Footprints of Sourin Otomo (No.3)
Yoshiaki left Sourin a note to govern the country right before he died.
Therefore Sourin became the ruler of the Otomo familly.
Sourin became suspicious of people because Chikazane Nyuta, who was a tutor
for him,
betrayed and ran away when Nikai kuzure no hen took place.
Soon after Sourin sent a letter to cross-examine Yoshitake Kikuchi because
he did not join
in the fight to kill Chikazane Nyuta, Yoshitake hid in the Kumamoto castle
and rose in revolt.
Sourin sent the punitive force against Yoshitake, but, he ordered just
to destroy the castle,
and let him go. 4 years later, Sourin offered an olive branch with Yoshitake
who had completely
lost his power. Then Yoshitake became a Buddhist monk. However, Sourin
sent men to the
temple to kill him and robbed Yoshitake's wife who was known for her beauty. That's one of
the reasons why Sourin was called a lustful man.
Sourin was supposed to get married with a daughter from the Isshiki family
who was close to
Ashikaga government at his father's discretion. And the girl had lived in his country for 4
months before Nikai kuzure no hen took place. However, Sourin called it off and got married
with Yano, a sister of Chikakata Tawara in order to unite by blood ties with the Tawara family
who had often plotted rebellions.
Then, Yoshitaka Ouchi, a brother of Sourin's mother, killed himself because
of the rebellion of
Takafusa Sue. Sourin was worried about whether his uncle Yoshitaka had Munen-Musou,
the precepts of Zen; free from all distracting thoughts, when he died, rather than the fact that
the ruler of the country died. Sourin did not think he could ever die like
Yoshitaka did.
Sourin was born and grew in sin. He was terrified of death. I think that
Sourin knew his own
sinfulness even though he did not know the Creator. When Sourin frequently
thought about
death, Sourin had heard about people overseas. Then he invited captains
of the foreign ships
and a missionary into his castle to innovate advanced technologies from
abroad to his
country. This missionary was Francis Xavier who was thought to be the first
person to preach Christianity to Japan.
(The Kyoto Glory Church Translation Committee is responsible for the wording
of this article.)