Mid- to Late-Edo Period (18 – 19C)
Yōzan Uesugi (1751-1822) was the 9th Feudal Lord of the Yonezawa Domain. He made his name as a great ruler and spearheaded what were successful efforts to reform the feudal administration. His
calligraphy is an excerpt taken from a passage in the Analects of Confucious [君子喩於義, 小人喩於利]
meaning: ‘Nobles consider things in terms of righteousness; those of lower class look at how to
gain from things.’ Yōzan signs it under the pen name ‘Fuji Harunori’, with the ‘Fuji’ short for ‘Fujiwara’. This reflects the fact that ‘Fujiwara’ was, in fact, the real family name of the Uesugi clan.