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Watch what you say….

29/6/2017

 
PictureSource: www.matome.naver.jp
Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada has made something of a ruckus as of late after she was quoted on Monday as having told a meeting of LDP supporters ahead of a gubernatorial election for the city of Tokyo that she, the Ministry of Defence, the Self Defence Force, and the LDP wanted their support for the up-coming election.  For a nation in which the defence force is meant to be kept strictly separate from any suggestion of political influence, the combining of the MOD and SDF in a call for voter support has ignited calls for Inada’s resignation and once again spurred debate on whether this will negatively impact on the LDP’s chances in the election.

The incumbent mayor of Tokyo, Koike Yuriko, herself a former member of the LDP and leader of the Residents First Party, is currently leading in popularity polls as a result of her exposes of wasted public funds during the LDP’s tenure in city government and the knock-on effect from the criticisms directed at LDP party leader and PM Shinzo Abe’s links to educational institutions espousing right-wing ideologies and which appear to have received favoritism for funding school building projects.  

The combined LDP-Komeito majority in both the Upper and Lower Houses of the Diet ensured that any further debate on these links ceased with the closing of the current Parliamentary session last week, and so far there has been no indication that the government intends to placate the opposition parties by convening a special session of Parliament to examine the links in greater detail. 

These issues, along with the government’s decision to ram anti-conspiracy legislation through the Diet (legislation that itself had attracted criticism from the UN for its overly broad application and potential for misuse), has thus made the LDP nervous about Tokyo residents might do to its fortunes in the up-coming election.  A re-election of Koike would weaken the LDP’s already tenuous hold over major cities in Japan, and that could then have repercussions at a national level should the Residents First Party expand to other parts of the nation.  Hence for Defence Minister Inada to make her rather ill-judged appeal during campaigning could not come at a worse time for city LDP planners.

Realizing her mistake, late on Monday evening Minister Inada attempted to make amends for her remarks, however by that stage they had been seized upon by both the media and opposition parties who immediately began calling for her to either resign or be removed from office. The LDP-Komeito dominance of the Diet makes this highly unlikely, and words to that effect were made by Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga on Wednesday who foresaw no need to have Minister Inada step down and urged her to concentrate on her work. Yet members of the LDP standing for election were less sanguine in their comments concerning Inada’s behavior, describing it in blunt terms as “stupid”.  

Inada’s history of making verbal gaffes, and her strident displays of nationalism would ordinarily lead to either a censure or possible demotion, yet in the current political climate in Japan her position is safe so long as the LDP suffers no ill-effects at the national level.  With the Komeito already distancing itself from the LDP in the Tokyo mayoral election, the LDP will need to regain public trust in its judgment and its willingness to confront awkward questions related to its finances and influence. With voting set to kick off on Sunday, the LDP will be hoping that it can weather some the blowback from its recent scandals, although its prospects at the moment do not look too bright.  


氏家幹人(Ujiie Mikito) 江戸時代の罪と罰 (Crimes and Punishments of the Edo Period) Part 2

25/6/2017

 
Until the 2nd year of Manji (1659), Nagashige served as the Metsukedai to the province of Bungo, and was involved in the repairs to the stone walls of Nikkōsan, and looked after the administrative affairs of the palace of Jōkeninden (Tsunayoshi) as well as running the repairs to the palace buildings at Nikkōsan. In the 5th month of the 2nd year of Kanbun (1662), he was appointed as a tsukaiban within the Tokugawa bureaucracy, and in the 12th month of the same year was permitted to wear a form of kimono known as a hoi, thereby designating Nagashige as one of the inner retainers to the Tokugawa bakufu.(pgs.109-110).

