Coming Into A Fandom Late

The Honorable Death: Samurai and Suicide in Feudal Japan (part 2)

By: Martini Fisher

Source: https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/honorable-death-samurai-and-suicide-feudal-japan-005822

Oh, Anon tsk tsk tsk 🤦‍♀🤷‍♀🤷‍♂🤦‍♂

You shipping reylo is ok but you writing anything is not. Have you read your own writing? That Secret Santa fic was such a trash, even the garbage men won't want to pick it up. People have talents, but you certainly don't have that for writing or anything. Good thing you seem like your a rich girl and there are things you can afford but forcing yourself to write? Just give it up already. Met us all have a good Christmas. Spare us!!!!

Hello! Thank you for your feedback and thank you for taking the time to read the fic I wrote even if you thought it was trash. As far as writing is concerned, I never said I was any good at it but I certainly think I'm not that atrocious. Thank you for being a fan and for being concerned about my well-being. I wish you a Happy Christmas and hope that you continue to give me feedback on whatever it is I do because you seem to know better and I really respect your wise counsel. 💕

Love and light. 💕

Is Oda Nobutaka's death poem historical? If so, why isn't it brought up more often? It seems like a pretty damning condemnation of Hideyoshi for Honnoji.

In the first place you were mistaken: It has absolutely nothing to do with Honnouji. Nobutaka’s death poem was tied to the succession conflict after Honnouji. Despite the Kiyosu Conference concluding with the decision of electing Sanboushi (Nobutada’s son) to become the new clan head, Hideyoshi did things that offended Nobutaka, and war was waged.

The actual poem:

昔より主を討つ身の野間なれば報いを待てや羽柴筑前

mukashi yorishū o utsu mi noNoma narebamukui o mateyaHashiba Chikuzen*

If it must be Nomawhere men killed their lordin ancient days,await your own comeuppance!Hashiba Chikuzen (Hideyoshi)

I’m assuming you were talking about this “lord” in the poem. This referred to the Heian era samurai Minamoto no Yoshitomo, who was betrayed by his vassals and died in Noma. He was buried in the very same temple Nobutaka committed seppuku. So this “lord” reference doesn’t mean Nobunaga, but Nobutaka himself.

Tokugawa vassals’ communication in the following year also had referred to Nobunaga’s sons as Hideyoshi’s “lords”. A letter sent out by Sakakibara Yasumasa condemned Hideyoshi for being ungrateful to his former masters, as he was “not satisfied with killing just one lord” (Nobutaka), but is now also trying to go after the other one (Nobukatsu). 

About whether or not the death poem is REAL, it’s entirely debatable. There’s two different poems recorded, and the second one does not mention Hideyoshi at all.

たらちねの 名をばくださじ 梓弓 いなばの山の 露と消ゆとも

Translation/interpretation for this cannot be found. For what it’s worth, the parts I do understand say this: “Mother’s name [ばくださじ]/Cherry birch bow/The dew of Mount Inaba fades”. 

Both poems are found in Edo era records, and no contemporary copies were ever discovered so far. There’s no way to verify that this is an accurate copy especially if it’s second-hand documentation***. 

Part of the reason for it to be considered “weird” is because the one who ambushed Nobutaka and brought the order of seppuku was his own brother Nobukatsu. Why would Nobutaka be angry at Hideyoshi and not his brother? There’s a bit of difficulty in determining what Nobukatsu’s status here, but at any rate, it can’t be immediately assumed that Nobutaka is upset with Hideyoshi because his brother is for some reason serving Hideyoshi. 

There’s a possibility that while bringing down the order Nobukatsu said bad things about Hideyoshi, but there’s also a bigger chance that the poem itself is recorded wrong or fake.

***) This matters because the Shinchoukouki, considered the most reliable account of Nobunaga, is also technically an Edo-era record (compiled in 1600s). However the author Ota Gyuuichi is an eyewitness, so the text is considered mostly accurate due to being a first hand account. The only problem being that if this was written much later, he might have forgotten the specifics, or got details mixed up

“Totalitarianism begins in contempt for what you have. The second step is the notion: ‘Things must change—no matter how, Anything is better than what we have.’”

— Hannah Arendt, “Interview with Roger Errera”, The New York Review of Books (26 October 1978)

11 Self-Defense Techniques (That Even A Child Could Use)

Yasu is willing to wear hamster outfit as long as MC gives him a lot of ichigo daifuku...

(Mild Spoilers) Thug Life: 🐶&🙊

H: Want me to off your bully, bro?😎

I: WTF! MAN!?😨

(paused, and then thought that was actually a good idea…)

I: Fine, let’s do it.😡

BETTING ON THESE BOIS :)

Hey, man:

They tried to say that abolishing chattel slavery would ruin the economy.

They tried to say that outlawing child labor would ruin the economy.

They tried to say that the 8-hour day would ruin the economy

They tried to say that a minimum wage would ruin the economy

They tried to say that health and safety regulations would ruin the economy

Have we noticed a pattern yet?

YouTube Channels for Writers

The Closer Look: While this channel is primarily dedicated to the story telling in movies that doesn’t mean you can’t translate a lot of these story telling mechanics into writing. The video in the link covers how to make a compelling villain with one of my favorite villains of the DC Universe, so give them a look.

Extra Credits: Just like the last entry, this one doesn’t have much to do with writing novels or fiction. Rather, Extra Credits covers game design a lot of the time. But they also cover how to write the stories for those games and offer some interesting insight. Couple this with their other segments Extra Sci Fi and Extra History, and you have the makings of an amazing tool kit for writers of any medium.

Overly Sarcastic Productions: There is not enough praise I can throw at this channel. Anything from Trope Talk to Miscellaneous Myths and even Classics Summarized is able offer something to even the most seasoned writer. Just like Extra Credits too, they also cover a bunch of historical stuff too. Which, as a history buff myself, is always a plus.

Tale Foundry: By now, i’m sure you’ve gotten the theme. All of these channels are amazing, but this one is more writing focused then the rest thus far. The channel dedicates itself to taking a closer look at genera and sub-genera and the big players therein. It gives the audience a chance to take a look at these things under the microscope for an easier means of dissection for their own work.

Hello Future Me: I found this channel when I was scrolling through YouTube randomly and found their video on Writing a Hard Magic System and it gave me plenty of food for thought on the fantasy novel I was working on. They go on to cover a Soft Magic System which was able to really draw the line in black and white as to the difference between the two. From there, the channel has been able to offer a few good videos on matters of writing fiction and one that comes with a recommendation for me.

PlagueOfGripes: This one, you’ll need to take with a grain of salt as the host is a little rough around the edges. While he primarily covers art streams and other shenanigans like that, he did a three part video essay on writing that had quite a bit to teach. I personally found his cynical nature to be charming and funny, but if that isn’t your thing, maybe pass him by just this once.

All the links to the channels are located in their respective titles.