英語訳
[Header] Toyohashi City Historical Discussions - (The Battle of Sekigahara) - 180
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Since such documents are also published there, I think one should first consult these sources for detailed information. However, there is one more thing I would like to mention: that Terumasa was quite a small person in stature. Some popular books state that his height was less than four shaku, but this seems hardly believable. Of course, the measurements of that time were different from today's, so it's hard to say for certain. But in the "Omoidegusa" it says:
"At a banquet gathering of daimyo peers of Lord Terumasa, when someone laughed at his short stature, he quickly stood up saying, 'Then I shall perform a new piece called the Dwarf Dance,' and began performing his own 'short person's dance,' singing as he danced, 'Though I am lord of three provinces - Harima, Bizen, and Awaji - I do not mind being short.' The entire gathering was greatly entertained, as the story goes."
Given this account, I believe it is factual that his physical stature was unusually short. Now I would like to discuss the Battle of Sekigahara.
◎ The Battle of Sekigahara
I would now like to discuss the Battle of Sekigahara, but first it is necessary to go back and provide an overview of Hideyoshi's later years.
[Hideyoshi's Later Years] As already mentioned in the previous chapter, Hideyoshi completed Osaka Castle in Tenshō 12 (1584) and took residence there. From that same year, he also began construction of his mansion at Jurakudai in Kyoto, which was completed in Tenshō 15 (1587). Moreover, in Tenshō 18 (1590), he destroyed the Hōjō clan of Odawara, subsequently pacified the northeast, and completely seized control of the realm. Tenshō continued until the 19th year, and in the 20th year the era was changed to Bunroku. The campaign to conquer Korea was launched in this year, with Konishi Yukinaga, Katō Kiyomasa, and others from Chūgoku, Shikoku, and Kyūshū all participating in the expedition, while Hideyoshi personally went to Nagoya in Hizen Province to direct operations. Prior to this, in Tenshō 10-
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[Header] San'yō Newspaper No. 3946 Supplement (Published December 26, Meiji 44 [1911])
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9 (1581), he adopted Hidenaga, the son of his half-sister, making him his heir and transferring the position of Kampaku (Chancellor) to him while taking the title of Taikō for himself. Originally, Hideyoshi had no children by his legitimate wife. However, there was a woman who was Oda Nobunaga's sister and had married Asai Nagamasa, who bore three daughters. When she remarried Shibata Katsuie after the fall of the Asai clan, she brought these three daughters with her. Later, as you know, Katsuie also perished, and the Oda woman committed suicide, but the three daughters came under Hideyoshi's care. Subsequently, Hideyoshi took the eldest daughter as his concubine. This was the famous Lady Yodo. In the 5th month of Tenshō 17 (1589), Lady Yodo first gave birth to a son called Tsurumatsu. However, when the child died young in the 8th month of the following year, Hideyoshi grieved immensely. As previously mentioned, in the 11th month of that year he adopted Hidetsugu as his son, and in the 12th month immediately appointed him Naidaijin (Minister of the Interior) and Kampaku.
Then in the following year, Bunroku 1 (1592), when the overseas expedition began and Hideyoshi was to go to Nagoya, he brought Lady Yodo with him following the precedent of the Odawara campaign. However, when she became pregnant, he sent her back to Osaka, and on the 3rd day of the 8th month of Bunroku 2 (1593), she gave birth to a son who was Hideyori. Hideyoshi's affection then focused entirely on this Hideyori, so much so that he deliberately returned from Nagoya to Osaka just to see this child. Of course, Hideyoshi was then fifty-seven years old and approaching old age, so his parental love may have become more intense, but in any case, he appeared to be calculating every possible method to increase this child's welfare and fortune. It was Ishida Mitsunari who exploited this weakness. Mitsunari was a person of considerable talent who won Lady Yodo's favor and consequently became liked by Hideyoshi as well. I don't think he was the petty person that popular accounts make him out to be. However, it is observable from the facts that he became Lady Yodo's advisor and plotted to eliminate Hidetsugu in order to establish Hideyori in the world. As you know, regarding this matter, Hidetsugu also had great flaws, and thereafter showed increasingly self-destructive behavior, killing innocent people and committing many cruel acts, to the point that he was popularly called the "Murderous Kampaku." So whatever was said about him was perhaps unavoidable, but skillful slander was also at work, so Hideyoshi...
[Header] Toyohashi City Historical Discussions - (The Battle of Sekigahara) - 181