[45] Purchas, i. 373.
[46] Ibid., i. 406.
[47] Cocks usually reckons in the Japanese currency of taels, mace, and candareens, or as he terms them taies, mas, and condrins. The tael is worth 10 mace, or 100 candareens; and is of the value of about six shillings, according to present computation. Cock puts it at five shillings.
[48] The real of eight, or Spanish dollar of exchange.
[49] The China captain and his brother Whow or Whaw are constantly met with. I have found it more convenient to give in the Preface what account I have been able to gather of the different persons mentioned in the course of the Diary.
[50] Nagasaki.
[51] The Loo-choo or Riukiu group of islands, S.W. of Japan.
[52] Dono, a title of respect.
[53] Ogosho Samme is Iyéyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of Shoguns, which lasted down to the revolution of 1868. Samme, as Cock writes it, is Sama, a title of respect appended to the name. Fidaia Samme is Hideyori, son of the famous Hideyoshi, the great warrior, better known as Taiko Sama. Hideyoshi, although holding supreme power, never received the title of Shogun. On his death he named his son Hideyori, then a child of six years, his successor, appointing at the same time a council of regency, in which Iyéyasu held the chief place. Iyéyasu’s increasing power and popularity naturally roused the jealousy of others, the result being a struggle between an eastern army under Iyéyasu, and a western army led by his rivals and supporters of Hideyori. His great victory at Sekigahara, in 1600, confirmed the power of Iyéyasu for many years. In 1603, he was created Shogun by the Mikado. But Hideyori was not yet disposed of. He rose against Iyéyasu in 1614, but was besieged in Osaka; and a truce was patched up. But almost immediately Hideyori was again in arms with a following of 120,000 men, and intrenched himself at Osaka. The place was stormed, Hideyori’s troops were utterly defeated, and he and his mother perished. Rumours of his escape lived for a long time among the people, and are frequently noticed in the course of this Diary. Klaproth, Annales des Empereurs du Japon (London, 1734), p. 410, gives the following account: “Quelques officiers de l’armée de Fide yori mirent le feu au château d’Osaka, pour se concilier les bonnes grâces de Ye yasou, mais ils furent arrêtés dans leur fuite par les gens de Fide yori et mis à mort. Comme il n’était pas possible d’éteindre l’incendie, Fide yori se sauva dans le Fiougo, où il s’embarqua pour le Satsouma sur les bâtimens de cette province, qu’on y avait tenus à sa disposition en cas de besoin. On prétendit qu’il avait péri dans l’incendie de ce château, mais ce n’était qu’un bruit répandu pour favoriser sa fuite.”
[54] Karatsu, on the N.W. coast of the neighbouring island of Kiushiu.