Watanabe Yusai

• Japanese: 渡辺 宥斎 (Watanabe Yûsai)

Watanabe Yûsai was head of the omote bôzu of Edo castle in the late 1850s. The omote bôzu were lay monks who aided in certain aspects of the everyday operations of the omote (public, official) portions of the castle; as they stood outside of the hierarchical samurai ranks, they were able to more freely move between rooms, and between interactions with figures of various ranks. Among their activities was to help guide visiting daimyô into the castle, and between rooms within the castle, as they prepared for and then received formal audiences with the shogun.

Yûsai also occasionally visited daimyô in their private mansions, to relay messages or discuss official matters. For example, Sengoku Hisatoshi, lord of Izushi han, was the senior member of the daimyô assigned to the Yanagi-no-ma, and Yûsai visited him to relay requests or questions from other daimyô, as well as to discuss logistical matters relating to Yanagi-no-ma daimyô's participation in castle ceremonies.

References

• Yamamoto Hirofumi, Sankin kôtai, Kodansha gendai shinsho (1998), 184.
• Ogawa Kyôichi 小川恭一, Shogun omemie sahô 将軍お目見え作法, Tokyojin 東京人 (1995/1), 79-83.