Chapter 19: The Dawn of the 17th Century, Its Promises and Its Passings
While Nobunaga had stayed in Iriebashi, Nobuhide had proposed to him the idea of a diplomatic mission to Manila in the Spanish Philippines. Nobuhide wanted to establish trade relations with the Spanish, especially in the Philippines. A convinced Nobunaga gave Nobuhide permission to pursue such a plan.
Shortly after Nobunaga left for Sakai, Nobuhide, accompanied by three ships, sailed to Manila as a representative of Azuchi. He would meet with Francisco de Tello de Guzman, the Spanish Governor of the Philippines, who described Nobuhide in his journal as a “straightforward, dashing young lad who was very knowledgeable in commerce, diplomacy, and technology”. Guzman was impressed by Nobuhide’s grasp on Spanish and especially with his fluency with Portuguese and even with Europe overall, Nobuhide himself having closely studied the writings from the Tensho embassy of 1582 [1]. Later, the Governor would even leave a warning in a letter to the Viceroy of New Spain, stating “with men like him, the land of Cipangu could be our ruin in the East”.
Painting of Manila dated between 1617 and 1619
Nobuhide, through these talks, successfully cemented the spurring of official Spanish-Japanese trade relations, especially between the Yamato realm and the Philippines. While there, he even managed to visit the Japanese enclave in Manila that had sprung up since the implementation of the red seal system. Knowing of the proliferation of other “Japan towns” across Southeast Asia, Nobuhide began brainstorming ideas on incorporating these enclaves into the greater Japanese economic and political network.
Nobuhide’s breakthroughs in the Philippines in 1596 and 1597 would bear much fruit down the road for Japanese economic and political interests. Sadly, the man who made it possible would not live to see it. On his way back to Iriebashi, Nobuhide’s ships were caught in a vicious tropical storm, and the vessel he was on shipwrecked on the eastern coast of Bireitou. None of the crew survived, including Nobuhide, although the other ships managed to track down the site and retrieve the documents and personal writings he carried with him. He was only 26 when he tragically perished.
Nobuhide’s death sent shockwaves throughout Bireitou, and a grand funeral was organized, with merchants, samurai, and even aboriginal tribal leaders coming to pay their respects to the fallen founder of Japanese Bireitou. A Buddhist temple, Shinshu-ji (信秀寺), would be built in his honor in Iriebashi itself.
In Azuchi itself, Nobuhide’s sudden death sent shockwaves and drove Nobunaga especially into despair. Posthumously, Nobunaga’s ninth son Nobutaka (織田信高) would become Nobuhide’s adopted son and succeed him in Bireitou.
After further negotiations, Spanish ships would start flowing into Japan from Manila in 1599, shortly before the arrival of another European trading partner onto the scene. In 1600, the Dutch ship De Liefde anchored off Kyushu, carrying both a sickly and a wealth of goods, including 19 bronze cannons. Initially, Portuguese Jesuits on site to meet the Dutch attempted to have them executed on the account of them supposedly being “pirates”. However, the Dutch would be taken in by the Shimazu clan, who found a vested interest in these new Europeans staying alive and telling their story. Their captain, an Englishman named William Adams, would tell Yoshihisa and Nagahisa the story of the ship’s journey from the Netherlands across the Pacific and how the expedition originally consisted of 4 ships as well as the intentions of the Dutch.
Portrait of William Adams
Eventually, upon both Nobutada’s order and the personal request of Adams, the Anglo-Dutch entourage arrived in Azuchi and had an audience with Nobutada, Nobunaga, and the Sangi-shu, where he divulged similar information regarding his travels. To Kuki Yoshitaka specifically, he also shared his knowledge on nautical mathematics and shipbuilding. News regarding Adams spread rapidly across the realm and overnight he became the most sought after European in the entire realm.
The landing of the De Liefde paved the way for trade relations between the Dutch as well as the English to be formalized in 1605 [2] and 1613 respectively. Notably, the Shimazu clan as the first receivers of the Dutch forged a special relationship with them and enticed them to give Kagoshima special attention as a trading outpost to counter the Portuguese’s historical monopoly and friendships in northern Kyushu, particularly with the Kirishitan daimyo. The dawn of the 17th century thus arrived with much commercial and maritime promise.
During this time, Nobunaga’s usually outgoing and blunt personality had become more reserved after the passing of both Nobuhide in 1597 and then lifelong favorite Hashiba Hideyoshi in 1598, the last of the big 5 generals from the days of the Oda unification wars to be still around. To his deathbed, Hideyoshi remained jovial and thankful to the master who had promoted him from a peasant to one of Japan’s most powerful people as Nobunaga himself lay by his side reportedly with tears in his eyes. Nobunaga still maintained some presence in Azuchi but had almost completely removed himself after those painful losses. His demeanor, however, rebounded somewhat when he beared witness to the birth of his great-grandson between Nobunori and Konoe Sakiko in March 1601, the future Oda Nobutomo (織田信朝).
Spring saw Nobunaga visit his old Kiyosu Castle where his journey towards realizing his ambitions had begun 50 years earlier. On a sunny afternoon on June 2nd, he was sitting outside near one of the castle’s gardens with his wife Nouhime (濃姫). According to later writings, he reportedly was admiring an old tree when he stood up, his right arm extending outwards towards the tree, and remarked,
“オオーあそこに蝮がいるぞ、猿も、平手も、皆が待ってる” (Ooo-The viper is over there, so is the monkey, Hirate as well, everyone’s waiting) [3]
As Nouhime lightly chuckled at what seemed to be an odd comment, Nobunaga’s eyes closed as he collapsed. By the time Nouhime reached him, the fool of Owari [4] lay still on the ground, a last satisfied smile still etched on his face.
He was 67.
A golden statue of Nobunaga in Gifu
[1]: The Tensho embassy was a 1582 Kirishitan embassy of 4 young Catholic samurai to Europe organized by the Jesuits and sponsored by Kirishitan daimyo Otomo Sourin, Omura Sumitada, and Arima Harunobu. The embassy went all the way to Rome and met the pope while also having an audience with King Philip II of Spain, recording their observations and being the first unofficial representatives of Japan in the Western world. They came back in 1590. While IOTL, they almost had no impact in the long run, their writings ITTL are read more widely by merchants and samurai and are cited more often. However, the religious nature of the embassy and the fact that Sumitada and Sourin are dead when they come back still means the embassy still does little directly in affecting diplomatic relations between Europe and Japan.
[2]: Greater Japanese interest and supports results in trade relations being formalized 4 years earlier than IOTL.
[3]: The viper refers to Saito Dousan (斎藤道三), a previous ruler of Mino province and Nobunaga’s father-in-law who served as a inspiration for Nobunaga, the monkey refers to Hideyoshi (it was his main nickname), and Hirate refers to Hirate Masahide (平手政秀) who was Nobunaga’s guardian and had committed seppuku soon after Nobunaga became Oda clan head because he felt that he had failed him. Nobunaga later built a Buddhist temple in honor of him (政秀寺).
[4]: Nobunaga’s old nickname as a teenager due to his delinquency that lasted until right after Masahide committed seppuku.
