Toyotomi Hideyoshi rose from humble beginnings to earn the trust of Oda Nobunaga and succeeded in unifying Japan, but his overweening ambition led to a disastrous invasion of Korea, and he died in loneliness and frustration in his later years. Eventually, he formed an alliance for his successor Hideyori, but his legacy was destroyed by Ishida Mitsunari’s great army and the Battle of Sekigahara, which marked the beginning of the Edo Shogunate.
Greetings. I am Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and it is with great embarrassment that I write to you, but now, on this crisp spring day, beneath the cherry blossoms in the garden, I am thinking of the past, and how fortunate we have been to have such a strong bond.
Our reputation in Japan is quite good now. Oda Nobunaga, you, and I are the favorite historical figures of the Japanese people living in the year 2024. I have a funny story. It’s an anecdote made up by the people of 2024 about what the three of us would do if the two dogs in the cage didn’t cry. Oda Nobunaga said he didn’t need a bird that didn’t cry, so he would cut it with a knife, you would wait until it cried, and I would comfort and soothe it in any way I could to make it cry. Haha! Isn’t that a funny story? Now that you mention it, it brings back memories of the past. The battles on the battlefield, Nobunaga Oda’s untimely death, the glorious unification of Japan, and my son Hideyori. It’s pointless to rehash the past, but as you know, I’m a straightforward man, and in this letter I’ll tell you what’s on my mind.
I came from the lower classes, but I was chosen by Nobunaga and served him as his subordinate, which is how I came to be where I am today. Before I met Nobunaga, I traveled the country selling needles with the little money my father had left me. I was forced to abandon my dark side and pretend to be cheerful and bold, as I knew I would starve if I didn’t win people’s favor, and that was the lesson I learned. When people called me a monkey, I looked even more monkey-like. When I first came to Nobunaga’s service, I even put my lord’s straw boots in my arms to keep them warm. Considering my humble origins, I envied you for being born to a noble family, but we both knew that it was wit and strength, not birth, that won the day.
You remember our first confrontation, when Nobunaga died and a council was held to choose his successor. You thought that since your eldest son Nobutada was dead, the younger son should carry on the family name, but I recommended Nobutada’s son Hidenobu. However, the younger son Nobukatsu, the actual heir, was a nuisance to me, so I concocted a plot to get rid of him. Nobukatsu was predictably stupid and believed the rumors I spread. In the end, he killed his own henchman and came to you for help, so it must have been a good cause for you.
Thus began our war. You won the local battles of Komaki and Nagakute, but I used political and diplomatic maneuvers to isolate you. War is not just a military conflict, is it? So you won the local battles, but lost the larger war. But what I really wanted was peace with you, and I did everything I could to make it happen, first by forcing my half-sister Asahi to divorce and send her to you. The vassals objected to sending my sister, but I was determined. Still you did not come to Osaka, so as a last resort I sent my mother as a hostage. This was my last trump card, my last ditch effort, and you can imagine how great my determination was, for even then I was prepared to go to war if you did not comply. Eventually you entered Osaka, and I set an example of karmic justice. I was on the verge of unifying the whole world except for two regions, Ou and Dogoku.
I heard that you had given your second daughter in marriage to the Hojo clan of Kanhatsu, and I wanted to test you, to see if you would follow my will. You pleaded with the Hojo clan to save your daughter, but the Hojo were too stupid to listen to you. Eventually you took the lead, and the Hojo Ujimasa and Ujinori committed suicide, and your son-in-law, Ujinao, retreated to the mountains.
Everything was going so well that I became senile. I tried to conquer the world by building an oriental empire that would encompass China and India. I was so overjoyed by my success that I lost my objectivity, and in 1592, under the pretext of “securing a bridgehead to invade the Ming Dynasty,” I invaded Joseon for seven years, only to be defeated. In hindsight, I realize that you were opposed to this war from the beginning, but you remained obedient to me. Of course, those who followed me dreamed of a life of luxury by being granted territory in Joseon or Ming, but you saw through the futility.
During the war, my son Hideyori was born, and at my age of fifty-seven, I was old enough to see nothing but my son. My desire to leave Hideyori a secure position of ruler became my obsession. With the end of the war, the morale of the Japanese army plummeted, and dissension grew between the expeditionary and residual generals. I fell deeper and deeper into a downward spiral, and in 1598 I was bedridden, physically and mentally incapacitated. With Hideyori by my side, I made a tearful appeal to my vassals. I remember you were present, but I was still uneasy, so I had them write a blood oath. Afterward, I closed my eyes. After my death, the invasion of Joseon was over, and the confrontation between the militant and the bunkan factions intensified. Ishida Mitsunari, a member of the literati, felt threatened and tried to hold on to power with Hideyori at the center. But Mitsunari’s great army united the daimyo with you, and the Battle of Sekigahara began. For you, victory was already assured. In the end, Mitsunari was defeated and you were victorious. It was a war between my supporters and yours, and your forces completely destroyed mine, thus beginning your Edo Shogunate.
It is with great emotion that I look back on the past, a time when we both fought for our own beliefs and goals. I admire your determination and wisdom, and I hope that we can now put aside our differences and work together for a better future for our descendants.
