最上義光歴史館
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PREFACE
It is with great pleasure that the Yamagata City Culture Foundation presents the English translation of Saijōki: Gendaigo-yaku (Saijōki: Modern Japanese Translation, Mogami Yoshiaki Historical Museum, Yamagata City Culture Foundation, 2009). The modern Japanese translation of Saijōki is the work of Shigeo Katagiri, a historian specializing in the history of the Yamagata area and one of the foremost researchers of Mogami Yoshiaki. The original Saijōki document, written in 1634 by an unnamed former retainer of the Mogami clan, used an archaic form of Japanese that is difficult for the general reader of today to interpret, and it is thanks to the efforts of Mr. Katagiri that this work is now enjoyed by a wide range of Japanese readers. Although Mogami Yoshiaki is not nearly as well-known as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, or other famous contemporaries, he was in reality an important daimyo of his time. Saijōki details the events in Yoshiaki’s life from the perspective of one of his own retainers, and though the events described are not always grounded in objective historical fact, this work offers the reader an eye-witness view of an important figure in the history of Yamagata. There are few works in English that contain such a detailed account of a historical personage who may be relatively unknown outside of Japan, and the completion of the English version of Saijōki on the eve of the fourth centennial of Yoshiaki’s death, which is coming up in 2014, makes the timing of this publication particularly auspicious. We hope that many readers will take advantage of this English translation to acquaint themselves with a lord known to the people of Yamagata as a wise and distinguished ruler of a bygone age. March, 2012 Noboru Ōba Yamagata City Culture Foundation, Chairman of the Board of Directors >>CONTENTS |
TRANSLATOR’S FOREWORD
Saijōki (The Mogami Chronicles) is the tale that revolves around the life of Mogami Yoshiaki (1546-1614), a damiyo of the Dewa province (present-day Yamagata prefecture) during the turbulent Sengoku, or ‘Warring States’, period that is defined by some historians as lasting from the mid-15th century to the early 17th century. A beloved figure in the history of the Yamagata region, Yoshiaki is credited for many accomplishments, including contributions to the economic development of the province, the importation of culture from the capital region, the reconstruction of Yamagata Castle, and the creation of a castle town upon which the modern city of Yamagata is based. Yoshiaki is also known as an able warrior and skilled general, and it is this aspect of his legacy that Saijōki concerns itself with. Made up of tales of his successes – and the occasional failure – in battle, this work comprises an at times loosely-connected string of the military conquests that allowed Yoshiaki to achieve his dominance over the Dewa province. Saijōki was written by a self-described former vassal of the Mogami clan in the early years of the Edo period (1603-1868), after infighting between senior Mogami clan retainers resulted in the forfeiture of the domain under the control of the Mogami family – the fifth largest domain in Japan during Yoshiaki’s lifetime – in 1622. This vassal left the Yamagata region, drifting southwards to the district of Kasai (located within the present-day Tokyo area), and it was there that he set down on paper this history of the Mogami clan. These tales should not be seen as accounts that are entirely true to history, but rather as an observer’s recollection of Yoshiaki’s life and times that is indeed based on actual events and true facts, but is also freely punctuated with the embellishments of legend and memory. Since this account does present itself as an actual history of Yoshiaki, however, it is of significant historical value in that it may serve as a valuable illustration of the status the legendary general acquired in the minds of his followers, and may also accurately reflect the stories that were told of Yoshiaki during his lifetime and the period following his death. The date given for the writing of Saijōki is 1634, and the original manuscript was written in an older style of Japanese not easily intelligible to the modern reader. To make this document accessible to a wider audience, the Mogami Yoshiaki Historical Museum commissioned the translation of the original manuscript into modern Japanese in 2009. This translation was undertaken by Shigeo Katagiri, a prominent Mogami Yoshiaki researcher as well as the Director of the Kaminoyama Municipal Library and the former Director of the Mogami Yoshiaki Historical Museum. This English version of Saijōki is a full translation of the modern Japanese version that was made while consulting the original manuscript, and I am very grateful to Mr. Katagiri and the Mogami Yoshiaki Historical Museum for their valuable help and advice. I would now like to offer a few comments and observations regarding the English translation. Firstly, I would like to note that the title – Saijōki – is a phonetic rendering of the Japanese title, which is the on-yomi (Chinese reading) of the characters “最上記”. The kun-yomi (Japanese reading) of the same three characters would be “Mogami (最上) – ki (記)”, referring to a “Mogami record” or “Mogami chronicle”, as expressed in the English title “The Mogami Chronicles”. The names of the persons who appear in Saijōki are given as they appear in the Japanese text. Often a mixture of name and title, these names, especially those of the higher-ranking personages, can be long and cumbersome. A complete list of all the persons appearing in Saijōki can be found at the end of the book, and the simpler and more commonly used designations for some of these personages are noted there. The phonetic readings of these names differ somewhat