One humorous section I like was from the Chapter about Ieyasu taking control of the Kanto region after the defeat of the Hojo clan by the coalition forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi which included Ieyasu's armies. Hideyoshi awarded the Hojo lands to Ieyasu as both a reward as well as to remove the powerful Ieyasu farther from Hideyoshi in central Japan. The provinces awarded to Ieyasu by Hideyoshi actually made Ieyasu the largest landowner in Japan, larger then Hideyoshi himself.
The humorous part of this chapter comes from the following excerpt:
One day Hideyoshi went out with Ieyasu, who was in charge of the main army there, to inspect the castle of Odawara. Taking Ieyasu's hand he said: "See, we shall soon overthrow the Hojo now, so I promise you as your fief the eight provinces of the Kanto." "Good. Let's piss on the bargain, then," replied Ieyasu, and the pair of them went over toward the castle and pissed together. So to this day the children speak of them as the 'Pair of pissers on the Kanto' (Kanto no tsureshoben).
I am not sure what references Sadler used to obtain this information but it was humorous none the less.
This kind of deal making was referenced in a few places in Shogun.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I have never read Shogun. Maybe I should.
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