....I love history

[hisbikeahorse]

From Japanese wikipedia:

In the 2nd year of Genki (1571 AD), he lost eyesight in his right eye while suffering from smallpox

Comments

[oyakatasama]

debatable if that's true, actually. It's a lot like Xiahou Yuan's story so it's... er.

It's wiki. Even if it's in Japanese. It's hard to know whether it's true or not, given that it's an anecdote. I know Matsu linked you the article I was gonna link so I will not bug you with it again o/

[hisbikeahorse]

Well, yes. XD The article actually has a footnote commenting on the reference to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms scene.

It doesn't specify whether or not the statement is TRUE, though, the wording seems to imply that it's just what Masamune said as opposed to whatever happened. As in, they asked a personal question, he gave them a bullshit answer to keep them from asking again, sort of thing. In that sense, I could probably see him saying something like that, all sources I've seen describe him as quite the character....

[oyakatasama]

It's still an anecdote and there's no way of verifying it's accuracy. I mean, it's funny and everything and I'm not debating that, but given the similarities, there's just as good a chance of it being false as it is true.

[hisbikeahorse]

Actually, that's what makes him saying something like that believable, I think- Romance of the Three Kingdoms was (and still is) incredibly well-known throughout Asia, for Masamune to have deliberately referenced it (or at least borrowed and adapted the idea; again, the article itself has a footnote remarking on the reference) because it made a convenient excuse. The wording of the article very much implies that even if he did actually say that he was most likely lying, anyway (which might have been lost in translation, admittedly) but it seems far from impossible that he may have said such a thing, considering other quotes that allegedly come from him. It's anecdotal, yes, but no more so than a lot of the other information we have on him.