Letter by Sakuma Masakatsu 佐久間正勝筆消息サクママサカツヒツショウソク

Description

Sakuma Masakatsu (1556-1631) was an army general of the Momoyama to early Edo Period who was deeply attracted to sado (or chado), or the Way of Tea (Tea celemony). Born the son of Sakuma Nobumori (1527-81), Masakatsu used the pen names Fukansai and Sogan. With his father, Masakatsu served Lord Oda Nobunaga (1534-82) and was victorious in many battles, but he had to retreat to Mt. Koya in 1580. The reason for this was said to have been a slander by Lord Akechi Mitsuhide (?-1582) or the neglect of his military duties due to excessive devotion to sado. Masakatsu was later pardoned and allowed to join the forces of Oda Nobukatsu (1558-1630). In the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, Masakatsu fought against Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98)’s army. However, when Hideyoshi and Nobukatsu signed a peace treaty, one of the conditions was Masakatsu’s ritual suicide. In order to prove his innocence, Masakatsu shaved his head and become a monk and assumed the name of Fukansai. He lived as a hermit in Sasahara in Mikawa Province (Aichi Prefecture). After he was pardoned, he served in Hideyoshi’s “Otogishu,” or a group of counselors for non-political matters. Around this time, Masakatsu was active as a tea master and connoisseur, as is evidenced by an entry in Tsuda Sogyu (?-1591)’s Diary. Sogyu writes about the tea party hosted by Fukansai, i.e., Masakatsu.In his senior years, Masakatsu worked close to the second Tokugawa Shogun, Hidetada (1579-1632), and was given a stipend of 3,000 koku (a measure of rice equivalent to approximately 5 bushels) in Musashi Province (Saitama Prefecture).A sentence in Sakuma Masakatsu’s letter exhibited here reads, “I receive no letters since I live in such a remote place,” and it is signed “Mt. Tsukuba.” From these, we can learn that this letter was sent from Mt. Tsukuba in Hitachi Province (Ibaraki Prefecture), close to where Masakatsu was stationed in Musashino Province (Saitama Prefecture). Sakuma Masakatsu had received a letter on the previous day from Matsumura Nyudo (details unknown), stating that he was coming to visit on this day. But Masakatsu hastened to reply, saying that he has urgent business and asking Mr. Matsumura to visit the following night, the 28th, instead. This letter was perhaps written in great haste. The freely flowing style has been lost, so it could have been written in Masakatsu’s old age.