Paper short abstract:

In my presentation, I will turn the spotlight on some lesser-known memoirs written in Western Japan under the auspices of the Mōri family to illustrate what features and functions historiographic narration assumed at the outset of the early modern period.

Paper long abstract:

Like any other practice, the act of recollecting and sharing one's past is always informed by cultural values and politics. This activity happens within a dialectic between experience and expectation, which forces the individual to extract from his memory long-forgotten deeds and words and to render them readily accessible—and exploitable—by the community. Local contingencies, too, may prompt or affect this process of reminiscence, as it was the case during the turbulent years of the Sengoku period and its immediate aftermath. In my presentation, I will turn the spotlight on some lesser-known memoirs (oboegaki) written in Western Japan under the auspices of the Mōri clan to illustrate what features and functions historiographic narration assumed in that particular context.

This region faced its most serious crisis on two occasions: first, the fall of the Ōuchi in 1551 and the clash that ensued between Sue and Mōri families; second, the setback suffered by the Mōri and their retainers after the excruciating defeat at Sekigahara in 1600. These episodes constituted a watershed, compelling those who had rallied under the Mōri banner—now winning, now losing—to change their standards and come to terms with a new reality. Indeed, at this juncture, many veterans began to look back at their exploits and evaluate recent events from the vantage point of their age and status, committing their truth to paper. As a consequence, the past reemerged as an imagined arena of confrontation, where the stakes were a matter of social life and death. Relying on both published and unpublished sources, I will delve into the compositional strategies of such narratives; shed new light on the making of storytelling; and rethink the "future of the past" at the outset of the early modern era.