Today in 1558, Ishikawa Goemon, a ninja and thief who is sometimes called the Robin Hood of Japan, was killed. ![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmW5ANVSiWTdzmDqDhQCJ9wohc1YnzVMsJxK61pVYb2Ky1/goemon_poster.jpg) His end was fairly gruesome, but also iconic. He was boiled to death in a big cauldron with his son. He either saved his son or died with his son, depending on the version of the story you listen to. But before we cover that, let's look at who Goemon was a little. Besides his death there is very little historic information about the man, and a lot of legend has flooded into take its place. Many versions of his story have officials from the Ashikaga shogunate killing his family when he was just a boy. He swore revenge and began training in ninjitsu. He was forced to flee before his training was complete, however, because his master caught him with his mistress (or in some versions of the story, his wife). He soon moved to the Kansai area and formed his band of thieves and bandits. They robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, hence the comparisons to Robin Hood. Along the way he may or may not have tried to poison Nobunaga. Nobunaga was the warlord attempting to conquer Japan. Goemon's only reason for trying to kill him was that he hated all despots. According to this story he tried to kill him in the same way that assassins tried to kill James Bond in *You Only Live Twice*, ([in this scene](https://youtu.be/VVLlZy4m23c)) by lowering a string from the ceiling into Nobunaga's sleeping chamber and running poison down it into his mouth. The attempt failed, but I've never seen a reason for the failure. From that possible attempt on Nobunaga's life, he moved on to trying to kill Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi is the man who completed Nobunaga's conquest of the country after Nobunaga died (this was unrelated to Goemon's legendary attempt; he was forced to kill myself when a general betrayed him). Depending on the story you read Goemon either hated Hideyoshi simply because he was a despot or because Hideyoshi had caused the death of his wife. Goemon sneaked into Fushimi castle and into Hideyoshi's bedroom, but unfortunately he was then caught when he knocked over a bell (or by some magical incense in another version of the story). Rather than the normal punishment of being beheaded, he was sentenced to being boiled alive with his son. There are two accounts of the episode. In the first version he held his son above his head as he slowly died, and this act of bravery and fatherly love caused Hideyoshi to forgive the son and release him. ![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmbuBGVH9oK1DVy5r39nyzpJdkrk4Z59SH57pH9pxAWDBY/1280px_excecution_of_goemon_ishikawa.jpg) In the second version he also held his son overhead but then suddenly plunged him deep into the water in order to kill him as fast as possible. He then held his dead son's body overhead while silently staring at his executors until he could no longer stand and sank into the pot. To this day Goemon is celebrated as a folk hero. He has been featured in film, books, manga, anime, kabuki plays, even video games, and remains very popular. ![][divider] Today is *senbu*, one of the rokuyō, the Buddhist horoscope. Today is bad luck in the morning and good luck in the afternoon. So let's wait to buy any lotto tickets until the afternoon, eh? (Read more about the rokuyō [here][rokuyō]) On the old calendar, today would have been the thirteenth day of the ninth month. It is *Wild Geese Return* (*kōgan kitaru*), the first microseason of *Kanro*. This is when the geese arrive from Siberia to pass the winter in Japan. It is interesting timing that not long after the swallows head south, the geese arrive to take their place. ![][divider] Here's a haiku from Issa: おりよ雁一もくさんに我前へ *ori yo kari ichi mokusan ni waga mae e* geese, fly down quickly don’t hesitate right to me ![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmV5zpSrYzcxFtQvJ9ki29KiDqfc8VMhgynT8WiYLQKdwc/64239.jpeg) "Descending Geese" by Hiroshige You'll recall I shared a haiku [before](https://peakd.com/hive-181465/@dbooster/today-in-japan-for-21) from Issa in which he was asking the departing swallows to come to his house when they returned in the spring. Well, here he is again, this time asking the geese to also come to him. Wild Geese (*kari*) is a season word for late autumn. ![][divider] Have a good day, everyone! [divider]: https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://images.ecency.com/DQmR3iwCn9yvwXDXfuNjmMX6FrjAvFfYQWgA4QRckpens1j/external_content.duckduckgo.png [rokuyō]: https://peakd.com/japan/@dbooster/japans-good-and-bad-luck-calendar--the-rokuyo

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.

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Drawing A Portrait [1345]

Below are my step-by-step processes: