Watanabe Zenemon

• Born: 1697, Edo
• Died: 1762, Fushimi
• Japanese: 渡辺 善右衛門 (Watanabe Zen'emon)

Watanabe Zen'emon was a retainer to the Inaba family of Yodo domain, and the author of many notable records and other writings on a variety of subjects, including martial arts, military studies, and ikebana. These include the Nyûrai Ryûkyû ki, an account of what he witnessed and heard about the 1748 Ryukyuan embassy to Edo.

Watanabe was born in 1697 in the Inaba mansion in Edo, and was raised in the castle-town of Sakura, where the Inaba were (briefly, at that time) lords of Sakura domain. As an adult, Watanabe inherited his own sub-fief or stipend of 150 koku. In 1723, the Inaba were transferred from Sakura to Yodo domain, based at Fushimi, and thus Watanabe moved as well. He died there in 1762.

References

• Hirayama Toshijirô 平山敏治郎, "Nyûrai Ryûkyû ki" 入来琉球記, Minzoku gaku kenkyûsho kiyô 民俗学研究所紀要 3 (1978/12), 98.