Letter by Sakuma Masakatsu 佐久間正勝筆書状サクママサカツヒツショジョウ

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 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 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 Hideyoshi’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 inHideyoshi’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, and was given a stipend of 3,000 koku (a measure of rice equivalent to approximately 5 bushels) in Musashi Province (Saitama Prefecture). The letter exhibited here was written in 1584 when Masakatsu was 29. This was the year when the Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s forces were raging prolonged battles in Komaki, Nagakute, and Ise (Mie Prefecture) against the allied forces of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu. These battles ended with a peace treaty, and it was this treaty that made Masakatsu to seek refuge in priesthood and change his name to Fukansai. Around this time, Sassa Narimasa (1539-88) of Ecchu (Toyama Prefecture), who maintained secret contact with Ieyasu, was planning to attack Lord Maeda Toshiyie (1562-1614) of Noto (Ishikawa Prefecture). This letter refers to all these recent developments, i.e., Masakatsu taking the Buddhist tonsure and Narimasa’s preparations for military action. Masakatsu reports all of the above to Takigawa Kazumasu (1525-86), who then was Lord of Nagashima Castle in Ise. Sometime before this writing, Kazumasu had surrendered to Hideyoshi and was fighting on his side in the battles mentioned herein. The “Sankuro” mentioned in the letter is likely Kazumasu’s son, Kazutada, whose common name was Sankuro. Although the details are not known, Masakatsu writes that he cannot get involved in Sankuro’s affairs since he is now a monk. This letter sheds light on the intertwined human relationships and power struggles that unfolded with the raging of the wars in Komaki and Nagakute.