英語訳
[Header] Toyohashi City Historical Discussions - (The Decline of the Imagawa Clan and the Invasion of the Takeda Clan) - 98
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zawa Castle, was attacked by the Takeda clan, fled to Takatengjin, and died in battle there. Originally, there are various theories about what kind of background this person Shigesane had, and it is quite uncertain. However, he had considerable influence within the Imagawa house, and according to the "Matsudaira-ki," initially a resident of Ōmi named Ogura Mikawa-no-kami was taking hot spring baths in Atami, Izu, when he unexpectedly encountered Yoshimoto and was invited to serve him. Since he said he was an old man, he recommended his son named Yosuke. Shigesane was also from Ōmi, and through this Yosuke's introduction came to serve the Imagawa house. His son Uemon-no-suke succeeded the position of Imagawa house elder Miura Jirō Uemon, had military prowess, but was particularly handsome, so he was Ujizane's favorite retainer.
Also according to the same book, from around Eiroku 10, elegant dancing became popular in Suruga Province, and Ujizane spent day and night indulging in banquets, dancing and making music with these favorite retainers. However, regarding these matters, there are quite different theories, so without deep research I cannot make definitive judgments, but in any case, Suruga's national administration became greatly disordered around that time, and the people's hearts were gradually beginning to turn away.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the one who quickly set his sights on Suruga was Takeda Shingen of Kai. In discussing the Takeda clan's invasion, I think I must first briefly discuss not only the Takeda clan but also the generals of Kantō as background, but regarding Takeda Shingen, I believe you gentlemen are already well acquainted with his story without my explanation.
Originally, Shingen's father, a man named Nobutora, wielded considerable military authority and brought the various clans of Kai Province under his control. This person had many truly tyrannical and merciless acts, and the resentment of the people was extreme, so in the sixth month of Tenbun 10 at age 48, he retired to Suruga. Regarding this matter, theories from the "Kōyō Gunkan" and similar works have been most widely circulated, so it has been transmitted that Shingen expelled his father and established himself independently. However, as I mentioned before, the book called "Kōyō Gunkan" cannot be fully trusted, and there are various theories about its author. The general scholarly consensus is that a person named Kohata Kanbei Kagenori, in order to preserve Shingen's legacy by recording Takeda military methods and discussing the gains and losses of battle strategies, incorporated the posthumous records of Takasaka Danjō and
[Header] Mayor of Toyohashi, Mr. Ōguchi Kiroku, has devoted his extensive knowledge and inexhaustible energy to compiling the history of Toyohashi City for over a year, and now as his manuscript is nearly complete
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[Header] Toyohashi City Historical Discussions
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the memoirs of Yamamoto Kansuke's son, the monk Sekiyama Gakubun, adding fictional embellishments to them. Therefore, theories based on that book are not only hard to believe, but according to the "Nishihara Documents" and the "Myōhōji-ki," regarding Nobutora's retirement, it was arranged by Takeda house elders and Imagawa house elder Okabe Mino-no-kami along with Elder Sesshū, who first invited Nobutora to Suruga and advised him to retire, and Nobutora finally accepted this - this seems to be the truth. At that time, Suruga was in the prosperous era of Imagawa Yoshimoto, and Yoshimoto's wife was Nobutora's daughter, so the alliance between the Takeda and Imagawa clans was firm, which is why such an arrangement was believed to have been made.
Here I would like to briefly discuss Yamamoto Kansuke. According to current research, this person does not seem to have the kind of background traditionally attributed to him, and apparently he was merely a common soldier under Yamagata Saburōbei Masakage. However, as mentioned before, his son, a monk named Gakubun, had some literary ability and recorded his father's deeds with various embellishments. The author of "Kōyō Gunkan" further used this as material and added fictional theories, thus giving birth to the legends that circulate today - this theory I believe to be correct.
In works like the "Tōkaidō Meisho Zue," there are illustrations resembling Liu Xuande's three visits to Zhuge Liang, showing Shingen visiting Kansuke at his temporary residence in Ushikubo, but these are of course fictional theories not worth considering, yet they have become causes for the spread of erroneous legends.
Now, Shingen was born in the first year of Taiei, year of the Snake, so when he replaced his father Nobutora as lord of Kai Province, he was twenty-one years old, but he had long harbored ambitions to plant his banner in the capital region. For this, the only immediate method was to take the route through Shinano and Hida, so instead he formed an alliance with the Hōjō clan of Kantō and devoted his efforts exclusively to conquering Shinano. Thus in Tenbun 11 he sent troops to Shinano and first destroyed his brother-in-law Suwa Yorishige, then in the 12th year defeated Ogasawara Nagatoki, lord of Fukashi Castle (present-day Matsumoto), and in the 14th and 15th years continued to send troops to both the Ina and Saku regions, but in the 16th year made two military expeditions
[Header] Toyohashi City Historical Discussions - (The Decline of the Imagawa Clan and the Invasion of the Takeda Clan) - 99