Age of Samurai

Hideyoshi with some of his wives and concubines during his cherry blossom viewing party of 1598 at Daigo-ji Temple, Kyoto. By Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)

More Tales of Japan’s Warlords – and their Women

II – Hideyoshi, His Wife Nene and His Hundred Concubines

‘Your beauty grows day by day. Tokichiro complains about you constantly and it is outrageous. While that bald rat flusters around trying to find another good woman, you remain lofty and elegant. Do not be jealous. Show Hideyoshi this letter.’

So speaks the unexpectedly kindly … Read more

Oda Nobunaga, depicted by the Jesuit missionary Giovanni Nicolao. This is undoubtedly a nineteenth century fake but I like it anyway

Tales of Japan’s Warlords – and their Women

I – Oda Nobunaga and Nohime

Every Japanese schoolchild knows the story about the warlords and the nightingale. Three men are in a garden when a nightingale lands on a branch. They wait expectantly, hoping to hear its beautiful song. But the nightingale stubbornly refuses to sing. What should they do about it? ‘Kill it,’ … Read more