In 1583, Toyotomi Hideyoshi decided to make Osaka the site of his headquarters. After unifying the country, he plotted an expansion of his rule to the Asian mainland. This document is a diplomatic message sent by the emperor of Ming dynasty China to Hideyoshi in 1596, with the aim of negotiating peace after the first dispatch of troops to Korea by the latter. It was handed to Hideyoshi in Osaka Castle. The message decrees that henceforth Hideyoshi will be a subject of the Ming emperor and appoints him to be the king of Japan. This was not what Hideyoshi wanted, and the negotiations broke down. Legend has it that Hideyoshi flew into a rage and tore up the message. But there are no signs of such damage on the document and it is said that he gave it to Horio Yoshiharu, one of his subjects. It was passed down in the family of Ishikawa Tadafusa, who married Yoshiharu’s daughter.

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