Ishin SÅ«den
Ishin SÅ«den (ä»¥å¿ƒå´‡ä¼ 1569–1633) also known as Konchiin SÅ«den, was a Zen Rinzai monk and advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu, and later to Tokugawa Hidetada and Iemitsu on religious matters and foreign affairs. He played a significant role in the initial development of the Tokugawa shogunate.
Life
SÅ«den oversaw the administration of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in the country alongside Itakura Katsushige, and was involved in a great many diplomatic affairs along with advisors Hayashi Razan and Honda Masazumi. SÅ«den made his home at the Konchi-in temple he founded in Sunpu, and founded another one by the same name in Edo in 1618. He was abbot of Nanzen-ji in Kyoto.[1]
SÅ«den played an important role in negotiations with the Chinese Ming court over the reopening of trade and the problem of piracy. SÅ«den was also involved in communications with the Spanish authorities in Manila and with the Kingdom of Siam.[1] He was instrumental in organizing and receiving Korean embassies to Japan. He drafted a great many communications during this period, some of the more notable ones being rejections of the notion that the shogun should be referred to as a "king" (王, Å), as this would imply subordination to the Emperor of China and tributary status within the Sinocentric world order.
Among his other works was the draft in 1615 of the Buke shohatto, which he then read at an assembly of daimyÅ at Fushimi, and the draft of the edict banning Christianity in the previous year. In 1616, he oversaw the funeral services for Tokugawa Ieyasu, along with priests Tenkai and Bonshun.
SÅ«den compiled all the diplomatic records of his period of service into the Ikoku nikki (Chronicle of Foreign Countries).[1] He authored the HonkÅ kokushi nikki (Chronicles of Master HonkÅ[2]), both of which remain valuable primary sources on the nature of diplomacy of the time, and on specific events.
Selected works
- å½±å°æœ¬ç•°å›½æ—¥è¨˜: 金地院崇ä¼å¤–äº¤æ–‡æ›¸é›†æˆ (Eiinbon Ikoku nikki: Konchiin SÅ«den gaikÅ monjo shÅ«sei; Register of Foreign Affairs). Tokyo: Tokyo Bijutsu. ISBN 978-4-808-70544-2; OCLC 21946525
- 新訂本光國師日記 (Shintei HonkÅ kokushi nikki (Chronicles of Master HonkÅ). Tokyo: Zoku Gunsho RuijÅ« Kanseikai. OCLC 41561229
Notes
- 1 2 3 Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric et al. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia, p. 381.
- ↑ EnshŠHonkŠKokushi was a title bestowed upon him by Emperor Go-Mizunoo in 1626.
References
- Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 48943301
- Toby, Ronald. (1984). State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05401-8; OCLC 9557347
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