Scholarship and Religion

Lately I have been having increased interest in scholarship and the study of religion.

In my reflection on life, I have actually penned down my thoughts.

"Life is like unto a long journey with a heavy burden. Let thy step be slow and steady, that thou stumble not. Persuade thyself that imperfection and inconvenience are the natural lot of mortals, and there will be no room for discontent, neither for despair. When ambitious desires arise in thy heart, recall the days of extremity thou has past through. Forbearance is the root of quietness and assurance forever. Look upon the wrath of the enemy. If thou knowest only what it is to conquer, and knowest not what it is like to be defeated, woe unto thee; it will fare ill with thee. Find fault with thyself rather than with others."

"The strong manly ones in life are those who understand the meaning of the word patience. Patience means restraining one's inclinations. There are seven emotions: joy, anger, anxiety, adoration, grief, fear, and hate, and if a man does not give way to these he can be called patient. I am not as strong as I might be, but I have long known and practiced patience. And if my descendants wish to be as I am, they must study patience."

I believe that one must accept one's mortality in that one can never be perfect. Because one cannot be perfect, one should strive to fix their imperfections and faults instead of pointing out the flaws in others. It is okay to be defeated, because even in defeat, one can learn something valuable; these things cannot be learned if all one does is win. People who work hard to overcome their lackings also learn to become patient with oneself, as they take control of their emotions and do not let them get the better of themselves.





As for religion, I have been keeping the buildings atop Mount Kuno in good maintenance. I shall leave it in my will that I be buried at the peak of the mountain when I die and have a shrine erected there to mark my burial spot.


_{my handprint, taken at Mount Kuno}

Hobbies

One of my favorite pastimes is takagari, or as foreigners call it, falconry. I spend much of my spare time practicing this skill, because it provides great training for those who want to be warriors.

"When you go into the country hawking, you learn to understand the military spirit and also the hard life of the lower classes. You exercise your muscles and train your limbs. You have any amount of walking and running and become quite indifferent to heat and cold, and so you are little likely to suffer from any illness." (Sadler, p.344)

You can clearly see how falconry would help on the path to becoming a fit warrior, don't you?

I have even set aside areas of land as takaba, or falconry fields, where the sport will be restricted to. Different ranks of samurai and daimyo will be allowed to hunt certain fowl and prohibited from hunting others. This is a great way of displaying one's authority and position in society.

Here is a great introduction to falconry that might interest you:

_{credits: sedafire}



I also enjoy swimming. It serves as a great way for increasing stamina. I even swim in the moat of Edo Castle.



Lastly is my interest in kenjutsu. When translated from Japanese, this means "the art of the sword," which is what the Japanese call our traditional sword fighting arts. Obviously, for a warrior, proper knowledge of kenjutsu is both helpful and prestigious as it goes to one's status as one who wields a sword. My interest in kenjutsu skills has served me in ninety battles!

In return for how this has aided me, I am a patron for the Yagyuu Shinkage-ryu school of swordsmanship. Several teachers there are my personal instructors, for which I am very grateful.

An example of Shinkage-ryu's teaching:

_{credits: mekugi}

Eradication of Foreign Trade

At first, I had only decided to remove the Catholic missionaries from our country. However, I realized that it would also be prudent to expel most foreign influence in order to keep Japan true to its original culture and religion. After all, all of the European merchants who come to trade with us are also followers of this heathen religion. If they were to remain, then there would be no guarantee that our people would remain Shinto in religion. It would be horrible if the foreigners' religion, Christianity, were to continue tainting the minds of the Japanese people.



Already there have been too many victims to the foreigners' brain washing. The peasants are especially susceptible to the idea of this God who knows everything and can give one a pleasurable after life. Though I understand how they might need to hold on to the ridiculous idea of a life better than the one they have now, that is not good enough a reason for them to turn their backs on the gods that have kept them safe for so long.


_{(the so-called "Path to Heaven")}

It is because of the possibility that these remaining European merchants would continue to poison the mindset of the Japanese people that I have decreed for the abolition of most trade and contact with the foreigners. All of our trading posts shall be closed except for two major trading posts at the island of Hirado and at Nagasaki.



In addition to the mass closing of most of our ports, I have also decided to allow one group of foreigners to stay. These people call themselves the Dutch. Unlike the Spanish and the Portuguese, who are so religiously infatuated that they had not had the good sense to keep their trade interests and their "mission to spread their teachings" separate, the Dutch have abstained from doing exactly that. Therefore, I believe that they do not deserve the treatment given to other foreigners.



That being said, they will only be allowed to keep up their trade with us under extremely strict regulations. The Dutch will come no more frequently than once a year, and when they do come, their ships will stay for no longer than a duration of two to three months. By using these laws, I hope to limit our foreign contact enough that this fad for Christianity will die down.

Eradication of Missionaries

Foreigners have been coming to Japan for a while now. They've brought amazing inventions like clocks, tobacco, glasses, which is why we welcomed them so warmly. We've traded for their weapons, which are considerably more advanced than ours. Europeans have what they call "guns" and "cannons," which are weapons that can fire projectiles at speeds that can tear your enemies apart. Needless to say, using these is extremely effective in conquering enemy lands and taking control. We've also began reconstructing our castles to resemble those of Europeans. The arrival of foreigners has given us a chance to completely revamp our military doctrine and architecture. Therefore, we've received them with open arms for helping Japan advance so far.



However, along with the tradesmen, there have been missionaries as well. The first of them came in 1549 and succeeded in converting many of our people to their religion. His name, if I remember correctly, was something like Francis Xavier. Foreigners have such strange names.



Their religion is called Christianity, or Catholicism - it seems that some of them have split their beliefs, even though they worship the same God. Their God is apparently omnipotent and capable of absolving the sins of His followers if they truly repent. This is a far cry from our own Shinto religion, in which we worship figures of natures that contain gods within them.



The problems started when these missionaries began interfering with the system of Japanese politics. As a result, I purged my country of missionaries and issued permission to persecute those who had turned against their real gods and instead embraced a foreign God. Already, there has been a Kyushu uprising that we have had to suppress. Hopefully this will be the end of blasphemy in my country.