Sanada Yukimura's war fan, a samurai story

The popularity of the Sengoku period samurai Sanada Yukimura, already rising because of a series of games and anime series, will reach a high point this year, due to the NHK Taiga drama "Sanada Maru".

There are many places, statues and artifacts related to Sanada Yukimura, like this tessen war fan preserved inside the Matsue castle. Interestingly however, there are no direct connections between Yukimura and the Matsue castle.

The story of this war fan begins during the Siege of Osaka, when Yukimura was so impressed by a very young, 14-year-old opponent, that he gifted him with his own war fan. The teenager samurai was Matsudaira Naomasa, a grandchild of the soon to be shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and, because of his valor in battle, he later became the lord of the Matsue castle.
And the gift received from Sanada Yukimura was preserved with great care until today...