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. Nogaku
1. The earlier life of OKUBO Nagayasu
The extraordinary success of the Sado gold mines at the onset of Edo Period is attributed to the first magistrate of Sado under the new government the Tokugawa family had just founded. His name is OKUBO Nagayasu.
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 and continue 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.
It seems that Nagayasu was a very intelligent child. The Takedas, the most powerful warlord family in Kai, noticed it and had the young boy work for the revered head of the clan, TAKEDA Shingen. In his administration, Nagayasu learned and worked in taxation, mining, processing and civil engineering.
In 1582, Oda Nobunata, another warlord from Owari (present-day Aichi) fought and decimated the Takeda family. A lot of vassals lost employment, and a warlord who held deep respect for Shingen hired some of them. Nagayasu was among those who began to serve him, TOKUGAWA Ieyasu.
4. The first magistrate of Sado
Due to Nagayasu’s competency, Ieyasu promoted him at an extraordinary speed and assigned him to important tasks one after another. Nagayasu was good at accounting, and he rebuilt the administration of Kai Province, which was in chaos after the Takedas perished. He 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, 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 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 was a surprise.
3. The downfall of the Okubos
First, he had Nagayasu’s funeral cancelled. Then he had all the account books seized and investigated thoroughly by his officials.
As a result, they accused him of theft and the late Nagayasu was judged as a insurrectionist. Ieyasu confiscated the Okubos’ entire property, including the colossal amount of gold, silver, 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 close 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 one theory, Nagayasu’s contract with the government, although it was of a common nature, had allowed him to gather far more money and power than Ieyasu expected, as he managed the gold and silver mines in Sado and elsewhere. Ieyasu had been watching him with caution.
By this time, Ieyasu had established hegemony over all other warlords, and Sengoku Period seemed to have passed. For him, however, his struggle for power was not over. His former master’s family, the Toyotomis, still existed. 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 was natural that the new ruler suspected an insurgency.
Ieyasu was already 71 years old. Probably 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. Nogaku
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 was taking Noh lessons from a professional Noh performer, and he even took him to Sado with him. He dedicated Noh performance to many shrines there, and he also built a shrine with a Noh stage.
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 Sado Gold Mines, please continue to read:
=> 1. Visit to Sado Gold Mines
=> 2. Japan’s Gold Before Sado Mines Opened
=> 3. A Brief History of Sado Mines
