Letter
A letter can matter both for what it communicated and for the history of how it became a museum object. This 1664 example brings those two kinds of evidence together.
A named sender and recipient
The preserved Tokyo National Museum commentary identifies the writer as the courtier Shibayama Nobutoyo and the recipient as the abbot of Rokuonji. It also records transmission through the Tsuishu family. These are more informative entry points than the generic catalogue title “Letter”.
Sources: ColBase museum commentary, preserved source snapshot
An object with a second history
The museum discusses an accompanying registration document as evidence for a later investigation and historical classification of the letter. An editorial reading prompt is to distinguish the seventeenth-century communication from the later paperwork that made it a collection object. The two documents answer different questions.
Sources: ColBase museum commentary, preserved source snapshot
What remains unknown here
This article does not supply a transcription, a complete translation of the letter or its recipient’s personal name. The imported designation field is blank, so the service name must not be used to call it a National Treasure. Use collection reference B-3160 when checking the museum’s record or asking about display; ownership does not establish that it is currently on view.
Sources: ColBase · Tokyo National Museum · via Japan Search; processed by GIZUMO
Editorial sources, scope and rights
The English reading guide and its stated sources only. Original source dates, rights, identity limitations and live-status fields remain separate.
Original GIZUMO editorial text and limited factual paraphrase. Linked reference pages retain their own rights; the source-data licence below does not license their text or images. No source photographs, film stills, scans or maps are reproduced.
- ColBase · Tokyo National Museum · via Japan Search; processed by GIZUMO
Identity and factual fields in the preserved dated source record; no new live-status verification
- ColBase museum commentary, preserved source snapshot
Selected factual points from the museum commentary retrieved with the original record; new English selection, not an official translation or full republication
Preserved source record and metadata
Original title: 書状 Collection reference: B-3160 Object type: Calligraphy (書跡) Holding institution: Tokyo National Museum Period: Edo period, dated 1664 (Kanbun 4) Creator: By Shibayama Nobutoyo (1612-90) Original designation: Not supplied English title supplied by the source. Type labels are normalized editorially; missing English fields retain original wording. Designation is never inferred from the search keyword or service name. Source: ColBase via Japan Search (https://colbase.nich.go.jp/collection_items/tnm/B-3160). Metadata selected/formatted by GIZUMO under the reviewed Government Standard Terms v2.0. Images are excluded. Current exhibition availability and physical display location are not verified.
- creator
- By Shibayama Nobutoyo (1612-90)
- period
- Edo period, dated 1664 (Kanbun 4)
- designation
- Not supplied
- holding Museum
- Tokyo National Museum
- object Type
- Calligraphy
- collection Reference
- B-3160
ColBase · Tokyo National Museum · via Japan Search; processed by GIZUMO