Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s Letter to Tokugawa Ieyasu

I’ve written a fictionalized letter from Hideyoshi Toyotomi to Ieyasu Tokugawa. I hope you enjoy reading it.

 

Hello, Mr. Tokugawa. I’m Hideyoshi Toyotomi, and I’m very embarrassed to have the opportunity to write to you like this. It’s a crisp spring day, and as I sit here under the cherry blossoms in the garden, thinking about the past, I realize that although it’s all in the past, our relationship has been a strong one.
Our reputation in Japan is quite good now. In the year 2023, the people of Japan have three favorite historical figures: Oda Nobunaga, you, and me. Let me tell you a funny story. There’s a story made up by the people living in 2023: If the cage doesn’t cry, how will the three of us cope? Oda Nobunaga would say that we don’t need a bird that doesn’t cry, so he would cut it with his sword, you would wait for it to cry, and I would do whatever it takes to make it cry. Haha! Isn’t this a funny story? As I tell it, I am reminded of the events of the past. The battles on the battlefield, the sudden death of Oda Nobunaga, the glorious unification of Japan, my son Hideyori. It is all useless to talk about the past, but I am a straightforward man, as you know, and in this letter I want to tell you my true feelings.
I came from a lower class background, but after being chosen by Nobunaga, I served him as his subordinate, and have come to where I am now. Before I came under Nobunaga, I traveled the country as a needleworker with the little money my father had left me. I was not well-liked by the people, and if I did not receive their pity, I would starve to death. So I had to consciously abandon the dark side of my nature and pretend to be cheerful and bold. When people called me a monkey, I made myself look even more monkeyish. When I first came to Nobunaga’s service, I once put my lord’s straw boots in my arms to keep them warm. Considering my humble origins, I envied you, the son of a noble family, but the reality was so cold that it didn’t matter where you came from. We both knew that to conquer the heavens, it was all about wit and strength.
Do you remember our first confrontation? Nobunaga had died, and a council was being held to choose a successor. Your eldest son Nobutada was dead, and you thought it was only right that the younger son should carry on the family name, so I recommended Hidenobu, Nobutada’s son. But Nobukatsu, the second son, the actual heir, was a problem for me, and I tried to get rid of him by any means necessary. Nobukatsu was as stupid as I thought he was, and he believed the rumors I spread. In the end, he killed his own henchman with his own hands and came to you for help, though it may have served your cause in the end.
This is how our war first began. Although the battles of Komaki and Nagakute were your victory in terms of the battles themselves, I used one political and diplomatic stunt after another to isolate you. War is a battle of attrition, isn’t it? Military conflict involves many elements, and in that respect you won the local battle, but lost the grand war. But what I really wanted was to make peace with you. I did everything I could to make peace with you, first forcing my half-sister Asahi to divorce me and send her to you. My vassals objected to the idea of sending my sister to someone of lesser rank than me, but I did as I was told. But you showed no sign of coming up to Osaka. So I sent my mother as a hostage, my last resort. It was my last card, my last resort. I still planned to go to war with you if you were not willing to make peace with me, and I was determined to do so. Eventually, you entered Osaka, and as promised, you gave me an example of good behavior. Eventually, I was on the verge of unifying all of Japan except for two regions, Ou and Dogoku.
I heard that you had given your second daughter in marriage to the Hojo family, who ruled in the Kanhatsu region, and I wanted to test you, to see if you would follow my will. You pleaded with the Hojo family to save your daughter, but the foolish Hojo father and son refused to listen to you. In the end, you took the initiative, and the result was that Hojo Ujimasa and Hojo Ujinori were declared dead, and your son-in-law, Hojo Ujinao, was sent to live in hiding in the mountains.
As things were going so well in my favor, I must have grown senile. I was on the verge of establishing an oriental empire encompassing China and India and conquering the world. I was so overwhelmed by my success that I lost the ability to think objectively. As a result, I became overly ambitious and invaded Korea for seven years starting in 1592 under the pretext of “securing a bridgehead to invade the Ming Dynasty,” only to be soundly defeated. Looking back, it seems that you were against this war of aggression from the beginning. Of course, those who followed me would have dreamed of a life of literal luxury, being granted vast territories in Joseon or Ming, but you saw through the futility of it with your keen intuition. It was during this war that my son Hideyori was born. I was 57 years old. Already old, I could see nothing but my son. My wish to leave Hideyori a secure position of ruler became an obsession.
At the end of the war, the morale of the Japanese army plummeted, and the rivalry between the expeditionary and residual generals grew so intense that they began to turn against each other. I fell further and further into a downward spiral, and the situation became irreversible. Eventually, I became frustrated and anxious, and by 1598, I was bedridden, physically and mentally incapable of recovering. In the end, I made a tearful appeal to my vassals with Hideyori by my side, and I remember that you were present. I was still uneasy, so I had him write a blood testament, and I closed my eyes. After my death, the invasion of Joseon came to an end, and the confrontation between the militants and the bureaucrats intensified. Ishida Mitsunari, the bureaucrat, felt the crisis and tried to save his organization by keeping Hideyori in power at all costs. The news of Mitsunari’s great army united you with the daimyō of the Shogunate, and the Battle of Sekigahara began. For you, the battle was won, for you had already made connections with several daimyō and received promises of cooperation. So Mitsunari lost the battle, and you won the day. It was a war between my supporters and your supporters, and your forces defeated mine, and thus began your Edo Shogunate.
It is with great emotion that I look back on this past history, 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.

Yours sincerely, Toyotomi Hideyoshi.