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*''Born: [[1697]], [[Edo]]''
*''Born: [[1697]], [[Edo]]''
*''Died: [[1762]], [[Fushimi]]''
*''Died: [[1762]], [[Fushimi]]''
*''Other Names'': 渡辺洪貢 ''(Watanabe Kôgu)''
*''Japanese'': [[渡辺]] 善右衛門 ''(Watanabe Zen'emon)''
*''Japanese'': [[渡辺]] 善右衛門 ''(Watanabe Zen'emon)''
Watanabe Zen'emon was a retainer to the [[Inaba clan|Inaba family]] of [[Yodo han|Yodo domain]], and the author of the ''[[Nyurai Ryukyu ki|Nyûrai Ryûkyû ki]]'', an account of what he witnessed and heard about the [[1748]] [[Ryukyuan embassy to Edo]].
Watanabe Zen'emon was a retainer to the [[Inaba clan|Inaba family]] of [[Yodo han|Yodo domain]], and the author of many notable records and other writings on a variety of subjects, including martial arts, military studies, [[ikebana]], the history of [[Sakura]] City, [[elephants]], and the [[1748]] [[Ryukyuan embassy to Edo|Ryukyuan]] and [[Korean embassies to Edo]].
Watanabe was born in [[1697]] in the Inaba [[daimyo yashiki|mansion]] in [[Edo]], and was raised in the castle-town of [[Sakura]], where the Inaba were (briefly, at that time) lords of [[Sakura han|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]].
Watanabe was born in [[1697]] in the Inaba [[daimyo yashiki|mansion]] in [[Edo]], and was raised in the castle-town of [[Sakura]], where the Inaba were (briefly, at that time) lords of [[Sakura han|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.
In [[1729]]/4, an [[elephant]] from Vietnam was brought before the Emperor; Watanabe's volume ''Zô kiyô'' (roughly, "Elephant Bulletin") records what he saw of, or heard about, this elephant's passage through the city. In 1748, Korean and Ryukyuan embassies separately passed through Fushimi and [[Kyoto]] on their way to pay respects to the shogun in Edo; Watanabe's ''Nyûrai Ryûkyû ki'' and ''Chôsenjin raihei ki'' record, again, what he either witnessed directly, or heard about, these events.
Another text by Watanabe, ''Kagurashû'', records his experience of festival celebrations held in Yodo in connection with [[Ise Shrine]] in [[1752]].
He died in Fushimi in [[1762]].
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==References==
==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.
*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), 98-99.
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==See Also==
*Several of Watanabe's writings about life in the castle-towns of Sakura and Yodo can be found in: ''Nihon shomin seikatsu shiryô shûsei'' 日本庶民生活史料集成, vol 10, Tokyo: San'ichi Shobô (1985).
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Samurai]]
[[Category:Samurai]]