In the 5th month of the 4th year of Enhō (1676), he was appointed as the 'lead gunner' to the musketry corp. In the 4th month of the second year of Tenna (1682), Nagashige was granted in increase in income to 500 koku, giving him a total income of over 3,030 koku. In the 5th month of the 2nd year of Genroku (1689), he was appointed as a yaribugyō, and in the 8th month of the 7th year of Genroku, was appointed as a flag (or hata) bugyō (literally a flag bearer). In the 8th month of the 14th year of Genroku (1701), old age (Nagashige was 81 at the time) forced him to give up the position of hatabugyō, and became another adviser to the bakufu. On that day he received five sets of seasonal clothing and 5 gold ingots in gratitude. In the 12th month of the same year, Nagashige retired, and received 300 sacks of goods to provide for him in his old age. In the 2nd year of Hōei (1705), Nagashige died (at the age of 85) and was buried in the temple of Chōeiji in Asakusa. (110)

As has been explained at length, Nagashige was an inner retainer, a hatamono, who steadily served in roles within the Tokugawa bafuku. It certainly didn't do him any harm to be the nephew of Matsudaira Izu no Kami Nobutsuna, otherwise known as the "Wise Izu". He was also well acquainted with the warrior-poet Ishikawa Jyōzan (1583-1672), who spent his twilight years at Jisendō in Kyoto, and was an acolyte of Jyōzan. In his final years Nagashige became known as the sole remaining survivor of the Shimabara Rebellion, and was known for speaking very bluntly on occasion. Nevertheless he still held ambitions even in his old age, and was neither abashed nor considered odd. (pg.110)

The Shichū Shishū, which condensed much of Nagashige's long life, is often regarded as a valuable historical resource because it explores the thoughts and ideas of one of the closest of retainers to the Tokugawa bakufu in the latter half of the seventeenth century. So how then did it differ to the samurai at the beginning of the seventeenth century? (pg.110)

Be care of what you say, and don't make enemies

Don't make enemies. That is was Nagashige repeated again and again. And in order to do that, one had to exercise caution with what one said. (pg.110) On the 8th day of the 7th month of the 6th year of Kanbun (1666) Nagashige wrote "少の義を云も敵のなき様にしあんして出言すへきこと也" (be aware of even your least significant words, and take care not to say things which wound the feelings of others and turn them into enemies). On the 21st day of the 1st month of the following year, he wrote "口はわざわいの門、舌は是わざわいの根源" (the mouth is the gateway to disaster, the tongue is the source of that disaster). (pg.112) It stood to reason, then, that one should speak as little as necessary. On the morning of the 11th day of the 12th month of the 10th year of Tenwa (1681), Nagashige wrote "是は云ても不苦(くるしからず)、いはでも苦しからぬと思ふことは、いはぬが能(よき)也" (Even if you think saying something is good, if you can get by without saying anything, then it's better not to say anything). (pg.112)

Then on the 11th day of the 11th month of the 1st year of Enhō (1673), under a title that could be translated as "training thoughts", Nagashige wrote the following;

"人能(よく)せんとて異見をいふめるは善なり しからば寸善尺魔有と思て 敵きたらんとしるべし敵出現してもと思ていふは各(格)別也 さなくは随分無敵(てきなき)やうにすべし"

Let's translate the gist of the above paragraph. "To think of another and act with sincerity is a good thing. However even though sincerity exists in good intentions, those who receive this sincerity might resent it and then become an enemy. If you have no problem with this then that is fine, but if you do have a problem, then you must not make any more enemies". (pg.112)

Be careful of what you say, don't aggravate your opponent. And of course, don't show any anger yourself. Do not get angry. This is what Nagashige argued so vehemently to family, underlings, and the next generation of bakufu officialdom.(pg.112)


氏家幹人(Ujiie Mikito) 江戸時代の罪と罰 (Crimes and Punishments of the Edo Period) Part One

18/6/2017

 
From the latter half of the seventeeth century to the first half of the eighteenth century, which in terms of the Tokugawa shogunate was from the reign of the fourth shogun Ietsuna to the fifth shogun Tsunayoshi, the trends and habits of the pugilistic and bloody world of the warrior or bushi suddenly began to disappear. Incidents of fighting, wounding, or killing a person over the most trivial of matters or a verbal argument declined, while the number of samurai who practised “tsuji-giri” in order to either practice their skills or test out a new blade also underwent a dramatic fall (although one cannot say that the practice disappeared altogether).

