Apprenticeship Contract

Introduction

When approached by Maestro Guidobaldo Marco Odo Romeo d’Aquila regarding apprenticeship he spoke of an apprenticeship contract. I began researching contracts of fealty in Muromachi Jidai Japan. The contracts, called Kishomon, were made between retainers and their lords. Kishomon like most government documents of the period are written in Kanbun, Classical Japanese rendered in Classical Chinese. These documents were exchanged, the retainer sent an oath to his lord, and his lord sent a response.(Documents of Iriki, 136-138) In later periods, these oaths would be signed in blood; As is still done in Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu. The ones included in the Iriki-In house document collection do not appear to be signed in blood. (See images below)

Format

Based on the several kishomon that I have been looking at from the Historiographical Institute at the University of Tokyo; The format of the contract appears to relatively fixed. There is a declaration of intent to serve, followed by a statement regarding communication about accusations directed at the lower ranked person, and ending with a declaration of the gods whose wrath would smite the breaker of the oath. (Documents of Iriki, 136-138)

Things of Note

There are a few notable things which became apparent to me when researching these documents. The first of which is the difference in the amount of writing between the higher ranked, and lower ranked individuals. Compare the two lines of text below: The first is written by the lower ranked person, and is translated to mean roughly the same as the second, written by the lord.

“一三ヶ国雖如何様転変、無二可申合旨、得其意候、御親父重豊年来叮嚀
之儀、殊去一乱之時、甚深之御志、父子共ニ自今以後、弥可被懸御意
子細専一候、如然之御心中之時者、一段他ニ異申談、御大事を身之大
事と可存事、”
Translation: “That whatever changes may occur in the three kuni, I will, as heretofore, serve the lord with single [devotion] and without a second thought;“

“一三ヶ国如何様ニ雖転変、無二ニ可被成御志之由承候、我等も世中雖如
何様之子細候、無二ニ可申談事、”
Translation: “That I acknowledge [your oath] that whatever changes may occur in the
kuni you will entertain (kokoro-zasu) toward me single [devotion]; and that I, will, Whatever may happen in the world, consult you with single [faith];”

As is clear in the comparison while the lord in the second piece of text says more in translation he uses fewer characters. This is in part because he is writing down the rank structure. Classical Japanese often appends honorific suffixes, and auxiliary verbs to phrases when you are speaking to someone higher ranked than yourself, which adds to the amount of writing done by the lower ranked person¹.

Another interesting thing which became apparent looking at these texts in detail was that the retainer’s oath/letter is written in the form of what is known as a heraldic letter. Heraldic letters are letters written from a lower ranked person to a higher ranked person, always presented through an intermediary.(Lamers and Rodriguez, 37-42)

“御使川上又八郎殿”
“Shinjō Murata Hizen no kami dono” (Lamers and Rodriguez, 39)
Translation: “Respectfully presented to Murata Hizen no kami dono.” (Documents of Iriki, 137a)

This oath was sworn to Shimazu Tadamasu (Takehisa at the time), but as you can see in the translation above the letter was presented through Murata Tsuneyasu, a chief councilor of Tadamasu.(Documents of Iriki, footnotes regarding 137a and b) This is because the distance between Shigetoyo’s (the retainer) and Murata’s ranks is smaller than the difference between Shigetoyo’s and Shimazu’s ranks, which ensures that the letter gets to the right person, while not being rude to someone who outranks you.

Materials:

• Washi 14 1/2” x 27 1/4” (cut in half widthwise)
• Sumi-e ink
• Calligraphy brush
• Ruler
• Pencil

Process:

I started by finding the exemplars that I used. The Documents of Iriki have a few fealty contracts, which I used for the majority of the text. Also available through the Historiographical Institute at the University of Tokyo, is the transliteration of the Sōsho style calligraphy which the originals were written in. Sōsho is a cursive style of calligraphy, which is difficult to read, so the transliteration was necessary. As well, they provide an English translation.

I took the transliteration and translation, and tried to translate the kanji myself. There were some kanji for which this was easy, and others where the sentences did not make much sense. I approached one of my co-workers Tzu-I Chung Curator of History specializing in Chinese History as it relates to British Columbia, and asked her if she could help me to figure out how the Chinese Characters relate to the translation. She provided me with a break down of where the lines of characters and the translation relate to each other.

