral-

ity and created economic difﬁculties that were inten-

sified by massive famines and the inflation of the

1830s. Despite these problems, Ienari was able to

maintain relative peace through strict control of

daimyo and other powerful warlords by way of forc-

ing marriage to one of his many daughters. Ienari

turned the shogunate over to his son, Ieyoshi, in

1837, but continued to rule behind the scenes until

his death in 1841.

Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) Ruled 1603–05 as

ﬁrst Tokugawa shogun. Ieyasu is one of the greatest

warriors and political leaders in Japanese history. He

finished the task of unifying Japan begun by Oda

Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Ieyasu estab-

lished the Tokugawa shogunate that inaugurated the

start of the Edo period and the more than 250 years

of peace that characterized the era. See also the his-

torical narrative in this chapter.

Tokugawa Kazuko (Tofuku Mon’in) (1607–1678)

Daughter of the shogun Tokugawa Hidetada. In a

political move to strengthen the legitimacy of the

emperor Go-Mizunoo’s rule, Kazuko became his

consort as part of the shogunate’s plan to link the

shogun to the imperial court. Go-Mizunoo abdi-

cated to Kazuko’s eldest daughter, Okiko, however,

after the Shie incident, in which purple robes, sym-

bolizing the highest order of priesthood, were given

to the temples of Daitokuji and Myoshinji in 1627

by Go-Mizunoo without the shogunate’s approval.

The shogunate pronounced them invalid and conﬁs-

cated them. Even after the end of their daughter’s

reign, Kazuko exerted considerable influence over

court affairs as the stepmother of the three succes-

sive emperors.

Tokugawa Mitsukuni (1628–1700) Daimyo. Mit-

sukuni, a grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, was the lord

of the Mito domain. He became known as an effec-

tive ruler and Mito domain became one of the most

powerful domains during the Edo period. Mitsukuni

embraced Neo-Confucian values and was later re-

vered as the ideal of the benevolent ruler. Mitsukuni

is also noted for his project to compile a history of

Japan following the model of Chinese dynastic histo-

ries. The Dai Nihon shi (History of great Japan) was

started in 1657 and, though largely completed by the

time of Mitsukuni’s death, was not ﬁnally completed

until 1906. The work traces the history of Japan from

its origins to the 14th century by chronicling the

reigns of Japan’s emperors. The work was inﬂuential,

in part, because of the loyalty it expressed toward the

imperial family.

H ISTORICAL C ONTEXT

Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684–1751) Ruled 1716–

45 as eighth Tokugawa shogun. Son of Tokugawa

Mitsusada, a prominent daimyo and member of the

Kii branch of the Tokugawa family tree, Yoshimune

began his career when he took over the position of

daimyo in 1705 after his father and brothers died sud-

denly. He became shogun upon the death of the

childless Ietsugu in 1716, having gained the support

of high-ranking government ofﬁcials on the merits of

his success as a daimyo. He soon made efforts to cur-

tail the excess that had come to characterize the

lifestyle of many government ofﬁcials by enforcing

laws promoting frugal living and a return to the prac-

tice of classical samurai values. Sensitive to the plight

of peasants, Yoshimune sought to improve the eco-

nomic situation of the populace by solving the ﬁnan-

cial crisis of the shogunate through his Kyoho

reforms, which called for increased ﬁscal accountabil-

ity on the part of daimyo, tax collectors, and other

ofﬁcials in the shogunate. Through these efforts,

Yoshimune was able to bring stability to the price of

rice. By lifting the ban on the import of Western

books in 1722, the government learned about meth-

ods for cultivating new lands on which to grow new

crops as staple food sources. Despite these reforms,

including the 103-article penal code of 1742, Yo-

shimune failed to win the trust of the public and was

constantly putting down riots and disturbances

throughout his tenure before ﬁnally handing admin-

istrative responsibilities to his son, Ieshige, in 1745.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837–1913) Ruled 1867–68

as 15th and last Tokugawa shogun. Although his reign

as shogun lasted less than a year, Yoshinobu lived in a

time of great social and political upheaval. Yoshinobu

became shogun in 1867 as the shogunate was on the

brink of collapse from pressure by powerful lords who

wanted to restore imperial rule. After brief efforts to

reform the shogunate in hopes of regaining control of

the country, he was convinced to relinquish his posi-

tion in favor of a return to imperial rule. This ended

the shogunate and inaugurated the Meiji Restoration.

