英語訳
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Toyohashi City Historical Discourse (Ōta Kinjō and Nobuaki) 358
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The exact date of Kinjō's appointment cannot be determined clearly now, but judging from the facts, it is believed to have been around Bunka 3-4 (1806-1807), when the heir was fifteen or sixteen years old and Kinjō was around forty-two or forty-three. From this time forward, Kinjō contributed considerably to the advancement of learning in the Yoshida domain. At that time, our Yoshida had a domain school called Jishūkan.
**Jishūkan**
This was established around the time when Nobuaki's grandfather Nobunao was transferred to Yoshida. At its founding, Miura Chikkei probably played a major role, but by Nobuaki's time, the scale was greatly expanded and the regulations reformed. A Confucian scholar named Nishioka Zensuke was primarily in charge of supervision, but Kinjō also contributed significantly to this effort. In Bunsei 2 (1819), the year of Nobuaki's death, the heir Nobuyori had to return to his domain soon after inheriting the headship, and Kinjō accompanied him to Yoshida. He remained in this area until the following year, during which time he served as a professor at Jishūkan. Indeed, most of Kinjō's writings that remain in the Toyohashi area today date from this period.
Later, Kinjō requested leave and traveled to Kyoto, but at that time, Lord Kinryū of Kaga repeatedly sought to recruit Kinjō, leading to numerous negotiations. Initially, Nobuyori was reluctant to agree, but faced with Kaga's earnest requests, he found it difficult to refuse and consulted with Kinjō. Since it concerned his native province, Kinjō agreed to accept the position and moved to Kaga with a stipend of 300 koku. He died of illness in Edo on April 22, Bunsei 8 (1825), at the age of sixty-one. His grave is at Ichijōin in Yanaka. During his lifetime, he was particularly close to Fujita Yūkoku of Mito, and Yūkoku wrote his grave inscription. This Yūkoku, as you know, was the father of Tōkō.
Now, Kinjō's common name was Saisa. He had a refined, lean appearance, spoke eloquently like flowing water, and his debates were so refreshing that listeners never grew tired. However, he was carefree and unconcerned with petty details, which sometimes drew criticism. Nevertheless, his vast learning amazed his generation, and his writings, including the famous "Gosō Manpitsu"...
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Mayor of Toyohashi Ōguchi Kiroku has devoted his extensive knowledge and inexhaustible energy to compiling the history of Toyohashi City for over a year, and now as the manuscript nears completion...
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This Toyohashi City Historical Discourse is published once a week (on Tuesdays) and presented to readers of the Sanyō Newspaper.
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Initially, many works were left behind, which, as you all well know, I need not describe in detail here.
**Ōta Seiken**
When Kinjō left the Yoshida domain, he specifically left behind his third son, Rozaburō, to serve the Lord of Yoshida. This person took the pen name Seiken, had the given name Atsushi, and was a scholar second only to his father. When he was nineteen years old, one night he attended a banquet at Kameda Hōsai's residence. It happened that black clouds covered the sky and the bright moon had not yet appeared, so Hōsai used this scene as a topic and had everyone compose poetry. Seiken immediately composed twelve poems, amazing all the distinguished guests present. This man lived until Meiji 6 (1873) and died of illness in October at the age of seventy-nine. The current instructor at Aichi Prefecture Second Middle School, Mr. Ōta Saijirō, is his legitimate grandson and Kinjō's great-grandson.
I believe there are many points of reference, so without hesitation about duplication, I would like to introduce the complete text of Kinjō's grave inscription written by Fujita Yūkoku.
**Grave Inscription of Master Kinjō, Ōta Saisa**
In Bunsei 8, the year of the metal rooster, on the twenty-third day of the fourth month, Master Kinjō died of illness in Edo at the age of sixty-one. He was buried within the grounds of Ichijōin in the northern suburb of Yanaka. Over a thousand people attended his funeral. His friend Fujita Ichisei in Mito, upon hearing the news, wept and said to others: "This man was a rare talent under heaven, a famous Confucian of his generation, a treasure of the realm. Heaven should indeed grieve for the world's loss. That such a person should die is truly lamentable." The master was of the Ōta family, with the personal name Genjō and the courtesy name Kōkan. Kinjō was his pen name, while Saisa was what he commonly called himself. His seventh-generation ancestor, Shibayama Kenmotsu, served Toyotomi Hideyoshi with a stipend of ten thousand koku. Kenmotsu's grandson, called Yūan, withdrew into medicine and lived in the capital. He had two sons, both of whom served Kaga as physicians. Kaga was a large northern domain, with descendants of Lord Kan serving as its rulers for generations. The main domain was governed from Kanazawa, while a branch fief was established at Daishōji. Yūan's two sons each established separate family lines: the elder became the Nose family serving Kanazawa, while the younger became the Ōta family serving the lord of Daishōji castle, and their descendants made their homes there. His father was called Genkaku, a man of extensive reading and strong memory, skilled in yin-yang and herbal studies, generous in giving, and practicing hidden virtues. He married a woman of the Kashida family and had eight sons, of whom our master was the youngest. He was born in Fukuda village of Daishōji. Born with exceptional talent, he began learning characters at age five, understanding the difference between "shi" (warrior) and "do" (earth), composed poetry at eleven, and lectured on classics and histories at thirteen, earning the reputation of a child prodigy in his hometown. Our master early followed his elder brother Hakkō, [studied] family learning, and achieved considerable success. However, not content to be a provincial scholar tied to the northern land, he developed worldly ambitions, traveling west to Kyoto and east to Edo...
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Toyohashi City Historical Discourse (Ōta Kinjō and Nobuaki) 359