Daidōji Yūzan

Who was Daidōji Yūzan?

Daidōji Yūzan was a samurai and military strategist of Edo period Japan. He was born in Fushimi in Yamashiro Province. Among the works he wrote in his late years was the widely circulated Budō Shoshin-shū, an introduction to bushidō that was influential among middle- and lower-class samurai. It is available in an English translation by William Scott Wilson as "Budoshoshinshu: The Warrior's Primer. ISBN 0-89750-096-2"

Yūzan was the son of Daidōji Shigehisa and the great-grandson of Masashige, an important advisor to the Late Hōjō clan. Shigehisa had been a samurai in the service of Matsudaira Tadateru, daimyo of the Echigo Takada fief, but became a ronin in 1619 when Tadateru was dismissed from service. Yūzan studied the arts of war in Edo under Obata Kagenori, Hōjō Ujinaga, Yamaga Sokō and others. He then lectured on the subject as a guest of the Asano at the Hiroshima fief, the Matsudaira clan at the Aizu fief, the Matsudaira clan at the Fukui fief, and elsewhere in Japan.