Tominaga Nakamoto (1715–1746) Scholar. Tom-

inaga, son of an Osaka merchant, was a noted critic

of religion. In his writings, such as Shutsujo kogo

(Buddha’s comments after his meditation; 1745) and

Okina no fumi (Writings of an old man; 1746), he

criticized Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto on

the grounds that they were largely untrue because

they deﬁed common sense.

Tomoe Gozen (late 12th century) One of the best

known female warriors of the 12th century and

favored concubine of Minamoto no Yoshinaka.

Tomoe Gozen fought alongside her male counter-

parts during the Gempei War (1180–85). Her biog-

raphy is as much legend as history. Tomoe appears in

the Heike monogatari as a warrior of superior skill,

equal to and sometimes exceeding her male peers.

Her military adventures inspired the 16th century

Noh play, Tomoe.

Torii Kiyonaga (1752–1815) Ukiyo-e printmaker

and painter. Kiyonaga was born in Uraga to a book-

seller and publisher. He traveled to Edo in 1765, and

studied printmaking under Torii Kiyomitsu. He was

adopted into the Torii family upon his teacher’s

death. Kiyonaga became the fourth and ﬁnal master

of the Torii school and was renowned ﬁrst for actor

prints in the Torii tradition, then for depictions of

graceful, slender beauties of the pleasure districts.

His work generated strong interest and inﬂuenced

numerous contemporaries through his design skill

and acumen as a colorist.

Tosa Mitsunobu (1434–1525) Tosa school painter.

Mitsunobu served as head of the court painting

academy (edokoro azukari), producing works includ-

ing e-maki, Buddhist paintings, and portraits. He

was noted for restoring the Tosa reputation and is

considered the family’s most important ﬁgure. Mit-

sunobu created a formula for rendering paintings of

Kyoto and its environs known as rakuchu rakugai-zu.

Toshusai Sharaku (ﬂ. 1794–1795) Ukiyo-e artist.

Little is known of the details of Sharaku’s life; he

resided in Edo and he may have been a Noh actor.

He specialized in prints of Kabuki actors that were

often represented in exaggerated poses or with cari-

catured facial features. Of the some 159 extant prints

attributed to him, all were produced within a 10-

month period in 1794–95.

Toyotomi Hideyori (1592–1615) Warrior. Hidey-

ori was Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s only son. Although

H ANDBOOK TO L IFE IN M EDIEVAL AND E ARLY M ODERN J APAN

Hideyoshi had desired that Hideyori succeed him,

intrigue among Hideyoshi’s supporters and the vic-

tories of the Tokugawa at the Battle of Sekigahara

and elsewhere conspired against Hideyori achieving

national political power. Instead, Hideyori took his

place among the many daimyo controlled by the

Tokugawa. Tokugawa Ieyasu, though he had allowed

Hideyori to occupy his father’s former stronghold at

Osaka Castle, was suspicious of Hideyori’s inten-

tions. As a result, the Tokugawa attacked Osaka Cas-

tle. Defeated, Hideyori committed suicide at the age

of 22.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–1598) Warrior and

military leader. Along with Oda Nobunaga and

Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hideyoshi was one of the three

great military leaders who contributed to the uniﬁ-

cation of Japan during the late 16th century. Despite

his humble beginnings as the son of peasants,

Hideyoshi rose through the ranks to become one of

Nobunaga’s generals, ﬁghting in many of the deci-

sive battles that gained Nobunaga control over cen-

tral Japan. After Nobunaga committed suicide in

1582 in order to avoid capture at the hands of a

retainer who turned against him, Hideyoshi killed

the retainer, secured support from the Oda family

and other powerful lords, and embarked on his own

campaign to unify the country under his control.

