Ito Teruzumi’s appointment letter

Ito Teruzumi’s appointment letter is the documentary proof Jozen uses to establish Ito’s place on the Council of Regents after Toranaga’s resignation. Presented to Yabu as an authenticated copy, it bears the assent of the remaining regents and a countersignature from Yodoko. Its arrival makes a change in the council’s leadership tangible: what Yabu had understood as an unresolved political possibility is now supported by a document he recognizes as genuine, and by the seals of lords already said to have accepted it.

Document and Authentication

The appointment letter reaches Yabu as a scroll Jozen unfolds and holds up. He describes it as a copy of Lord Ito’s letter of appointment, accepted, signed, and authorized by Ishido, Kiyama, Onoshi, and Sugiyama. The copy carries their collective authority, rather than resting on Jozen’s assertion alone. Its material form matters in the encounter: Yabu can inspect it, take it in his hands, and judge the evidence for himself.

Yabu’s examination confirms the document’s force. His fingers tremble, but he finds no doubt about its authenticity. Yodoko, the wife of the late Taikō, has countersigned it, affirming that it is true and that it was signed in her presence. This second confirmation links the appointment to a witness beyond the regents who authorized it. The document is one of six copies being sent throughout the empire; the copy presented to Yabu is designated for the lords of Iwari, Mikawa, Totomi, Suruga, Izu, and Kwanto. The account gives the date as eleven days earlier, making clear that the appointment was already prepared and circulating before Jozen’s arrival.

Appointment and Political Stakes

The document confirms that Ito Teruzumi is taking Toranaga’s place on the council. Jozen also declares that his master will become the new President of the Regents. The appointment therefore concerns more than filling a vacant position: it establishes a new council leader and presents the change as authorized by the other members. The letter’s signatures turn that claim into a united front, at least on the document’s face.

The choice of Ito carries a pointed contrast. He is a minor lord of Negato Province in western Honshu, but his family’s ancient descent from the Fujimoto lineage makes him acceptable as a regent. The narrative describes him as ineffectual and a puppet. Those qualities sharpen the political implications of the letter: an appointment can satisfy the requirement for an acceptable successor while placing the presidency in the hands of a figure Jozen’s master can control. The document records a formally defensible selection, while the circumstances invite suspicion about the power behind it.

Presentation to Yabu

Jozen introduces the letter during a broader effort to bring Yabu into the new political arrangement. He has already asked about Toranaga’s son Naga serving as second-in-command and about the barbarian’s role in training, presenting those matters as concerns of his master, Ishido. He then announces that the Council of Regents will meet again in twenty days and formally invites Yabu to Osaka to renew his oath of fidelity. Against that invitation, the appointment letter supplies the basis for Jozen’s claim that the council’s leadership has changed.

Yabu initially asks whether Toranaga has resigned, and then points out that the invitation is not under the Council of Regents’ seal. Jozen answers that Ishido issued it in anticipation of the new council approving his action, invoking Yabu’s loyalty to the late Taikō and to Yaemon, his son and heir. The appointment letter does not itself remove Yabu’s concern about the invitation’s authority; instead, it gives Jozen a powerful answer to the larger question of who now speaks for the council. Yabu says he would be honored to receive the invitation, trying to gain time, but the authentic appointment copy makes open dismissal of Jozen’s position harder.

Political Function and Consequences

Jozen says that lords in Iwari, Mikawa, Suruga, and Totomi have already accepted, and points to their seals. Yabu is last but one on his list; Toranaga is last. The letter’s distribution and the displayed seals make acceptance look like a process already advancing across the realm, not a decision Yabu can treat as isolated or easily reversed. Jozen’s claim that all the daimyos have been invited, together with the scheduled meeting and a flower-viewing ceremony authorized by the Emperor, surrounds the appointment with the appearance of public, orderly procedure.

The letter also changes Jozen’s position in the room. He knows the document closes the trap on Toranaga and his allies and makes Jozen and his men invulnerable. Yabu, having verified the copy, asks Jozen to thank his master and says he looks forward to greeting and congratulating him. Jozen then requires that acceptance in writing, pressing Yabu to make his response immediate. The sequence shows the document doing political work beyond recording Ito’s appointment: it constrains Yabu’s options, lends authority to Jozen’s demand, and helps convert a disputed transfer of power into a test of loyalty. Its decisive effect is not that every uncertainty has vanished, but that the evidence of signatures, countersignature, seals, and prior acceptances leaves Yabu little room to pretend the new arrangement is merely a rumor.