It is difficult to calculate the size of the impact that a world at peace, where warriors were no longer a necessity, had on the world of the warrior. Yet it is true to say that its impact on the punishments was quite substantial. We shall take a look at this change in the mentality and emotions of the world of the warrior using the records of a “hatamoto” (or shogunate retainer) who lived during this period of “reform” from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries. (pg.108)

The hatamoto in question was Amano Yagoemon Nagashige (1621-1705). The record that he left behind, titled the“Shichū Shishū” (or, A Collection of Proper Thoughts) dated from the Shōhō era (1644-48) to the 2nd year of Genroku (1689). Over the course of more than forty years, the collection gathered together a range of materials from edicts through to observations drawn from various documents (extracts from books, old songs, letters etc). The number of documents in the collection rose to 2,015, with each article containing a reference number and a title concerning its content.(pg.109)

So what kind of person was Amano Nagashige? In the Kanseichō Shūsho Kafu, his ancestors and history as a senior Bakufu official were detailed as follows. Nagashige's grandfather, Amano Shigemasa, had been attached at a retainer to Tokugawa Ieyasu's heir Nobuyasu from a young age. After being granted a salary of 200 koku, he continued in that role until passing away in the 19th year of Keichō (1614) at the age of 58. Nagashige's father, Naganobu, entered into Ieyasu's service in Keichō 7 (1602), and served in the summer and winter campaigns at Osaka. In the 2nd year of Genna (1616) he was appointed as the inspector (or bantō) of Nōto, and in the 3rd year of Kanei (1626) he was appointed as a retainer to Tōfuku Monin (the daughter of Tokugawa Hidetada and part of the household, as a concubine, of Emperor Go-mizunō). (pg.109) In Kanei 20 he became attached to the Kinri office of the Imperial household, and was granted an income of 2,530 koku. In the 2nd year of Shōhō (1645), he passed away at the age of 59 while carrying out his duties in Kyoto. (pg.109).

Nagashige was the eldest son of Naganobu and the daughter of Ōkouchi Hisatsuna. While the Kanseichō Shūsho Kafu does not detail the year of his birth, we do know that he died at the age of 85 in the 2nd year of Hōei (1705), so he must have been born in the 7th year of Genwa (1621). His mother was the elder sister of Matsudaira Nobutsuna (1596-1662), who served as an advisor to two generations of Tokugawa shoguns – Iemitsu and Ietsuna. Hence Nagashige was related to Nobutsuna as his great nephew. In the 7th leap year month of the 11th year of Kanei (1634), he had his first meeting with the shogun Iemitsu in the castle of Nijō (Nagashige was 14 years old at the time). In the 10th month of the 15th year of the same era, he became a scribe, serving in the position of Shoin Banshi, and in the 5th leap year month of the 2nd year of Shōhō he succeeded his father as head of the household at the age of 25. (pg.109)


Thoughts on 'Silence' (沈黙)

6/6/2017

 
In what has become a time-honoured tradition on this particular blog, I do apologise for the very, very long hiatus between posts. In a sense this is a good thing, because it does give me more time to be able to absorb more subject matter and then think about it on a deeper level. On the other hand it means that weeks go by before I actually get around to writing anything, which is a tad tardy of me and for which I can only ask forgiveness.  The reason I have decided to update the ol’ blog is because I finally got around to watching Martin Scorsese’s version of Endo Shusaku’s “Silence” (沈黙) on the weekend. My initial reaction to the film was that it certainly kept to the mood of the book, with some liberties taken in order to ensure the narrative didn’t become too stuck in existential questions on the meaning of faith.

