Yamada Nagamasa officially entered history in 1621 when he sent a set of three letters to Hidetada (ruled 1605-1623), the second Tokugawa shogun, and two of his ministers. From Ayutthaya, where he resided as the leader of the local Japanese community, Nagamasa was given authority by the Siamese monarch Song Tham to introduce a forthcoming embassy. The aim was to strengthen the commercial and diplomatic relations between Ayutthaya and Edo (today Tokyo), the seat of the Japanese shogunate.
Nagamasa’s position and his very existence in Siam was completely unknown to the ministers who received his letters. They had to turn to Suden, a Zen monk in charge of overseeing international relations for the Tokugawa, to learn about the origins of this unidentified Japanese man writing from Siam. In Ikoku Nikki, Suden recorded the following: “Yamada Nizaemon was formerly a palanquin bearer for Okubo Jiemon [or Tadasuke], and then moved to Siam, where it seems he now serves at [the Siamese] court. His name corresponds to the one on the letter addressed to our lord [Tokugawa Hidetada].”
Regarding Yamada’s name, it is not clear when and why Yamada Nizaemon added to his name “Nagamasa.” Possibly he did it in Siam, since Suden recognized him as a palanquin bearer who worked around 1610 by the name of “Nizaemon,” while the 1621 letter from Ayutthaya was signed “Yamada Nizaemon Nagamasa.”
There is no evidence regarding Nagamasa’s birth date. The best estimation, accepted by Yamada Nagamasa Kenkuyukai (an association of scholars in Shizuoka) is 1590.
Regarding Nagamasa’s birthplace, historical evidence seems to point to Sumpu (today Shizuoka). The most obvious indication comes from an ema, a votive painting, that Nagamasa sent in 1626 from Ayutthaya to the Sengen Shrine, located in Sumpu. Nagamasa had written on it “I was once a native of this kuni.” Kuni in modern Japanese means “country” or “nation,” but in the early 17th century, the term referred to the pre-modern “provinces” of Japan.
After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu became the most powerful man in Japan, the leader of the council of warlords who had previously supported Hideyoshi until his death. This dominance was confirmed on the battlefield, when Ieyasu’s factions emerged victorious from the battle of Sekigahara in 1600. After centuries of civil war, Tokugawa’s main concern was preventing further internal rebellions. One of the means Ieyasu used to such end consisted in shuffling and resizing the territories assigned to feudal lords. Accordingly, their kokudaka income (the yearly salary of a daimyo counted in koku of rice) changed as well.
Ieyasu’s policy was to weaken the domains that occupied important logistic positions by reducing their incomes. Thus, with the change of lordship, the income in Suruga province (which included Sumpu) was reduced from 145,000 to 40,000 koku. Nagamasa’s family might have suffered from such an economic slump and ultimately this might have been the reason why young Yamada Nagamasa moved from Sumpu to Numazu. This new location was still in Suruga province, but here Nagamasa found employment as a palanquin bearer for Okubo Tadasuke (who had just relocated and received a domain and a kokudaka of 20,000 after Sekigahara).
To carry a palanquin, especially one transporting an important man, was not a job just anybody could perform. Suden wrote that Nagamasa was a “rokushaku.” This is a specific kind of palanquin bearer, one who carried the private norimono (heavy, elaborate palanquins) of the early Tokugawa aristocracy. To clarify the difference between his profession and the ordinary kagokaki (smaller palanquin bearer for hire), the latter can be compared to taxi drivers, while the rokushaku were the equivalent of today’s private limousine drivers.
To achieve such a position, Nagamasa had to be a strong, reliable young man, possibly with some connections. The activity as a palanquin bearer surely strengthened Nagamasa’s body through physical exercise and probably put him in touch with other strong men. It is not improbable that among his colleagues were veterans from the late civil warring period or from the ill-fated campaign to Korea (1592-1598), who might have been inspiring companions to an ambitious young man.
Okubo Tadasuke died heirless in 1613, but by then Nagamasa had probably already quit his job and had returned to Sumpu, where the city’s fortune had turned for the good. In March 1606, Ieyasu moved to Sumpu and, with the help of his aids, he was shaping the international diplomacy and commerce of the newly unified Japan. With a population that now reached at 12,000, Nagamasa’s hometown had quickly become a bustling city.
Resources: “Samurai of Ayutthaya – The Historical Landscape of
Early 17th Century Japan and Siam: Yamada Nagamasa
and the Way to Ayutthaya” by Cesare Polenghi (p. 11-13)
