A humble request

[leanne]

May I enquire of those dear to me, particularly kaifu and jenett if they might be willing to use their powers and knowledge for my purposes?

I am pretty well settled on an idea for a new SCA persona; I am thinking about a 1200s-1210s (Kamakura period) Japanese persona, theoretically from what is now (and was then, more or less, but called Hizen), Saga Prefecture. The interwebs is not being helpful with regards to finding any significant history of Saga in the 1200s; it's all later than that. The random reference to the Matsuratou clan in Wikipedia's Saga Prefecture entry turns up next to nothing on searches except that they might have been pirates; no other clans are listed by name.

I would be very grateful for any help -- not sure where to get started looking, and my inability to read Japanese is something I really, really need to fix one of these days.

Arigatou gozaimasu -- thank you so much. (:

And as a random piece of fun: bits of modern Saga dialect. (:

Comments

[jenett]

Let me contemplate this one - I suspect kaifu may have much better ideas.

(Also, I am amazingly and totally swamped until next Wednesday, so do not have as much time for digging into things as I'd like.)

[kaifu]

Hmm. Kamakura period Kyushu's most significant place was the port city of Hakata (modern day Fukuoka). Most passing references to the history of Hakata, unfortunately for your case, focus on the late 13th century Mongol invasions, so your best bet is probabaly Bruce Batten's book "Gateway to Japan: Hakata in war and peace, 500-1300" (overview of book on Google books). Reviews seem good, but I haven't read it myself.

Jeffrey Mass is the historian best known for Kamakura-period histories, so you might try looking into his works for general flavoring, but I don't think he has anything specifically on Hizen except as minor mentions in things mostly about the relations between Kyoto and Kamakura.

As for the Matsurato/Matsuura-to, this brief paragraph in the Cambridge History of Japan confirms they were definitely well-known as part of the wako (pirates/traders in the E China Sea).

Other major clans in Kyushu during the Kamakura period included the Kikuchi in Kumamoto Prefecture (formerly Higo), just south of where you're looking; the Shôni who had something to do with commanding the defense against the Mongols and thus appear to have been in that general area a half-century later; the Ôtomo who were in Bungo/Buzen (today's Ôita prefecture on the E side of Kyushu) also defending against Mongols; and the Shimazu in Satsuma (today's Kagoshima prefecture on the S tip of Kyushu).

I hope that helps to start off, at least!

[kaifu]

Yes, Kamakura is probably the best time within the SCA's timeframe for doing any kind of plausible strong female persona - I have an article about women in the Kamakura that I'll email you.

The SCA requirement for Asian personae to be visiting European holdings is kind of a pain in the ass, especially before the Portugese showed up, but wandering off through Mongol territory from Hakata is as likely a way to get there as any, I'd say. It really was a quite well-connected trade port as far as ties to the rest of Asia go, and so you can always have intended to take a look at somewhere in China, Korea, or Mongol territory and then just kept going until you reached Europe. Travel Hint - "Mongol age" section of this article on the silk road.