The film did address the subject matter well, and Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver did a very good job conveying the devoted yet ultimately doomed Jesuit priests making their way to Nagasaki (or Bizen province) in the early 1600s to find out the fate of a Father Ferreira (played by Liam Neeson), a Jesuit who is reported to have abandoned his faith in the face of interrogation and torture at the hands of provincial officials.  The film (and original novel) take place in the aftermath of the Shimabara Rebellion, a Christian inspired uprising (covered in this blog) by lower caste samurai and peasants against Bakufu rule. The rebellion itself was brutally crushed, which was in part a response to the nearly two centuries of warfare that Japan had been subjected to in which religion had played a role in prolonging and intensifying the conflict.  Given that the Christian (or more accurately, Catholic) population of the Shimabara peninsula acted in defiance on central rule, the Tokugawa Bakufu was in no mood to compromise with what were regarded as lower caste rebels with affiliations with foreign powers (i.e., Portugal and Spain) and which might ultimately undermine the relative stability that the Tokugawa had imposed on Japan.

Of course the historical threads behind the edict banning the teaching of Christianity in Japan are diverse and originate further back into sixteenth century Japanese history. As to whether the average person would be aware of this background when they watch the film is unknown, but I think the context behind the novel needs to be understood if one is to get the most out of watching the film. There is a very good element of suspense and danger hanging in the air throughout the film, as you the viewer are made aware of just what sort of risk these Jesuits are taking in attempting to preserve the Christian faith of those Japanese who still consider themselves Christian and who carry out masses and confessions in secret.  Discovery can be fatal, although it does seem somewhat odd that it is the Kakure Kirishitan who undergo a majority of the suffering in the film. The existence of Catholic priests in Nagasaki, in defiance of a Bakufu edict, would itself be a cause for execution, yet these priests are kept alive and questioned, and (at least in the case of Father Rodrigues) are persuaded to apostatize .

While I can see the logic behind using former priests to persuade other Christians to abandon their faith, we (the viewers) have no idea whether this strategy actually worked, and so we are left to draw our own conclusion about its efficacy. What we are really meant to focus on is how, having abandoned their faith, these former priests have become shadows of their former selves, broken in spirit and resigned to living out their days in a land that views them with suspicion. Without giving too much away, the film also illustrates to how faith can sustain one in the most trying of circumstances and what one sacrifices in order to keep their faith. It is a profoundly spiritual film, however by running in at nearly 3 hours in length, only those who wish to learn the fate of its main characters will watch it through to its conclusion.  It can be ponderous at times, and visceral in its depiction of torture, but that violence is necessary to convey the dangers present and the degree of courage necessary to transcend it.

If I have a particular gripe about the film (apart from its length), it is the fact that you have supposed Portuguese priests speaking English but pretending they are speaking Portuguese (although they do have accents!). While the Japanese cast deliver much of their dialogue in English (which, again, is supposed to be Portuguese), the Japanese that they do use is very much in the modern vernacular. Not that there is anything wrong with this. If they spoke in the language of officialdom of the mid-seventeenth century, most contemporary Japanese viewers would have a hard time understanding what they were saying. The use of English is a bit jarring, but then again the film wasn’t sponsored by Portuguese backers or featured Portuguese actors so I suppose they could speak in whatever language they wish.    

The film is ultimately worth watching, just don’t have anything urgent to do while you do so.

    Author

    This is a blog maintained by Greg Pampling in order to complement his webpage, Pre-Modern Japanese Resources.  All posts are attributable to Mr Pampling alone, and reflect his personal opinion on various aspects of Japanese history and politics (among other things).

    弊ブログをご覧になって頂きまして誠に有難うございます。グレッグ・パンプリングと申します。このブログに記載されている記事は全て我の個人的な意見であり、日本の歴史、又は政治状態、色々な話題について触れています。

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