38 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 38 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book is Samurai Warlords: The Book of the Daimyō by Stephen Turnbull.

Such mobilization orders could only work if the daimyō had the ability to survey his retainers’ lands accurately and added their value of income. As the sixteenth century progressed, the means for doing this became more sophisticated, and a daimyō acquired a very detailed knowledge of the location and extent of his retainers’ holdings. It also gave the daimyō two additional powerful tools in ruling his domain. First, the kandaka meant that the retainer’s relationship with the daimyō could be expressed in terms of income, rather than the mere possession of land. Great income meant great responsibilities, and the appointment to prestigious positions, such as jōshu, keepers of castles, and bugyō, magistrates.

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.

There was no book cover, but there was part of a larger woodcutting that was on this page online. It is titled Samurai resting in the castle. The larger version has some Samurai playing go and others playing sugoroku. It must have been game night at the joukaku.