I used that break down to figure out what I needed to change to make it more appropriate for an apprenticeship contract as opposed to the fealty contract of a retainer to a lord. I found the Kanji which was being used for ‘Lord’ and made a note to replace it as necessary, with the phase Master Guido and I decided on, to refer to him.

Next, I practiced writing out the lines of text repeatedly until I felt comfortable writing it out on washi. I then wrote out the letter on the final piece of paper.

Difference from Period Practice:

I set up something like a light table, so that I could project a grid on the paper. I did this so that I could write out the Chinese character text out in dictionary form. The original texts were written in a cursive form which doesn’t require even spacing. I wanted the kanji to be as legible as possible.

Another key difference between my text and the original texts is that the original writers would have a better understanding of Classical Chinese, as well as Classical Japanese. I am studying Modern and Classical Japanese, but my understanding of these ancient kanji is not very good. In addition these kanji proved difficult to find in dictionaries, and in addition the sentences very often did not make much sense when you translated the kanji verbatim. I was able to find specific Kanji which I needed to change to make the verbiage more in line with what was agreed upon.

Texts Used:

137a:

“OATH.
”That whatever changes may occur in the three kuni, I will, as heretofore, serve
the lord with single [devotion] and without a second thought;
“That my mind has several times been expressed to Murata dono, and that there
remains naught else; and
”That if a calumny or an evil report should [arise], I beg that [the lord] deign
to tell me of it and I be permitted to utter my thought.
”If these statements be false, […(The names of deities)… .]
”Bun-mei 13 y, kanoto ushi, 6 m. 23 d. [19 July 1481].
Shimotsuke no kami, Shigetoyo.
”Respectfully presented to Murata Hizen no kami dono.”

137b:

“Pledge.4
”That I acknowledge [your oath] that whatever changes may occur in the
kuni you will entertain (kokoro-zasu) toward me sigle [devotion]; and
that I,
will, Whatever may happen in the world, consult you with single [faith];
P296
”That I acknowledge [your statement] that you will be ever more loyal toward
me; and that since you are of that mind, I will regard your important affairs as my
own, and we will mutually rely and be relied upon; and
”That if, despite this understanding, a calumny or an evil report should arise, we
would mutually explain ourselves with complete frankness.
”If these statements be false, the punishments of
the Ten-sho Dai-zhin Gu, of Ise,
the Gon-gen of the three places of Kumano,
the Great Bodhisattva Sho Hachiman,
the Ten-man Ten-zhin, and
the Great Myo-zhin Upper and Lower Suwa,
would be visited [upon me].
”Ten-myo 13 y., kanoto ushi,5 6 m. 23 d. [19July 1481]. Takehisa, monogram.
”Iriki-in dono.”

My Text:

OATH.
”That whatever changes may occur in the kuni, I will, as heretofore, serve
the master of swordsmanship with single [devotion] and without a second thought;
I will regard the master of swordsmanship’s important affairs as my own, and we will mutually rely and be relied upon; and
That if, despite this understanding, a calumny or an evil report should arise, we
would mutually explain ourselves with complete frankness.
”If these statements be false, the punishments of
the Ten-sho Dai-zhin Gu, of Ise,
the Gon-gen of the three places of Kumano,
the Great Bodhisattva Sho Hachiman,
the Ten-man Ten-zhin, and
the Great Myo-zhin Upper and Lower Suwa,
would be visited [upon me].

Eishō 14th Year 6th Month 12th day [30 June 1517]

Works Cited

Lamers, Jeroen Pieter., and Rodrigues João. Treatise on Epistolary Style: João Rodriguez on the Noble Art of Writing Japanese Letters. Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2002.

Shirane, Haruo. Classical Japanese: a Grammar. Columbia University Press, 2005.

“THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL INSTITUTE THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO.” The Documents of Iriki, Historiographical Institute The University of Tokyo, 1997, www.hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/IRIKI/eng_index.html. At this site, you can view photographs of the original documents, the printed version of the original documents edited by The Committee for the Publication of Dr. K. Asakawa’s Works, and Asakawa’s great labor,the English translations with his commentary.

Footnotes

1. There isn’t a specific page in Shirane’s Classical Japanese: A Grammar where this is found. But, it is throughout the book. ↩