Translations

from the Illustrated Tales of Regent Hideyoshi

In the Beginning1-1-1 How Hideyoshi Was Born1-1-2 How Hideyoshi Met Koroku1-1-3 How Koroku Tested Hideyoshi1-1-4 How Hideyoshi Met Matsushita Yukitsuna

from the Senjūshō

5:3 About Naiki Yasutane5:4 Sojō Yōen5:5 Kakuson and the Monk With a Poem About Rattles5:6 The Lady of the Middle Counselor5:10 A Man of Ōmi Lost His Son and Left Secular Life5:11 About a Nun of Eguchi9:8 Courtesan of Eguchi9:10 A Reunion at the Hasedera Temple

from the works of Ryunosuke Akutagawa

The Christ of NankingOginOshino

from the Chirizuka Monogatari

1:1 How a Poem of Lord Jōtokuin Shaded the Burning Sun2:6 Selfless Lord Amako Tsunehisa3:4 About the Legends of Mount Ômine4:1 About Extraordinary Tales of Master Kobo, Salt, Chikami, Reed and Other Things4:4 Witty Tales of Japan and India5:4 Lord Hosokawa's Secret Plot5:9 Lord Moronao's Amorous Affairs6:5 Priest Myosen and Masashige

5:4 Lord Hosokawa's Secret Plot1

from the Chirizuka Monogatari

translated by Yoshiko Dykstra

Hosokawa and the Shogun plot while the attendants wait outside the room.

Hosokawa Jokyu was a great samurai lord who was celebrated for his three virtues of intelligence, benevolence, and courage.

Once when he attended a moon-viewing party given by Shogun Yoshimitsu,2 he strongly admonished the shogun, who became very angry with him and dismissed him. As a result, Lord Hosokawa left the capital for a local province, took the tonsure, and called himself Jokyu, a Buddhist name.

After a while, he was pardoned and resumed his position as the shogun's regent. Various contemporary writings mention that nobody was against his regaining the post. But there was a secret plot behind this incident.

As regent, Lord Hosokawa had assumed the most important position in the government since the shogun was still young, and so many people flattered him and tried to play up to him. But he had no selfish motives and always served the shogun with utmost loyalty; he was also generously benevolent to the commoners.

Meanwhile, the shogun's prestige became as dim as fireflies' light while Lord Hosokawa's glory radiated like the sunlight, and this caused Lord Hosokawa to ponder day and night on the Way of Lord and Subject.

Late one night, Hosokawa went to see the shogun. After dismissing all the attendants, he approached the shogun and spoke to him in a low voice.

"I have been humbly and faithfully serving you for all these years, but unfortunately I have come to gain unsuitable prestige. This is solely thanks to your deep trust in me. But the more you favor me, the more people will respect me and ignore you. If this situation continues much longer, I will inevitably invite much criticism and this will be my downfall.

"So, for our better relationship, I will deliberately behave contrary to the Way of Subject and degrade myself so that you increase your prestige. Thus our relationship will become a perfect example of the Way of Lord and Subject. So how about doing this? I will admonish you so harshly that you will punish me by humiliating me before all your subjects, various daimyo, and high officials."

So both the shogun and Lord Hosokawa carried out their plot, and as a result Hosokawa left the capital as The Records of the Heavenly Dragon's Minister3 mentions. People said to each other, "Indeed, we haven't heard any examples like this since olden times. Masashige4 and Lord Hosokawa Jokyu are the only examples of truly faithful subjects."

~~~ The End ~~~

©2007 by Yoshiko Dykstra

1Hosokawa Yoriyuki, 1329-1392, was a retainer of Ashikaga Takauji, 1305-1358, the first Ashikaga shogun. Yoriyuki defeated Hosokawa Kiyouji in 1367, and brought peace to Shikoku. ON the order of Ashikaga Yoshiakira, 1330-1367, he became the kanrei regent for the young shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. In 1379, criticism from other lords brought about his downfall, but he later resumed his post.

2Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, 1358-1408, the third Ashikaga shogun, son of Ashikaga Yoshiakira, brought about unification of the Southern and Northern Courts in 1392, engaged in trade with Ming China, built the Kinkakuji Golden Pavilion in Kitayama (he was often called Lord Kitayama), and also built the Muromachi Palace, also called Hana no gosho, from which the name of his bakufu (shogun's government), the Muromachi Bakufu, originated.

3The Heavenly Dragon refers to Shogun Yoshimitsu, but this record cannot be identified.

4Kusunoki Masashige, 1294-1336, an exemplary loyal subject of Emperor Go-Daigo, fought against the Kamakura shogunate, but was defeated by Ashikaga Takauji.