Nozoki Yoshimasa
1794 (Kansei 6)
Donated by the Homma family
Nozoki Yoshimasa (1735–1803) was a retainer of the Yonezawa clan, and served as head secretary to Uesugi Shigesada, the eighth daimyō of Yonezawa Domain. This diary and drawings are from his visit to Sakata between July 19th and August 9th 1794.
He stayed in Sakata for around ten days, in order to directly give thanks to the Homma family for their generous financial aid towards rural development. It seems that Mitsuoka (Kyushirō), the third-generation head of the Homma family, took Yoshimasa to various sights in town, as he visited Sannōsha (Shimo-Hie Shrine) and watched the sunset from Hiyorioka (Mount Hiyori), where one of the oldest directional stones in Japan is located today.