Letter from Tokugawa Iemitsu

Edo Period (Exact date unknown)

Donated by the Homma Family

Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651) was the third shōgun of the Edo Shōgunate, and the second son of the second Tokugawa shōgun, Tokugawa Hidetada. In addition to establishing the system of Sankin-kōtai​ (in which samurai lords would have to alternate being in residence in the capital of Edo and in their own domains each year) and contributing to the organizational structure of the Shōgunate, he also illegalized belief in Christianity. He also set up what became known as the sakoku system, in which Japan entered official self-isolation and forbade the entry of foreign vessels from any nation save those of the Dutch and the Chinese.

This letter, handed down the generations, is said to have been written in the hand of Tokugawa Iemitsu. Because both the date and the addressee are missing, the details regarding this letter are uncertain, but we can understand that the writer was overjoyed at receiving a gift of two wonderful palomino horses.