The Road to Kyoto

All three of Japan's unifiers attempted to merge secular strength with spiritual authority, with varying degrees of success. After his death, however, Tokugawa Ieyasu would continue to be venerated by future shoguns as a shining avatar of Buddha watching over the nation from the heavens.

Near the beginning of the Edo Period, a samurai from Sendai Domain in Tohoku took a globe-spanning journey which took him across two oceans and included Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, and the Philippines.

While some Ronin chose to lay aside their swords and take up artisinal crafts, some found new purpose in teaching the way of the warrior to the next generation. Miyamoto Musashi embodied the twilight of the Sengoku samurai in walking the path of dueling, teaching, creating, and ultimately leaving a legacy of strategy, tactics, and wisdom.

In this episode, we discuss the founder of Kabuki theatre Izumo Okuni, playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon, legendary sculptor Hidari Jingoro, poet Matsuo Basho, and the birth of Ukiyo-e painting.

Here is a link to a short film about Hidari Jingoro (CONTENT WARNING: EPIC STOP-MOTION VIOLENCE): https://youtu.be/DpefYPLH67A?si=qpVZHtEncVs9WnPT

After the brief reigns of Tokugawa Ienobu and his young son Ietsugu, the Bakufu selected a new shogun from the Kii Branch of the Tokugawa Clan. Tokugawa Yoshimune inherited a national government in the midst of multiple crises and introduced the Kyoho Reforms to try and set the ship of state back on its proper course.

The Early Edo Period was a time of newfound stability for the formerly chaotic Japanese archipelago. Although the samurai were the official ruling class of the nation, however, in many ways they were not the principle beneficiaries of the new national status quo.

The tenure of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was marked by a fervent support of Neo-Confucian reforms, some of which were extremely radical and some of which were downright wacky. It was during his reign that the events surrounding the tale of the forty-seven ronin occurred.

The Kings of Joseon were faced with many difficult decisions throughout the 1600s as their nation faced Manchurian invasion, internal military coups, and a tumultuously factional political class.

As the Ming Dynasty faced utter collapse in the face of famines, plagues, and peasant rebellions, the Qing Dynasty of Manchuria would surge and, eventually, take its place as the ruling dynasty of China.

Under pressure from outside and within, the Ming Dynasty of China gradually lost control after a series of famines, plagues, and peasant rebellions. By the early 1600s, however, the Later Jin Dynasty began to take charge after unifying Manchuria and soon set its sights on claiming the Mandate of Heaven for themselves.