Item ID: 10351 Manuscript on fine thick torinoko (eggshell) paper, entitled “Bukyō Yōryaku” 武經要略 [“Abridged Essentials of the Military Classics”]; title at the beginning of text: “Bukyō yōryaku kaden no maki 家傳卷 [“Scrolls of Our Family Tradition of the Abridged Essentials of the Military Classics”]. Yoshikata 宇佐美良賢 USAMI, attributed author.

USAMI, Yoshikata 宇佐美良賢, attributed author.

Manuscript on fine thick torinoko (eggshell) paper, entitled “Bukyō Yōryaku” 武經要略 [“Abridged Essentials of the Military Classics”]; title at the beginning of text: “Bukyō yōryaku kaden no maki 家傳卷 [“Scrolls of Our Family Tradition of the Abridged Essentials of the Military Classics”].

Manuscript on fine paper. Each page with a border of silver pigment; each column of text with silver borders. Numerous finely hand-colored illustrations, heightened with gold & silver. 16 vols. of notebooks (230 x 153 mm.), each bound in retchoso (or butterfly) style with fine silk over semi-stiff wrappers, inside endpapers decorated with metallic clouds. [Japan]: mid- to late Edo period.

A beautiful and luxurious manuscript on the art of war from Tokugawa Japan. From the early 17th to the mid-19th century, the political structure of Japan was a shogunate headed by the Tokugawa family, who controlled much of the country directly. The rest of the country was administered by feudal lords who owed allegiance to the Tokugawa. All of these lords, big and small, were nominally warriors, or samurai, as their ancestors had been before national unification. As our manuscript reveals, these samurai families retained a warrior ethos and a body of military knowledge, which they passed down through the generations.

The first chapter contains sections on military commands, prohibitions, meritorious conduct, death and wounds in battle, and rewards. The second chapter treats the training and qualities of a samurai. For a member of a warrior family to become samurai, “as a child, he does not wantonly [play with] the sword, horse, spear, and bow. These should be practiced in the proper order. If he then still has energy left over, he studies widely in writings and ceremony, reads military texts, and might aspire to the complete military way.” The chapter continues with sections on flags and drums, stirring up dust on the battlefield (we think), smoke and fire, rainy weather, and tides.

In Chapter Three, we read about marching and advancing through difficult terrain. Various diagrams show the formations assumed the army assumed on marches.

Chapter Four discusses the numbers of troops necessary and military encampments. Waiting for the moment to move or stay put, and choosing the moment to attack a castle or enter into a naval battle are covered in Chapter Five. Another section discusses equipment: wooden and leather shields, “sleeve shields” (shūjun 袖楯, “made from cow leather and steel plates”), bamboo shields, iron shields used for carriages, arrows, torches, ships and “pirate boats,” etc.

The “great essentials of a brave fight” are covered in Chapter Six, along with fighting small, large, and strong enemies, etc. The discussions continue in Chapter Seven and Eight, with sections on attacking, holding a castle, advancing across water in boats, and so on.

Chapter Nine begins with the “methods of a general” and continues with other topics. Chapter Ten covers the qualities of a brave warrior. Chapter Eleven contains, among other topics, a section on military horses. The final chapter, Twelve, deals with various cosmological considerations, such as the five euphonic sounds of music and the calendar.

The last two bundles of notebooks contain “biographies” (denki 傳記). In the first of the two, we find a partial genealogy of the Takara clan, followed by excerpts from Nihon shoki 日本書紀 [The Chronicle of Japan], an ancient historiographical work. The last bundle continues with what we believe is an account of a branch of the clan with the name Usami 宇佐神, written by Sumida Korekatsu (?) 隅田是勝.

The illustrations, except for various diagrams, are found in the second bundle.

The Library of Congress and NIJL attribute the authorship of their copies to Usami Yoshikata 宇佐美良賢. One of the volumes in our manuscript contains the indication that it is narrated by the Takara 高良 clan.

Fine copy, preserved in a wooden box (a little defective). Some browning and a little worming, which we do not find offensive.