Yinyuan and Sakai Tadakatsu

Portrait of Sakai Tadakatsu with Yinyuan's Inscription on the Top

Yinyuan's success in Japan has to do with a bakufu senior councilor Sakai Tadakatsu 酒井忠勝 (1587-1662), who supported Yinyuan and secured the land in Uji for building Manpukuji. He met Yinyuan during Yinyuan's visit of Edo in 1658. He liked Yinyuan very much and invited him to his family temple Choanji 長安寺 and conducted a mourning ceremony for his ancestors. When I visited Tokyo in 2011, I tried to locate this temple. Unfortunately, the Sakai residence has been removed and the only relics I could find is a stone sink which is now preserved in Shinjuku Historical Museum.

Actually when they met, Tadakatsu just retired from his post of senior councilor. However, we can imagine he still had considerable influence in the bakufu politics. He was in particular experienced in the area of foreign affairs. He had a dharma name "kuin" 空印 which was given by Yinyuan. (Some sources disputed it.) After they met, Tadakatsu served as the major liaison between Yinyuan and the bakufu. Manpukuji preserved a few letters he wrote to Yinyuan to inform him about the bakufu decisions. His interaction with Yinyuan only occurred in the last few years of his life. The Obaku sources claimed he was Yinyuan's lay disciple. So far, I have not seen substantial studies on this figure and his role in the formation of early bakufu foreign policy except a few reference to his role in diplomatic events such as dealing with the Dutch in the Nambu incident. Tadakatsu deserves at least a Master Thesis.