March 19th 1592 (Bunroku 1)
Tangible Cultural Property, designated by Sakata city, “Futaki Documents”
Donated by the Homma family
This is a certificate issued by Natsuka Masaie (1562?–1600), one of the five magistrates of the Toyotomi family, to Mogami Yoshiaki, Hashiba Dewa Chamberlain and a powerful daimyō in the Tohoku region.
Known as a kasho, this document was a type of passport or shogunal passage documents used to ensure its bearer enjoyed free passage. It shows that Yoshiaki’s ten sailing vessels within his territory were allowed to dock at any port. A kasho was typically allocated to a single vessel, so it is thought that there were originally ten boats.