Yoshida Shōin (1830–1859)
Lament for Shibuki Matsutarō
Ink on paper, hanging scroll
With box authentication by Nomura Soken
Seals: Jitsugetsu yoshi; Norikata
23.5 x 32 cm
94 x 42 cm (overall)
Further images
Literature
Yoshida Shoin ibokujo. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1951.
We parted at the posting station
In a hurry, we could not talk enough
We were each locked in separate prisons
And we each heard nothing of the other
We were like fish who once traversed worlds and swallowed ships
Yet who now struggle in small ponds half a furrow in size
The caged bird has lost its home
Yet it never forgets the times it flew with its flock
In the morning and the evening the drum always beat out the time
Yet I never knew when I could meet you again
Though I could only meet you in dreams
When I heard news of your passing, I naturally could not believe it
Why had I not foreseen it?
We were first separated in life, and now we are separated by death.
The neat, upward-sloping strokes are smudged in places, as if to express the writer’s inconsolable sadness. Yoshida Shoin wrote this lament after hearing how Shibuki Matsutaro had died in prison in 1855 (Ansei 2). Shibuki Matsutaro’s real name was Kaneko Shigenosuke. When Commodore Perrys’s ‘Black Ships’ appeared for the second time in Uraga Harbor in 1854 (Ansei 1), Shibuki, a fellow samurai from the Choshu domain, was the only one among Shoin’s retainers who joined him trying to stow away on the ships.
Following the shock of Perry’s arrival, Shoin and others had resolved to travel abroad to gain first-hand knowledge. This is why Shoin and Shibuki rowed a small boat to Perry’s ships and asked to board. In the end, though, their petition to be taken overseas was refused. When their actions came to light, the two men were arrested for violating a national ban on foreign travel. They were sent back to the Choshu domain. The authorities there took a very dim view of their actions, with the two men subsequently imprisoned. Shoin was interred in relatively comfortable conditions at Noyama Prison. Shibuki was of a lower status, though, so he was locked in a dungeon at Iwakura Prison, with the two men separated. Shibuki became seriously ill while under escort, but he did not receive proper treatment and he passed away on the eleventh day of the first month, 1855.
It seems Shoin was particularly fond of Shibuki. In Yushuroku, his account of the reasons behind his stowaway plans, Shoin describes Shibuki thus: “He had a weak disposition but a blazing, indomitable look in his eyes. He was always special to me and I always told him of my intentions.” Shibuki was overjoyed when he heard about Shoin’s plan and he intended to be the first one to make the crossing. Shoin could not bear the thought of this loyal man imprisoned and lying sick, all because he had followed Shoin. It is said Shibuki was not allowed to change clothes while on route, so Shoin took off his own coat and passed it over. Shoin continued to show concern and write words of encouragement while in Noyama Prison, but Shibuki eventually passed away without the two men meeting again. A grieving Shoin then called out to his friends to memorialize Shibuki’s life and prepare an elegiac poem in order to express their inconsolable sadness and sense of mourning.
Yoshida Shoin (intellectual, educator; 1830–1859)
Born in Choshu as the son of a low-ranking retainer, Shoin was adopted into the Yoshida family and served as a military adviser to the Choshu Domain. Since 1851, he stayed in Edo and studied under the military scholar Sakuma Shozan. The following years to his death he was involved in the political turmoil surrounding the arrival of Commodore Perry in 1853 and steady disintegration of the shogunate. He operated a private school while under house arrest, extolling the restoration of imperial power and expulsion of foreigners (sonno joi) and teaching future leaders of the Meiji Restoration such as Ito Hirobumi, Takasugi Shinsaku and Yamagata Aritomo. Shoin was executed during the Ansei Purge in 1859.
In a hurry, we could not talk enough
We were each locked in separate prisons
And we each heard nothing of the other
We were like fish who once traversed worlds and swallowed ships
Yet who now struggle in small ponds half a furrow in size
The caged bird has lost its home
Yet it never forgets the times it flew with its flock
In the morning and the evening the drum always beat out the time
Yet I never knew when I could meet you again
Though I could only meet you in dreams
When I heard news of your passing, I naturally could not believe it
Why had I not foreseen it?
We were first separated in life, and now we are separated by death.
The neat, upward-sloping strokes are smudged in places, as if to express the writer’s inconsolable sadness. Yoshida Shoin wrote this lament after hearing how Shibuki Matsutaro had died in prison in 1855 (Ansei 2). Shibuki Matsutaro’s real name was Kaneko Shigenosuke. When Commodore Perrys’s ‘Black Ships’ appeared for the second time in Uraga Harbor in 1854 (Ansei 1), Shibuki, a fellow samurai from the Choshu domain, was the only one among Shoin’s retainers who joined him trying to stow away on the ships.
Following the shock of Perry’s arrival, Shoin and others had resolved to travel abroad to gain first-hand knowledge. This is why Shoin and Shibuki rowed a small boat to Perry’s ships and asked to board. In the end, though, their petition to be taken overseas was refused. When their actions came to light, the two men were arrested for violating a national ban on foreign travel. They were sent back to the Choshu domain. The authorities there took a very dim view of their actions, with the two men subsequently imprisoned. Shoin was interred in relatively comfortable conditions at Noyama Prison. Shibuki was of a lower status, though, so he was locked in a dungeon at Iwakura Prison, with the two men separated. Shibuki became seriously ill while under escort, but he did not receive proper treatment and he passed away on the eleventh day of the first month, 1855.
It seems Shoin was particularly fond of Shibuki. In Yushuroku, his account of the reasons behind his stowaway plans, Shoin describes Shibuki thus: “He had a weak disposition but a blazing, indomitable look in his eyes. He was always special to me and I always told him of my intentions.” Shibuki was overjoyed when he heard about Shoin’s plan and he intended to be the first one to make the crossing. Shoin could not bear the thought of this loyal man imprisoned and lying sick, all because he had followed Shoin. It is said Shibuki was not allowed to change clothes while on route, so Shoin took off his own coat and passed it over. Shoin continued to show concern and write words of encouragement while in Noyama Prison, but Shibuki eventually passed away without the two men meeting again. A grieving Shoin then called out to his friends to memorialize Shibuki’s life and prepare an elegiac poem in order to express their inconsolable sadness and sense of mourning.
Yoshida Shoin (intellectual, educator; 1830–1859)
Born in Choshu as the son of a low-ranking retainer, Shoin was adopted into the Yoshida family and served as a military adviser to the Choshu Domain. Since 1851, he stayed in Edo and studied under the military scholar Sakuma Shozan. The following years to his death he was involved in the political turmoil surrounding the arrival of Commodore Perry in 1853 and steady disintegration of the shogunate. He operated a private school while under house arrest, extolling the restoration of imperial power and expulsion of foreigners (sonno joi) and teaching future leaders of the Meiji Restoration such as Ito Hirobumi, Takasugi Shinsaku and Yamagata Aritomo. Shoin was executed during the Ansei Purge in 1859.