His further victories in western Japan, and on the

islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, and the alliances he

forged with powerful daimyo, gave him control over

a uniﬁed country by 1590. Hideyoshi instituted sig-

niﬁcant political, economic, and social reforms. For

instance, he conducted land surveys, prohibited the

possession of arms by those outside the warrior

class, promoted transportation as a way to improve

economic conditions, and incorporated a rigid class

system that made distinctions between warriors,

farmers, artisans, and merchants. Hideyoshi’s aspira-

tions were not only conﬁned to the domestic sphere.

He attempted to conquer Korea on two different

occasions during the 1590s, but both of these incur-

sions on the mainland failed. Hideyoshi died in

1598, leaving only a ﬁve-year-old son as a potential

heir. However, on the death of Hideyoshi, Toku-

gawa Ieyasu quickly rose to power and founded the

Tokugawa shogunate, thus completing the uniﬁca-

tion of Japan.

Uesugi Kenshin (1530–1578) Daimyo. Also

known as Uesugi Terutora. Kenshin was a powerful

lord during the Warring States and Azuchi-

Momoyama periods. He fought several famous bat-

tles against Takeda Shingen known as the Battles of

Kawanakajima that occurred between 1553 and

1564. Kenshin was also opposed to Oda Nobunaga

and was preparing a force against Nobunaga when

he died.

Unkei (unknown–1223) Kei school sculptor. Unkei

was the son and pupil of Kokei. Considered the

greatest of the Kei school sculptors, Unkei epito-

mized the Kei school style with his realistic render-

ing of Buddhist ﬁgures. He collaborated with Kaikei

on a pair of Nio guardian ﬁgures located in Great

H ISTORICAL C ONTEXT

1.3 Tomoe Gozen (late 12th century), famed woman

warrior

(Illustration Kikuchi Yosai from Zenken kojitsu,

mid-19th century)

South Gate (nandaimon) at Todaiji. Unkei received

patronage from ofﬁcials of the Kamakura shogunate

who commissioned him to create portrait sculptures.

Uragami Gyokudo (1745–1820) Nanga (Southern

school) painter, musician, and poet. Gyokudo was

born to a samurai family. He served the Ikeda daim-

yo, accompanying his lord to Edo where he learned

koto and studied painting, poetry, and the Chinese

classics. As an artist, he was highly regarded among

second generation nanga painters. His landscapes,

rendered in monochrome ink, evoke a sense of

melancholy. He is also noted for a brush technique

that is spontaneous and eccentric.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861) Painter, print-

maker, and book illustrator. Kuniyoshi was a student

of ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Toyokuni. He became

famous for his ukiyo-e depictions of Kabuki actors,

landscapes, and animals. He is also known for his

musha-e, or warrior prints often rendered as trip-

tychs. In many of his prints, Kuniyoshi displays a

predilection for the bizarre and phantasmic.

Valignano, Alessandro (1539–1606) Italian Jesuit

missionary. Valignano visited the Jesuit mission in

Japan on three different occasions between 1579 and

1603, staying between three and five years each

time. He urged Jesuit missionaries to learn the

Japanese language and to adapt aspects of Japanese

culture as a means to more effectively promote

Christianity in Japan. To this end, for instance, some

Jesuits dressed like Zen monks. Valignano also

founded Christian schools and a novitiate.

