The First Magistrate / 初代の代官

和訳は英文の下にきますが、現在作業中です。 / The Japanese translation is under construction and will follow the English text.

The First Magistrate of Sado

Contents

1. The earlier life of OKUBO Nagayasu
2. The first magistrate of Sado
3. The downfall of the Okubos
4. Noh-gaku

1. The earlier life of OKUBO Nagayasu

The extraordinary success of the Sado gold mines at the onset of Edo Period is attributed to a man named OKUBO Nagayasu. He was the first magistrate of Sado under the new government the Tokugawas had just founded.

Nagayasu was a son of a sarugaku-shi (a performer of the traditional Japanese theater). His father was from the province of Yamato (present-day Nara) and moved to Kai (likewise, Yamanashi). It was a time when you expected a son to learn to inherit the father’s business from an early age. So we believe the father trained him in Sarugaku, too, but the son’s path did not go that way. 

People soon found that Nagayasu was a very intelligent child. The Takedas, the most powerful warlord family in Kai, also noticed it and had the young boy work for TAKEDA Shingen, the revered head of the clan. In his administration, Nagayasu learned and worked in taxation, mining, processing and civil engineering among others.

In 1582, ODA Nobunaga, another warlord from Owari (present-day Aichi) fought and decimated the Takedas. As a result, a lot of vassals lost employment, when a warlord who had held deep respect for Shingen hired some of them. One of them was Nagayasu, and his new master was TOKUGAWA Ieyasu.

4. The first magistrate of Sado

Ieyasu needed to establish his government quickly. Due to Nagayasu’s competency, Ieyasu promoted him at an extraordinary speed and assigned him to important tasks one after another. Nagayasu excelled in accounting, and he rebuilt the administration of Kai Province, which was in chaos when the long reign of Takedas no longer existed after more than four centuries. Nagayasu also performed land surveying and made the cadastre of Edo after Ieyasu moved to Edo Castle. Ieyasu had him manage important remote provinces, including all the silver and gold mines, which were under direct control of the government. Nagayasu had the milestones and transportation system constructed centered around Edo, and did many other things which helped establish the new government.

He held several positions at the same time: Magistrate of Yamato, and of Mino, Shogunate Administrator in Kai, Iwami, and Izu, Inspector of Iwami Silver Mine, Expropriator in Sado, and so on. 

As the first magistrate in Sado, too, he had an extraordinary success. He had workers mine and dress on a large scale with a method he learned at the Takedas and elaborated with the new European technique. He was also credited with construction and maintenance of roads and ports, designing a town with areas with different functions.

Ieyasu, now the new Shogun, made much of him at the beginning. As the mining production declined, however, he stripped titles from Nagayasu one by one. It seemed Ieyasu still cared about him a lot when he got paralysis, and he sent a rare present; a medicine that Ieyasu formulated by himself. However, after about a year when Nagayasu passed away, Ieyasu’s behavior surprised people.

3. The downfall of the Okubos

First, he had Nagayasu’s funeral cancelled. Then he had all the account books seized and thoroughly investigated by his officials.

As a result, they accused him of theft and the late Nagayasu was judged as an insurrectionist. Ieyasu confiscated the Okubos’ entire property, including the colossal amount of gold, silver, and fine art. All of Nagayasu’s seven sons were ordered to commit suicide.

Thus the Okubos’ family line ceased to exist. Even some of their friends and relatives fell from power. 

Major incident as it was, the details are lost in history and there are a lot of suppositions about it. 

Was Nagayasu really dishonest and an insurgent? Was someone jealous of the Okubos’ power and wealth and trapped them when Nagayasu passed away?

According to some, Nagayasu’s contract with the government, although it was of a common nature, had enabled him to gather far more money and power than Ieyasu had expected, as he managed the gold and silver mines in Sado and elsewhere. Ieyasu had been watching him with caution.

Today, we think that by this time, Ieyasu had established hegemony over all other warlords, and the turbulent Sengoku Period had passed. For him, however, his power was not solid enough. His former master’s family, the Toyotomis, still existed, for one, and was supported by some faithful former courtier warlords. Nagayasu had made connections with many influential warlords through the government projects and marriages of his family members. Also he had hoarded pure gold; if not intending to buy guns, what for? It may be natural that the new ruler suspected an insurgency.

Ieyasu was already 71 years old at a time when the average age at death of warlords was less than 50. He didn’t know he was going to live to 75, a year after a perfect victory over the Toyotomis. We can imagine he wanted to eliminate a future threat to the peaceful future of his descendants. 

In addition, Nagayasu loved a very lavish lifestyle. He had dozens of mistresses, and took hundreds of entourages when embarked on the ship to Sado as a magistrate.

Ieyasu was a man of a plain lifestyle. He discreetly hated this kind of behavior. It seems that he warned that future magistrates should not follow suit by the total denial of Nagayasu’s lifestyle.

4. Noh-gaku

This is the story behind the absence of Nagayasu’s credit in the official record, but his name is well remembered in Sado.

Nagayasu didn’t inherit his father’s profession, but he loved Noh, an art form of  Sarugaku, throughout his life. He took Noh lessons from a professional performer, and he even brought him to Sado with him. He dedicated Noh performance to many shrines there, and he also built a shrine with a Noh stage. It seems Not was not only his hobby but also a way to express his faith to the gods and to wish for their protection. 

In those days, Noh was an accomplishment of the warrior class, but he allowed commoners and peasants to see the performances. He was a commoner’s son himself, and after all he may have loved enjoying events with a lot of people. 

Noh stayed in people’s lives in Sado. Today, Sado is the place where people perform Noh most frequently.

[End of the English post]

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For more on Noh on Sado Island, please continue to read:

=> Myosenji Temple and Daizen Jinja Shrine

For more on Sado Gold Mines, please continue to read:

=> Sado Gold Mines

=> 1. Visit to Sado Gold Mines

=> 2. Japan’s Gold Before Sado Mines Opened

=> 3. A Brief History of Sado Mines

=> 4. Two Labor Issues