Progress report on the antique documents in the tea house

As a follow-up to the salvage of the antique paper doors in the tea house, I got a progress report on the vintage documents hidden inside the paper doors. With the approval of Mr. Matsuda, the author and expert of the town, I’ll post my abridged translation of the report, adding some notes.

The progress report: Research on the antique documents contained in the paper doors in the tea house

INTRODUCTION

A tea house called "Geishun-an" (*1), which was built in the Meiji era, still stands in Oyodo Town, Yoshino District, Nara Prefecture. Supposedly, Mr. Sakujiro OKITA (1843-1901) from the town built it.

The Oyodo Board of Education has been researching a series of documents that had stiffened fusuma (Japanese paper doors) (*2), which were temporarily transferred from the owner of the tea house since July 2020. Among them, 33 documents were examined and the followings are the results.

*1) The name translates as a tea house for welcoming spring.

*2) According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusuma), "In Japanese architecture, fusuma are vertical rectangular panels which can slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a room, or act as doors. … They consist of a lattice-like wooden understructure covered in cardboard and a layer of paper or cloth on both sides. They typically have a black lacquer border and around finger catch."

1. ANTIQUE DOCUMENTS

26 of 33 documents are issued in 1877 as requests for business licenses. The businesses included making and/or trading of paper, tiles, household goods, hot water pots, tabs, and other antique tools, as well as carpentry and restaurant business. The applicants were the residents of some villages, which are located in today’s Yoshino Town and Higashi Yoshino Village, and at the time belonged to the "Sixth Sub-district, Fifth Great District, Yamato Province" under Sakai Prefecture in Osaka at that time (*3). The tea house and the Mayor's Office were situated in the same village in the sub-district until 1889. 

The requests were addressed to Viscount Atsushi SAISHO, the governor of Sakai Prefecture, and the office. The villages along the Yoshino River are likely to have been active in papermaking. Following the examples in which paper materials to be disposed of were used for reinforcing paper doors from the backside, the paper doors were probably produced after May 1877.　

*3) Geographical names under the local administrative district system, which was in operation from 1872 to 1878.

2. OTHER MATERIALS

A sheet of newspaper, Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun of 1876, was also used as a lining for the sliding doors. Though it has been torn into pieces, the words "February 1876" are readable. The newspaper was first published in February 1872, and is now called "Mainichi Shimbun" (*4).

There are three sliding paper doors, each of which has Chinese poems inscribed on its surface. They are left in the form of fragmentary pieces as well, but we can see the words "Mizunotomi Kishun" (*5). The year is 1893. Besides the documents inside the paper doors, an inscription relating to Mr. Sojuro KAMINISHI, who died in August 1914 at the age of 82 was left in Geishun-an. 

*4) Japan’s oldest daily newspaper, with a roughly 2.4 million circulation a day.

*5) Mizunotomi indicate a year in the Sexagenary cycle; Kishun does late spring.

3. BIRTH YEARS OF THE PAPER DOORS AND THE TEA HOUSE

The sliding doors were stiffened by the antique documents dated mainly 1876 to 1877, and decorated with Chinese poetry written in 1893. Therefore, it is safe to assume that they were first produced as part of the interiors of the tea house between 1893 and January 1901, i.e. the year of the death of Mr. Sakujiro OKITA.

He was elected to the House of Representatives in August 1894. It is believed that he devoted himself to national politics and formed a good relationship with Marquess Shigenobu OKUMA (*6). After the Diet dissolution in December 1897 (*7), Sakujiro handed over his family estate to his son, Genichiro, and enjoyed the rest of his life in peace. "History of Oyodo Town" issued in 1973, says he built a "saloon for the public (commoners)" on the mountain behind his house in the village in his later years. This probably refers to the tea house in question.

To sum up, I assume the tea house was built between 1898 and the spring of 1900, in his very last years. We will explore further clues as we continue to examine the documents.

*6) OKUMA Shigenobu (1838 to 1922) was a prominent statesman, serving as the Prime Minister of the Empire of Japan in 1898 and from 1914 to 1916. 

*7) The second Cabinet of Prince MATSUKATA Masayoshi dissolved the Diet, getting stuck on the political management after the resignation of Okuma as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a pillar of the Cabinet. However, since the beginning of the Japanese parliamentary system, the Diet has been dissolved almost every few years, and the political impact is smaller than in other countries.

SAMPLE DOCUMENT TEXTED

(lines)

   1         Application for papermaking business permit

   2         The Sixth Sub-district, Fifth Great District, Yamato Province
   3         Natsumi Village, Yoshino County
   4         KONISHI Jinbei

   5&6      I would like to operate the papermaking business and hereby apply for 

　           a license in hoping that the license certificate could be granted.

   7         The applicant
   8         KONISHI Jinbei

   10       The representative of the village
   11lwr    KAGIYA Shohachi

   11upr    February 21, 1877

   15-17     To the Sixth Sub-district Office

Credit:
The original text was written in Japanese by Mr. Wataru MATSUDA, Chief Examiner/Engineer, The Oyodo Board of Education.
The above document was texted and republished by the Oyodo study group for paleography.
I, the author of this blog, am responsible for the translations.