［51　Uesugi Youzan］
　
The source：「REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF JAPAN」
　
〔The Man Himself〕
　
　It is not fashionable in these days to make any mortals more than common sons of Adam, especially so if such happen to be heathens, "outside of the pale of grace and revelation"; and we are often criticized for making gods out of our heroes. But perhaps of all men, Youzan has the least need of having his faults and weaknesses counted up; as he himself was more conscious of such than any of his biographers could possibly be. He was a man in the full sense of the term. Only a weak man sends in oaths to a temple on his entrance to a responsible office. It was his weakness (if we may so term it) that drove him to his guardian god when a crisis overtook him and his clan. One day, while in his residence at Yedo, a roll containing the names of those subjects of his who were to be rewarded for their filial piety was sent to him for examination and approval. He looked it over, and ordered it to be kept in a drawer till his tutor's lecture was over. It was over, but the important business slipped from his mind. One of his attendants severely reprimanded him for the negligence that was unforgivable in a "lord of a thousand." The chief's shame knew no bound. There he sat, for the whole night in repentance, weeping, and "could not touch his breakfast because of his shame." The next morning the tutor was called in, absolution was passed over him by a quotation from the book of Confucius, and then "his food passed through his throat." Let not Historical Criticism be too harsh to a soul so sensitive as this.
　
　But nowhere do we find the transparency and integrity of his character more than in his home and domestic relations. His frugality we have already touched upon. He kept up his cotton stuff and meager table till the very end of his life, when the credit of his treasury was fully restored, and he had abundance at his command. His old tatami he would not replace till further remedy became impossible; and he was often seen patching up torn mats by pasting papers over them.
　His idea of home was a most exalted one. Herein he followed literally the words of the sage who said, "He alone ruleth his family who ruleth himself; and he alone can rule a nation whose family is in right order." At the time when nobody doubted the right of concubinage, especially in men of his social standing, and when few daimios had less than four or five concubines, Youzan had only one who was his senior by ten years, and under the following exceptional circumstance. The lady to whorm he was wedded in his minority by their parents, according to the then custom of the land, proved to be a born imbecile, and her intellect was never above that of a child of ten years of age. Her however he treated with genuine love and respect, made for her toys and dolls, and comforted her in all ways, and for twenty years of their wedded lives he never showed any dissatisfaction with his fate. His other consort was left in Yonezawa while they lived mostly in Yedo, and was never allowed the dignity he attached to his imbecile wife. The latter of course left him no children.
　Naturally he was a benignant father, and he made strenuous efforts for the education of his children. He clearly saw the importance involved in this part of his duty, as in the hereditary system of the Feudal Government, his people's future happiness depended wholly upon the kind of rulers he would leave after him. His boys he trained in "the knowledge of the poor," that "they might not forfeit their great mission and sacrifice it to their selfish purpose." That we may have a look into his ways of training his children, we give here one of many beautiful letters he wrote to his granddaughters. It was addressed to the eldest of them when she was leaving her paternal mansion to join her consort in the metropolis.
　"Three influences make a man; his parents, his teacher, and his master. Each is unfathomable in beneficence, but the parents excel all others … Our being in this universe we owe to our parents. That this body is a part of theirs should never be forgotten. In thy service to them, therefore, comport thyself with a heart that dissembles not; for if sincerity reside there (in heart), even though thou miss the mark, thou art not far from it. Think not a thing is out of thy power because of thy lack in wisdom. Sincerrity makes up the lack thereof … The ruling of a dominion may appear a stupendous task to thee. But know that 'root' of a dominion is in its well-ordered families. And there can be no ordered families without the right relation of the wife to her husband. The source in disorder, how canst thou expect a wellordered stream ? … In thy youthful womanhood, it is very natural that thy mind should often be taken up with the matter of dress. But forsake not the frugal habits thou hast been taught. Devote thyself to silk-worm raising and other womanly industries; and at the same time feed thy mind with poems and books of poetry. Seek not culture and enlightenment for their own sake. The aim of all knowledge is to lead us into ways of virtue. Select such knowledge therefore as shall teach thee to do good and avoid evil. Poetry softens the heart. With it the moon and flowers abase us not, but our sentiments are lifted up thereby … Thy husband is to teach the people as their father, and thou art to love them as their mother. Then they honor you both as their parents; and what joys can excel this ? …
　"To repeat the same things to thee, serve thy parents-in-law with all fidelity, and comfort them. With obedience to thy lord and husband in all quietness, may your prosperity know no end, and may my daughter be honored as a virtuous woman worthy of the land that gave her birth.
　
　"On My Beloved Daughter's Leaving for the Metropolis:
　
　When Spring overtaketh thee,
　And raiment of floweres thou puttest on,
　Forget not Winter thou hast had,
　In thy father's mountain-home.
Harunori."
　
　The heard-working abstemious man enjoyed continuous health of three-score years and ten. He had his early hopes mostly realized; − saw his clan firmly established, his people well supplied, and his whole dominion abundantly replenished. The clan that had not been able to raise five pieces of gold by their united effort, could now raise ten thousands at a moment's notice. The end of such a man could not be anything but peace. On the 19th of March, the 5th years of Bunsei (1822), he breathed his last. "The people wept as if they had lost their good grandparents. The lamentations of all classes no pen could descride. On the day of his funeral, tens of thousands of mourners filled the way-side. Hands clasped, and heads all bowed, deep wailings went up from them all, and even mountains, rivers, and plants, joined in the universal sorrow."
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