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

Illustrated Tales of Regent Hideyoshi

Ehon Taikoki by Takeuchi Kakusai

illustrated by Okada Gyokusan (1797-1802)

Toyotomi Hideyoshi [1537-98] was a son of a peasant and was born in Owari Province (present Nagoya). Despite his low birth, he succeeded in controlling Japan, sent armies to Korea, and finally was granted the titles of Chancellor and Regent. He passed away in 1598 and was referred to as the Bright Deity of the Bountiful Country.

Ehon Taikoki is an illustrated biographical tale of Hideyoshi which was very popular when published but was eventually banned by the shogunate. I selected and translated some of the stories which depict well Hideyoshi's personality, character, and his advancement in carrier in the contemporary Japan.

In translation, I have placed family names first in the Japanese style. The information in the brackets and parentheses are supplied by the translators. Diacritics are deleted except in important terms and names. For dates and years, the Gregorian calendar is used in place of the old Japanese way of calculation, as in 1596 for the first year of Keichô.

Yoshiko Dykstra