from age to age: for example, while the name “五兵衛” would have been pronounced Gohyōei in the pre-Edo period, the Edo-period reading for this name was simplified to Gohei. In this English text, the simpler Edo-period readings of names have been used. While measurements in the Japanese text appear in the form of traditional units such as ken (1.818 meters), chō (109.09 meters), and shaku (30.3 cm), I have converted these to metric amounts in the English version to allow for easier reading. On the other hand, dates are given in the era name/year number combination used in the Japanese text (for example, Enbun 1 refers to the first year of the Enbun era), while the corresponding year of the western calendar is given as a footnote. Months and days are given in a “1st day of the second month” format that may seem clumsy; however, the old Japanese calendar does not exactly correspond to the modern calendar, and the “4th day of the eighth month” would not fall on August 4 of the Gregorian calendar. It is hoped that this manner of notation will help the reader to keep this discrepancy in mind. Returning to the subject matter, it is interesting to note that while there was no single family that exerted a greater influence over the history of the Yamagata region than the Mogami clan, and no other Mogami lord who achieved the legendary status of Yoshiaki, the history contained within Saijōki (and a few differently named but almost identical versions that are clearly based on the Saijōki manuscript) remains the only definitive record of Yoshiaki’s life and achievements. The accounts of Yoshiaki’s military campaigns illustrate the tumultuous nature of the Sengoku period, and the tales are imbued with the strong warrior ethos that characterizes the samurai of this period. The time of Yoshiaki represents the zenith of the Mogami dominion over the Yamagata area, for the Edo period, which began shortly before Yoshiaki’s death, ushered in a time of peace that saw a lessening of the military role of the samurai as well as the precipitous decline of the Mogami clan. However, it is thanks to the anonymous author of Saijōki that we are still able to enjoy a vivid and personal view of the intersection between the “golden age” of the samurai and the illustrious career of the celebrated Mogami Yoshiaki. March, 2012 Lisa Somers >>CONTENTS |
年末年始の休館
下記の日を休館いたします。 12月29日(水)・30日(木)・31日(金)、1月1日(土)・2日(日)・3日(月) 新年1月4日(火)から平常どおり開館いたします。 |
子供たちに大人気の「最上義光指揮棒えんぴつ」です!!
入館した小中学生が「最上義光クイズ」に挑戦して全問正解するともらえる特別限定の景品です!! 最上義光が愛用した伝説の指揮棒をデザインした大変縁起のよいものです!! 【うんちく】 今から約４００年前、義光は慶長出羽合戦で上杉景勝の重臣・直江兼続と戦い勝利しました。当時上杉軍といえば全国の武将たちが震え上がる天下無敵の最強の軍隊です。この戦いで義光が肌身離さず携えていたのが、この指揮棒です。義光にとってこの指揮棒は「幸運の指揮棒」だったのかもしれません。 実物は、鉄製で、長さが８６．５�僉⊇鼎気�１．７５�圓△蝓�刀２本分の重さです。「清和天皇末葉山形出羽守有髪僧義光」と刻まれています。自分は清和天皇の子孫である清和源氏であること、山形出羽守であること、剃髪していないが仏に仕える身であることを示しています。 クイズに挑戦してゲット!!...これであなたも...試験に勝てる!?勝負に勝てる!?  ▲実物はこんな感じのえんぴつです。。 本物の指揮棒の情報はこちら。 最上義光の指揮棒とは？ ...もっと詳しく |
(C) Mogami Yoshiaki Historical Museum
Lord Yoshiaki was well acquainted with the tales told of the uncommon strength of his vassal Nobesawa Noto no Kami, but one day he took it into his head to put this reputation to the test. From among his personal attendants and other retainers, he selected seven or eight of his most powerful men, and, garbed in light kimono, Lord Yoshiaki and this small band of men set off for Noto no Kami’s residence. When word of their approach reached the ears of Noto no Kami, he readied himself and went out alone into the great garden which lay outside a large room of his residence, waiting impatiently for the arrival of his guests. This took place during the seventh month, on the night of the full moon, and the scene was so flooded with moonlight that it seemed brighter even than midday.
Reaching their destination, the seven or eight men accompanying Lord Yoshiaki – all of them at the peak of their physical prowess – ran quickly into the garden where Noto no Kami awaited them. When one and then another of them attempted to catch hold of Noto no Kami, he seized them with his hands and tossed them a distance of some thirteen or fourteen meters. Seeing that they were singly no match for him, the remaining four or five men set on Noto no Kami as one, surrounding him on all sides and grappling with him as they attempted to wrestle him to the ground. However, Noto no Kami had not earned his reputation for naught. He used his arms and legs to pull and fling them down easily, and then he turned on Lord Yoshiaki. The scene he had just witnessed left his lordship in no doubt that his own strength would be no match for the other man’s, and he took to his heels without even a single glance behind him. When Noto no Kami overtook him and seized him from behind, his lordship must have been at a loss for what to do, for he grabbed hold of the trunk of a withered cherry tree, some seventy-five centimeters in diameter, and held on for dear life. Noto no Kami mustered all of his strength to pull Lord Yoshiaki away from the tree, but his lordship clung even more tightly. As this powerful struggle continued, the earth surrounding the base of the tree began to give way, and the tree was suddenly wrenched from the soil, roots and all. Not even Noto no Kami had anticipated this outcome, and he released Lord Yoshiaki in his surprise.
In a high good humor, his lordship addressed Noto no Kami. “Your strength far surpasses even the tales that are told of it,” his lordship said. “On that occasion when our army attempted to take Tendō while you still defended it, it is hardly surprising that you were able to sweep us up and send us packing on your own!” He bade Noto no Kami accompany him back to his castle, where he bestowed upon him many rich rewards. From that time forth, Noto no Kami was known by all the people in the domain as a man whose strength was indeed second to none.
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