National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

This letter by Emperor Goyozei (1571-1617) remonstrates the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-98) for dispatching his own troops to Korea in 1592 (Bunroku 1). The emperor tries desperately to persuade Hideyoshi not to send his troops across the sea and to "restrain" [from the attack] for the sake of the imperial family and the entire country. The highly dignified brushwork fills two sheets of large-sized Japanese paper (J., ootaka danshi) and reflects the calculated symmetry between the characters and blank space to achieve a sense of originality. The emperor was twenty-two at the time he wrote this missive.