Photo/Illutration A curator of the Hagi Museum explains about a "kosode," a type of short-sleeved Japanese traditional garment, believed to have been worn by the warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu, in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, on April 19. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Life was not kind to Julia Otaa, a Korean woman who was brought to Japan by a Christian “daimyo” (feudal lord) during the invasions of the Korean Peninsula by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598).

She was baptized a Christian and was treated well by Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) after he defeated Hideyoshi loyalists in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara (1600).

But she was later exiled to Izu-Oshima island for refusing to renounce her faith, according to writings by foreign Christian missionaries. For years, there were no Japanese documents about her.

However, a letter written by Otaa herself has been discovered for the first time.

Believed to have been penned in 1609, it was addressed to her long-lost younger brother, Murata Unnaki. She was serving as Ieyasu’s lady-in-waiting at that time.

She says in the letter that she heard about a man who resembled her brother, and she made an inquiry with the Hagi Clan.

She goes on to note that she and her brother were born into an aristocratic family of the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910), and that she was 13 and he was around 6 when they were separated.

“(My brother) had a blue birthmark on one hand and a persimmon-colored birthmark on one leg. Do you have them?” she asks him.

It has been said that they later reunited at Sunpu Castle, and Ieyasu gifted Unnaki with a "kosode" short-sleeved kimono.

When I heard that Unnaki’s descendant by 14 generations is living in Saitama Prefecture, I went to visit him--Norio Murata, 81.

He said he remembered his father saying about 50 years ago, “We have a family treasure that was a gift from Lord Ieyasu.”

His father died without telling him much, but Murata decided to investigate when he began to feel his own age.

He discovered a leather suitcase about five years ago in the storage closet of his eldest brother’s home in Osaka. And when Murata found the kosode and Otaa’s handwritten letter in it, he felt obliged to “pass them on to posterity.”

He donated them to the Hagi Museum in Yamaguchi Prefecture where they are currently on display.

“I’m relieved that I’ve fulfilled my obligation,” Murata said.

Looking at Otaa’s beautiful handwriting--all in “kana” syllabary--I tried to imagine what she was like as a person. And the woman I saw in my mind’s eye was the Otaa I was familiar with from novels and other sources.

I’m glad her letter survived.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 8

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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