ABSTRACT
On the 26th day, 9th month of Kyoho 6 (1721) an edict of Yoshimune was read to the assembled fudai-daimyo. The third article is entitled ‘That the Peace of the World is due to the Divine Virtue of the Gongen.’ 1 It reads: ‘That I myself and all of you have met with a period of peace, in which the empire is well-ordered, and that we live in ease, is solely due to the divine virtue of the Toshogu. Is it not something to be grateful for? Moreover, that you all now live in ease on account of the meritorious military service of your ancestors, and that your fathers and ancestors have obliged you with their military favour – how could you take this lightly?’ We could of course say that these are pious sentiments, and that the gist of the edict lies in the strictures it contains against hiring too many 332commoners instead of employing warriors, against the misgovernment of the fiefs and against the fudai not setting an example to the tozama-daimyo. The references to the Toshogu no shintoku etc. could be taken as an oblique way of reminding the participants of the fact that none of them would have been present at this occasion if their ancestors had lost at Sekigahara and Osaka.
