Yodo Yamauchi · Tosa
Original
即事
Yodo Yamauchi's Chinese-style poem, "即事籬菊花開又値秋金波凸處酒如油即今". Read the original Japanese, translation, meaning, and historical background. Beyond Yodo's boldness, the poem contains tension around coastal defense and awareness of the world.
Person
Lord of Tosa and one of the Four Wise Lords, interested in coastal defense and shogunate reform. Yodo's intelligence and pride stand at the edge between old-domain politics and the forces that would dissolve it.
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Translation
Autumn chrysanthemums bloom and moonlit waves rise like oil; who now will decide coastal defense, as I calmly study the globe by candlelight?
Poetic Shape Kanshi draws on a classical Chinese poetic tradition, where restraint, allusion, and moral tension carry much of the weight. The poem sounds formal, but the pressure beneath it is personal.
Reading
Beyond Yodo's boldness, the poem contains tension around coastal defense and awareness of the world. It also makes an interesting contrast with Shozan through the globe.
Background
A Chinese poem written by Yamauchi Yodo in the Ansei period, as coastal defense became urgent. It reveals the political self-consciousness of one of the wise lords of the Bakumatsu. Lord of Tosa and one of the Four Wise Lords, interested in coastal defense and shogunate reform.
Source / Transmission Wording and readings may differ by transmission; this page treats the text as one circulated form.
Further Reading
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