‘Long-held Traditional Desire’ Author: Saigo Takamori
Dating back to the Meiji era (1868-1912), donated by Mr. Yusuke Homma
Saigo Takamori (1828-1877) (pen name Nanshu), was one of the “Three Great Nobles of the Restoration” along with Toshimichi Okubo and Takayoshi Kido.
During the Boshin War (January 1868-June 1869), the people of the Shonai domain respected and befriended Saigo, acknowledging the generous way in which he handled the Shonai clan, which fought the new government right to the last.
The writing you see is thought to be a Chinese-style poem that Saigo Takamori presented to his cousin, Iwao Oyama, when the latter departed for Ou during the Boshin War in 1868, the first year of the Meiji Era. It outlines a lesson of victory and defeat, namely underlining how a single strategy can sustain a hundred generations, but the slightest error can cost many soldiers’ their lives.