英語訳
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...was Mizuno Kenbutsu Tadayoshi. I would like to discuss this person in the next chapter.
⦿ Mizuno Kenbutsu
**Mizuno Tadayoshi Enfeoffed at Yoshida** On September 6, Kan'ei 19, Mizuno Hayato-no-shō Tadakiyo, who had been the castle lord of this place until then, was transferred to Matsumoto Castle in Shinshū, and the one who subsequently became castle lord of this place was Mizuno Kenbutsu Tadayoshi, as I mentioned in the previous chapter. This Tadayoshi was also a descendant of Mizuno Saemon-dayū Tadamasa. Specifically, Tadamasa's fourth son was called Oribe-no-shō Tadamori, and his second son was Kenbutsu Tadamoto, whose legitimate heir was this Tadayoshi. Tadamoto served the second shogun Hidetada from his youth and participated in both Osaka campaigns. Tadayoshi succeeded his father and was granted court rank on December 26, Kan'ei 7. The Tokugawa Jitsuroku records for that day: "Mizuno Kenbutsu Tadayoshi was granted the rank of junior fifth rank lower and changed his title to Sakon-shōgen." Later, on November 22 of the same 12th year, he was enfeoffed at Tanaka Castle in Suruga Province with 40,000 koku. This Tanaka Castle, as you know, is located adjacent to the east of present-day Fujieda town, and the castle ruins still remain. From there, Tadayoshi was transferred to this Yoshida with an increase to 45,000 koku. However, this person resided at this location for only five years, and on January 11, Shōhō 2, he was transferred to Okazaki Castle with 50,000 koku. He later passed away on August 29, Enpō 4, at the age of 64. Given these circumstances, there is not much to say about this Tadayoshi, except that during his time, civilian houses were relocated, the main gate was expanded, and guard stations were established, as recorded in the "Sanshū Yoshida-ki."
**Tadayoshi's Words and Deeds** Regarding this person's words and deeds, some are recorded in a book called "Meiryō Kōhan" written by the shogunal retainer Manayama Zōyo, which I find quite instructive, so I would like to excerpt a few passages. Although these are stories from after his transfer to Okazaki, in volume one of the sequel:
**Records from Meiryō Kōhan** Mizuno Kenbutsu Tadayoshi made a volume titled "Mizuno-shō" from Obata Kagenori's military treatises his family's military text, learned the ultimate techniques of the Ittō-ryū from the Ono family in swordsmanship...
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...and was naturally a master of archery and horsemanship. Once, he went alone to Owari Nagoya and snuck into the castle, wandering around looking here and there, when the Lord of Owari spotted him and ordered "Whoever this is should be captured!" This order was given after spotting him from a turret. Mizuno Kenbutsu quickly sensed the situation and immediately left the castle, mounted a swift horse he had stationed outside, galloped away at full speed, and finally returned to Okazaki. The Lord of Owari was greatly angered and regretful, wondering how to retaliate. He first selected three men skilled in stealth, conveyed his secret intentions to them, and sent them to Okazaki. The three men went to Okazaki, carefully observed the castle's situation, and one stormy night secretly infiltrated the castle, quietly removed all the weapons from within the castle, piled them in front of the main entrance, and then returned to Nagoya. Since it was the middle of the night and particularly stormy in Okazaki, no one noticed. The next morning when people discovered this, everyone was greatly shocked, but Mizuno Kenbutsu alone, having some understanding of the situation, ordered the weapons to be quickly returned to the castle without any investigation and strictly forbade any discussion of the matter. Since Okazaki served as a check against Owari, various precautions were in place.
Such incidents occurred. From today's perspective, this is quite a humorous story, but at the time, despite the Lord of Owari being the shogun's uncle, Edo was concerned about the possibility of rebellious intentions, so they stationed this Mizuno Tadayoshi at Okazaki as a so-called check against Owari. The latter half of the story in particular reveals the behind-the-scenes nature of warrior houses of that time, which I find quite interesting. There are further records as follows:
Also, Mizuno Kenbutsu once made disrespectful and excessive remarks to Masuyama Masatoshi, the castle lord of Nishio in the same province. At that time, everyone thought Masuyama Masatoshi would surely become angry, but Masatoshi paid no attention and smiled, praising that "Kenbutsu-dono's martial stories are always so valiant." Since Mizuno had no one to fight with, his slander naturally ceased. Later, Masatoshi said that Kenbutsu claimed that even if tens of thousands of Owari forces came, he wouldn't let them advance even an inch beyond Okazaki - such was his usual boastful talk, but those from neighboring districts and provinces...
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