was a Japanese ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'' of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

. He served in a variety of positions in the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, including ''

Kyoto Shoshidai The was an important administrative and political office in the Tokugawa shogunate. The office was the personal representative of the military dictators Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto, the seat of the Japanese Emperor, and was adop ...

'' (1734–1732) and ''

rōjū The , usually translated as ''Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a whole; under the first two ''shō ...

''.Screech, p. 114. At some point, there was a devastating fire in

Heian-kyō Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, mov ...

while Toki Tango-no-kami held the office of ''Kyoto shoshidai.'' Shortly afterwards, a clever poem which included a play on the ''shoshidais name was widely circulated: :::''Toki mo toki'' :::''Tango no gogatsuban ni'' :::''kaji dashite'' :::''Edo e shiretariya'' :::''Mi-shoshi senban''.Screech, pp. 113–114. :::*A conventional English translation ( Frederic Shoberl, 1822): "Such is the time at present: a fire broke out in the fifth night of the fifth month. When the news shall have reached Edo, there will be numberless applicants who will harass you without ceasing." :::*A more literal English translation (Timon Screech, 2006): :::::At this very time :::::On Tango's evening :::::Fire broke out :::::Edo was informed :::::For the noble governor :::::Much

rouble The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named '' ...

Screech, p. 242 n78. The 18th century poet was Kazehaya Yoshizane, who puns "Tango" (

Tango no sekku , also known as , is one of the five annual ceremonies that were traditionally held at the Japanese imperial court called . It is the Japanese equivalent of Double Fifth and was celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth moon in the lunar calendar o ...

), one of the five main festivals of the year (falling on the 5th day of the 5th month), with the daimyo's

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

, "Tango" (

Tango Province was a province of Japan in the area of northern Kyoto Prefecture. Tango bordered on Tanba to the south, Tajima to the west, and Wakasa to the east. Its abbreviated form name was . It was also referred to as or . In terms of the Gokishichi ...

). Poetry of this sort was an element of popular culture in this period. Witty and timely word play which somehow married puns on a personal name with a current event became fashionable. It could engender broad public approval, and occasionally such poetry might even receive approbation from the emperor.

Notes

References

* Bolitho, Harold. (1974). ''Treasures Among Men: The Fudai Daimyo in Tokugawa Japan''. New Haven: Yale University Press.
OCLC 185685588
* Screech, Timon. (2006). ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822''. London:

RoutledgeCurzon Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, ...

.
OCLC 635224064
1695 births 1744 deaths Daimyo Kyoto Shoshidai Rōjū {{Japan-hist-stub