Boom.
Thunder reverberates through the stone walls.
Yusai looks at the box, concerned for the writings within.
He knows the castle can’t hold forever against the cannons.
Yusai couldn’t care less about the castle, or his own life.
But he must keep the secrets in those pages alive, somehow.
Hey guys, today’s video is light on art because I’ll be on a trip.
It was a choice between having no video this week, or creating a quick one with less art.
I chose the latter.
People often told of a story about how the swordsmith Yukihira created his blades.
It went like this.
One day, a young man visits Yukihira’s shop.
The man says, “A group of thugs exiled me from my village, please forge me a sword so
that I may exact revenge on my enemies.”
By this time, Yukihira is already old and his body aches, but he creates the sword anyways
and shoo’s the little brat away.
A few days later, the young man returns, a big smile on his face.
“Your sword is superb!
I cut down the thugs with ease!
Please allow me to return the favor by being your assistant, I will take no coin for my
labor.”
The young man turns out to be a quick student, soon creating blades with the skill of a veteran
swordsmith.
When his master is struck by illness, he works with an unheard of speed and forges dozens
of blades, signing them all with his master’s name, Yukihira.
He then says to Yukihira, “Master, you are old and should not exert your body so, lest
you become ill again.
I have forged you enough blades to sell for a lifetime.
You will not want for money ever again.”
Touched, Yukihira thanks his disciple, who then disappears in front of his eyes.
From that day forth, when selling a sword, Yukihira would say that it was created by
a demonic god, and it cuts like one.
One of Yukihira’s swords became a cherished possession of the man we talked about at the
beginning.
This sword would later be known as the Kokin Denju no Tachi.
The man was Hosokawa Fujitaka.
He was a daimyo and a poet, who went by the pen name of Yusai.
He was the ideal cultured man, a master of martial arts, literature, the tea ceremony,
poetry.
Someone your mom would love for you to bring home already.
Shortly before the famous battle of Sekigahara, the military commander Ishida Mitsunari took
15,000 men and laid siege to Tanabe Castle.
Yusai got stuck defending the castle for the Tokugawa with a fearsome force of five...
hundred men.
He was screwed, is what I’m saying.
But Yusai was honor bound to protect the castle.
His heart laid elsewhere though.
What he really wanted to protect were the documents in that box.
He did not want them to fall into the wrong hands.
What was so important?
More important than his castle or even his life?
Poetry.
The documents recounted teachings and interpretations of poetry.
Now you may be thinking Yusai needs to stop being a little bish and defend his castle,
but perhaps you’ll change your mind after you hear about these documents.
Back in the old days, the Japanese took their poetry seriously, no joke.
In many ways, the way of the pen was on par with the way of the sword.
People would get together and have long discussions on poems and interpretations and hidden meanings.
We do a similar thing with TV shows today, just multiply the arguments by 100 and add
tea.
There were deep rivalries between followers of competing ideas, similar to the rivalry
between people on one side who thought Game of Thrones Season 7 was terrible, you know
it, just admit it!
Admit it!
And people on the wrong side who thought it was good.
Different schools of poetry often kept their teachings secret, only passing them on to
the worthy.
So they ended up having these secret teachings passed down for generations, similar to how
martial arts schools passed down secret techniques.
Yusai was the recipient of one of these secrets, called the kokin denju.
There was a collection of poetry created in the Heian Period called the Kokinshu.
It was a big deal at the time because it marked a shift away from Chinese culture.
Before, the Japanese poets wrote in Chinese.
With the Kokinshu, they wrote in Japanese.
The kokin denju refers to the transmission of the secret teachings and interpretations
of the Kokinshu.
This usually happened among the aristocracy.
Passing on the secrets from one person to another involved a whole ceremony consisting
of oral teachings and written teachings.
Therefore, the kokin denju resided in the documents that Yusai owned and in his own
head.
The documents were not the poems of the Kokinshu, but the interpretations of the poems.
By Yusai’s time, the kokin denju had been passed down for 700 years, and the number
of people who knew its secrets was down to one:
himself.
Yusai negotiated to hand over some of the documents he had to the Emperor, so the Emperor
sent an envoy to the castle that included several notable poets.
He passed down the kokin denju to one or more of these poets.
It’s not clear how many he taught though.
Yusai was a respected poet, and everyone urged him to surrender rather than die, but he refused.
Upon hearing of his stubbornness and receiving the documents, the Emperor issued an edict
forcing Yusai to surrender.
This time, Yusai complied.
He was actually relieved that his secrets were in good hands and gifted his beloved
sword to one of the poets the Emperor had sent: Karasumaru Mitsuhiro.
The sword earned the name of Kokin Denju no Tachi, or the Sword of the Kokin Denju.
It is considered a National Treasure of Japan.
It exists now in a museum in Tokyo.