In Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture, there was an Edo-period feudal lord named Uesugi Yozan. He is known as the man who rebuilt the Yonezawa Domain when it was on the verge of bankruptcy.
Inheriting a domain crushed by debt
Yozan inherited the Yonezawa Domain in 1767, at the age of 17. At the time the domain's debts amounted to 200,000 ryo, and it was so cornered that returning its lands to the shogunate was being seriously discussed.
Yozan first issued a "Great Austerity Order" and cut his own living expenses to one-seventh of what they had been. He ate one soup and one side dish at meals and wore only cotton, setting the example himself.
Not only cutting, but creating
Austerity alone could not save the domain. Yozan pushed forward large projects such as building irrigation canals, and fostered industries including sericulture, weaving, ceramics and washi paper. In the end, what supported the Yonezawa Domain was sericulture and textiles, which survive today as Yonezawa-ori weaving.
The words "Naseba naru, nasaneba naranu nanigoto mo, naranu wa hito no nasanu narikeri" ("If you act, it can be done; if you do not act, nothing can be done. When something is not achieved, it is because people did not act") were left by Yozan.
Respected even in a distant country
There is an anecdote that John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, named Uesugi Yozan as a Japanese person he respected. He is said to have learned about Yozan through Representative Men of Japan, written in English by Kanzo Uchimura.
Start small, and keep going
What stays with me about Yozan's approach is that, before giving grand orders, he first changed his own meals and clothes. Starting within reach, and then continuing.
I, too, am growing my painting work little by little. Even if I cannot hope for sudden change, if I sit at my desk every day and paint one picture at a time, the landscape will change in a few years. Yozan's story makes me think so.
Mermaid nao's commissioned art, too, aims to be a painting for taking your first step.
Sources
Wikipedia (Uesugi Harunori)
Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum, Denkoku no Mori (Yozan Theater)
Yonezawa Tourism NAVI (Uesugi Yozan)
Mynavi Agri (Uesugi Yozan, respected even by Kennedy: great figures of agriculture, Yamagata edition)
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