Watanabe Kazan (1793–1841) Painter. Kazan was

born in Edo to a low-ranking samurai family. He

advocated the incorporation of Western painting

techniques into the nanga (Southern school) land-

scape style. He was adept at depicting ﬁgures in a

realistic manner. Kazan publicly opposed the na-

tional seclusion policy advanced by the Tokugawa

shogunate and consequently endured permanent

house arrest in commutation of the death penalty. In

1841, he committed suicide.

Xavier, Francis (1506–1552) Spanish Jesuit mission-

ary. Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Society

of Jesus (Jesuits), introduced Christianity into Japan

upon his arrival there in 1549. Although he gained

some support from local lords, his journey to Kyoto to

meet Emperor Go-Nara and to gain permission to

preach throughout Japan went without success on

both counts. Xavier departed Japan in 1551.

Yagyu Munenori (1571–1646) Sword master. Son

of Yagyu Muneyoshi (1527–1606) who founded the

Yagyu-ryu (later called Yagyu Shinkage-ryu) school

of swordsmanship. Munemori earned fame at the

Battle of Sekigahara (1600) and the sieges of Osaka

Castle in 1614 and 1615, fighting on the side of

Tokugawa Ieyasu. He later was named sword

instructor to Tokugawa shoguns, a post carried on

by subsequent members of the Yagyu family.

Yamagata Daini (1725–1767) Confucian scholar

and physician. Daini advocated the overthrow of the

shogunate on the grounds of government corrup-

tion. He was eventually executed for plotting against

the shogunate.

Yamana Sozen (1404–1473) Warrior. Sozen was a

provincial military governor (shugo). He is most

famous for his role in the shogunal succession dis-

pute between Ashikaga Yoshihisa, who Sozen sup-

ported, and Ashikaga Yoshimi, supported by Sozen’s

rival Hosokawa Katsumoto. Sozen fought in the

subsequent Onin War that was the result of this suc-

cession struggle.

Yamazaki Ansai (1619–1682) Neo-Confucian

scholar. Ansai founded Suiga Shinto (or Suika

Shinto), a movement combining Neo-Confucian

ideals based on the Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi) school with

Shinto nationalism. This form of Shinto combined

Confucian moral cultivation with the notion that

Japan is a unique and divine country. Ansai pro-

moted such virtues as loyalty to one’s lord and the

importance of the divine descent of the imperial

family. Although Ansai saw his ideas as applicable to

the political and social goals of the Tokugawa shogu-

nate, such nationalist notions as divine imperial

descent were also relevant to those at the end of the

H ANDBOOK TO L IFE IN M EDIEVAL AND E ARLY M ODERN J APAN

Edo period who sought to overthrow the shogunate

and restore imperial rule.

Yodogimi (1567–1615) Daughter of Oda Nobu-

naga’s sister Odani no Kata and the daimyo Asai

Nagamasa. Yodogimi faced signiﬁcant hardships as a

girl and again as a young woman; her father was

killed in 1573 by her uncle, Oda Nobunaga, and 10

years later her stepfather, Shibata Katsuie, defeated

by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was joined in suicide by

Yodogimi’s mother. She and her two sisters were

thrown on the mercy of Hideyoshi, whereupon she

was taken into his household and became his favorite

concubine. She bore him two children, Tsurumatsu

(1589–91) and Hideyori. Following Hideyoshi’s

death, Yodogimi took up residence at Osaka castle

alongside Hideyori and his forces, determined to

help her son preserve the power of the Toyotomi

family. Osaka Castle, however, fell to the Tokugawa

forces in 1615. Unable to bear defeat, Yodogimi and

her son Hideyori committed suicide on June 4,

1615.

Yosa Buson

See

BUSON.

Yoshida Kanetomo (1435–1511) Shinto priest.

Descending from a line of court divinators, Kane-

tomo spent most of his life trying to unite all of

Shinto under his family’s control. To this end, he

claimed that the newly constructed altar he placed at

the Yoshida Shrine in 1484 was to be the hub from

which all Shinto activity radiated. He also wrote a

number of works that were heavily influenced by

esoteric Buddhist practice attempting to better

deﬁne Shinto belief. Many of Kanetomo’s contribu-

tions are credited with inspiring the Edo-period

Yoshida Shinto movement.

Yoshida Kenko (1283–1350) Buddhist monk and

author. Descended from a line of Shinto diviners,

Kenko’s 1330 literary effort, Tsurezuregusa, is still

praised as a quintessential zuihitsu genre work. Hold-

ing a number of positions in the imperial court be-

fore becoming a Buddhist monk in 1313, Kenko

moved frequently, never fully embracing any one

teacher or monastery. He is considered one of the

four masters of the conservative Nijo school of

poetry. He ﬁrst worked under the patronage of the

Daikakuji imperial lineage before accepting the sup-

port of Ashikaga Takauji after emperor Go-Daigo

was chased out of the capital.

Yoshida Mitsuyoshi (1598–1672) Mathematician

and translator of the Chinese mathematics work

Suanfa tongzong (1593). He also wrote an explana-

tory treatise on the abacus (soroban), Jinkoki (Large

and small numbers, 1627), which played an impor-

tant role in spreading the use of the abacus in Japan.

It also partly replaced the old Japanese mathematics

(wasan) and sangi calculation methods.

Yoshida Shoin (1830–1859) Warrior, scholar, and

political activist. Shoin was a champion of the sonno

joi (“Revere the emperor! Expel the barbarian”)

movement that sought to end the shogunate and

restore imperial rule. Because of his active involve-

ment in attempts to overthrow the shogunate and in

an assassination plot against a high shogunal ofﬁcial,

Shoin was executed as part of the Ansei Purge

(1858–60) that tried to destroy opposition to the

shogunate.

Yoshikawa Koretari (1616–1694) Shinto practi-

tioner who founded the movement known as

Yoshikawa Shinto. This form of Shinto was derived

from Yoshida Shinto and held that Shinto was the

source of all things, including all other religions.

Koretari became director of Shinto affairs (shin-

tokata) for the shogunate in 1682. This was a posi-

tion held by subsequent members of the Yoshikawa

family.

READING

General

Beasley 1999; Hall 1970; Hane 1991; Totman 1981;

Totman 2000; Mason and Caiger 1997

H ISTORICAL C ONTEXT

Medieval Japan

Varley 1974; Yamamura (ed.) 1990; Arnesen 1979:

daimyo in medieval Japan; Berry 1982: life and times

of Hideyoshi; Berry 1993: Kyoto during the Onin

War and the Warring States period; Boxer 1951:

medieval Christianity; Elison and Smith (eds.) 1981:

16th-century history; Grossberg 1981: Muromachi

shogunate; Hall and Mass (eds.) 1974: medieval

institutional history; Hall and Toyoda (eds.) 1977:

Muromachi history; Hall, Nagahara, and Yamamura

(eds.) 1981: medieval political and economic history;

Mass (ed.) 1982: Kamakura history; Mass 1979:

Kamakura shogunate; Varley 1971: Kemmu Resto-

ration; Totman 2000, 158–171: medieval political

history, 199–217: late medieval and early Edo politi-

cal history

Early Modern Japan

Totman 1974; Totman 1993; Hall (ed.) 1991; Cullen

2003, Jansen 2000, Totman 1993; Bolitho 1974:

fudai daimyo; Hall and Jansen (eds.) 1968: early

modern institutional history; Keene 1969: Japanese

encounters with the West; Sheldon 1958: merchant

class; Totman 1967: politics in the Tokugawa sho-

gunate; Totman 1980: end of the Tokugawa shogun-

ate; Mayo 1974: late Edo history; Totman 2000,

278–289: late Edo-period history; Jansen (ed.) 1989:

19th-century history

H ANDBOOK TO L IFE IN M EDIEVAL AND E ARLY M ODERN J APAN

LAND, ENVIRONMENT,

AND POPULATION