#date terumune

[samurailoveballadhistory]

Are there any notable hostage rescues in the sengoku period?

Whether you're thinking of the "Ieyasu held hostage by Imagawa" situation, or "bad guys kidnapped my family, call the SWAT, guns a'blazing rescue" like in Hollywood movies, the short answer is "probably no".

In the Ieyasu kind of case, you're not supposed to rescue the hostage. Hostages are "collateral" that are given up as tokens of sincerity between clans for some kind of deal to prevent or stop war. Either one clan is surrendering to the other, or two clans exchange hostages. If someone tries to snatch back the hostage, then the deal is off and war is back on. That would just completely defeat the purpose of sending a hostage in the first place.

The "hostage" is treated more like a guest, and not as a prisoner, so generally speaking there's nothing to worry about. Still, the only way this kind of hostage can be "rescued" is if someone managed to defeat the clan that's holding the people "hostage". Again with the Ieyasu example. With Yoshimoto dead at Okehazama, in simple terms, Ieyasu was "freed" to go back home (it's not actually this simple, but I'm not going to go into that here).

The closest thing you have to the "bad guys kidnapped my family" situation that is high profile is Masamune's father being snatched by a rival clan, the Nihonmatsu-Hatakeyama. The reason why this doesn't count is because he wasn't rescued. He got killed in the hubbub that ensued when the Date chased after them, and accounts of the why and how varies.

If there are other instances like this, I can't think of any off the top of my head.

[odaclan]

Did Nobunaga receive a pink hawk?

They say hawks are one of the good luck items for New Year, so I have a hawk story this time.

About a few years ago I found a transcript of Nobunaga’s letter to Date Terumune that was saying that he was pleased to have received a rare tokitaka「鴾鷹」 from Terumune. The explanation says that 鴾 is another spelling for 鴇 (also read as “toki”), which means a Japanese ibis. Tokitaka 鴾鷹 is then interpreted as a hawk with the colour of a “toki”. Traditionally, the colour of toki is understood to be pink.

When I looked this up, I was only able to find a citation to Okuno Tadahiro’s compilation and analysis of Nobunaga-related documents (織田信長文書の研究) and not the actual text. I imagine this analysis was quoted from that book. 

At that point I put it aside because it’s just so bizarre (a pink hawk? Really?), and I can’t find a copy of Okuno’s book that isn’t incredibly costly. The digitised copy was also locked, and only viewable in the physical computers in the Japanese National Library, so I cannot verify.

Well, there’s an updated analysis of it that I found, whereupon someone actually showed the actual letter and transcribed the word differently:

According to this new analysis, the hawk is actually described as 鴘鷹 (presumably pronounced “hentaka”). This actually refers to a young hawk, approximately two years old. This is more straightforward, and makes a lot more sense.

Alas, looks like there were no pink hawks. 

鴘 and 鴾 indeed looks very similar, so it’s not strange for someone to have misread the text.

[arlome]

(Fashionably Late) Snippet Sunday

Yes, I know, I know - it's Monday... But, in my defence, yesterday was Tisha Be'Av and I was too busy mourning for the destruction of our Temple to post :P

So, without further ado, here's the snippet!

“You honour us with your words, tono,” Uncle replies, bowing formally. “Our boy here can be a tad too studious, you see. His sister and I were quite worried he’d end up a stuffy bureaucrat.” 

This time, the flush on Kojuro’s cheeks has nothing to do with the drink and everything to do with his uncle’s lack of restraint. If only the man would keep his damned mouth shut! 

Terumune-sama reaches over and slides a warm hand down the back of his neck and squeezes softly.

“I’d say there’s very little chance of that happening,” he says, smiling warmly through a haze of mild drunkenness. “Kagetsuna has a firm hold on his sword, a good aim with his bow, and a fine head on his shoulders. Now he only needs to grow into his body, and the Date army will have a fine commander on the field.” 

“T-tono…” Kojuro breathes, quite taken with the compliments. He can’t recall when last he’d been praised so openly. 

“A fine young man, indeed,” Ibano-done adds and downs another cup. “Bontenmaru-sama will surely benefit from his company in the future.”  “I have no doubt,” Terumune-sama agrees and picks up another tokuri, wrist poised for pouring. “Here, Kagetsuna, drink up, my boy.”

[wildwardance]

terukoju kiss

[buddy-anon]

:,) family

[foreversunshine-love]

💖 I love the Oshu Clan soooo much 💖

BONUS:

❤ I hate her, her brother, and their clan soo much ❤

[daeva-agas]

The Shinchoukoki says that Terumune sent Nobunaga falcons and two prized horses in 1575, and then more falcons in 1577, and I could not for the life of me find WHY he did that. I didn’t think anyone else from the Mutsu province cares enough to send presents too, so.... I dunno, man. 

Also, Gyuichi is usually careful to note where so-and-so person comes from, but in this case he just said “Lord Date from Far North”. Like... I don’t get it, are they so irrelevant that Gyuichi couldn’t be assed to write down where the Date comes from? Or is that just how those area are referred to in the old times (just like Chugoku)?

I don’t have the patience to try Google-Translating Japanese stuff at the moment so more research has to wait another day =___=  And I have no idea when exactly did Bontenmaru lost his eye, so... whatever. The pictured Nobunaga spawn can be whichever of his oldest 3, it doesn’t matter.

[quincette]

AAAAHHHHHHHH I WANNA ROMANCE TERUMUNE-SAMAAAAAAA, KATSUIE AND HIROMASA AND OYAMADA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH