Ōta Dōkan

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Ōta Dōkan (太田道灌) (1432-1486) was born as Ōta Sukenaga (太田資長) into a daimyo family descending from Minamoto no Yorimasa. He served as a vassal of the Ōgigayatsu branch of the Uesugi family, and is reputed to have been an excellent tactician. However, he was killed after being accused of disloyalty during a period when the Uesugi family faced inner conflict. He is most well-known for having built, in 1457, Edo Castle (now the Imperial Palace). He took the name Dōkan, by which he is mainly known, the following year.

The castle was chosen as the home of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1590, and was used as the seat for the government. Every October 1, Tokyo celebrates its anniversary, in honor of the memory of the founder Ōta Dōkan.

Dōkan was also well-read in classical (Heian period) literature and a skilled poet. Among the other monuments he built is the Hirakawa Shrine, which is celebrated with a festival on April 24-25. The shrine, located on the Edo castle grounds, is dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, the kami of poetry and scholarship.

Ōta Dōkan's death poem is as follows:

Kakaru toki sakoso inochi no oshikarame kanete nakimi to omoishirazuba Ōta Dōkan

Had I not known that I was dead already I would have mourned the loss of my life. (trans. Yoel Hoffmann)

According as Bushido: Samurai Ethics and the Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe ,It passes current among us as a piece of authentic history, that as Ota Dokan, the great builder of the castle of Tokyo, was pierced through with a spear, his assassin, knowing the poetical predilection of his victim, accompanied his thrust with this couplet:

                "Ah! how in moments like these
                 Our heart doth grudge the light of life";

whereupon the expiring hero, not one whit daunted by the mortal wound in his side, add the lines:

                "Had not in hours of peace,
                 It learned to lightly look on life."

[edit] References

• "Ōta Dōkan" (1985). Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.
• Turnbull, Stephen (1998). The Samurai Sourcebook. London: Cassell & Co.