Okubo Nagayasu Incident (2/2)An embezzlement case in the early Edo period? Or a political change? What is the “Okubo Nagayasu Incident”?

After Choyasu's death, he was suspected of illegally amassing wealth through embezzlement using gold and silver mines, and of overthrowing the shogunate.As a result, members of his family were executed, and those involved, including Tadochika Okubo, were also severely punished. It seems that this was a comeback attempt by the Bunji faction led by Honda and his son, who saw Choyasu's death as an opportunity, and one theory says that Masanobu Honda slandered Ieyasu in an attempt to oust Tadanori. By the way, the truth of whether or not Nagayasu was actually planning to overthrow the shogunate by illegally accumulating wealth has not been clearly clarified.

Now, let's look at the reasons why Chang'an was condemned one by one.

7 sons, confidant executed

Now, in response to these (alleged) actions of Nagayasu, Ieyasu executed all seven of Nagayasu's sons who opposed the investigation of his wealth, and also forced Nagamasa's vassals to death. Furthermore, Nagayasu's body was dug up, his head cut off, and his head was exposed on the banks of the Abe River in Suruga Province (Shizuoka Prefecture) as a demonstration.

By the way, Choyasu had three daughters, one to Yoshio, the successor of Yoshinari Hanai, the chief retainer of Tadaki Matsudaira, one to Masashige Hattori, Hattori Hanzo's second son, and one to Masashige Hattori, a former retainer of the Takeda family. She is married to Yoshimasa Mitsui, but she escaped the trouble. Details of those executed are as follows.

[Clan]

Eldest son: Tojuro Okubo (age 37): Married Yasunaga Ishikawa's daughter and served as Nara Magistrate.
Second son: Tojiro Okubo (passed away at age 36): Married Terumasa Ikeda's daughter
Third son: Narukuni Aoyama (Gonnosuke Okubo): Married to Narishige Aoyama's daughter and adopted by Aoyama's son-in-law.
Fourth son: Unjuro Okubo (passed away at age 29)
Fifth son: Togoro Okubo (passed away at age 27)
Sixth son: Gonrokuro Okubo (passed away at age 23): Married Yoshinari Hanai's daughter
Seventh son: Toshichiro Okubo (Anju) (passed away at age 15)
【confidant】
Toda Tozaemon
Toemon Yamada
Masakatsu Yonezu (Sakai Magistrate) was exiled to Awa Province and then executed.
In addition, many vassals and servants were beheaded.

[Main persons involved who were punished]

• Narishige Aoyama: 7,000 koku reduced and closed.
• Yasunaga Ishikawa: Along with his younger brothers Yasukatsu and Yasutsugu, he was exiled to Saeki, Bungo Province (Oita Prefecture) after having his territory confiscated.
• Nobumichi Takeda: Exiled to Izu Oshima with his child
• Tadari Okubo: Changed (Other reasons also overlapped, such as Masanobu Honda's slander)

In addition, Tadaki Matsudaira was exiled after Ieyasu's death for reasons such as being late to the Summer Campaign in Osaka, but there is a theory that this was due to the fact that the shogunate was wary of him in the wake of the Okubo Nagayasu Incident. .

Was Nagayasu aware of the suspicions before his death?

In this way, the Okubo Nagayasu Incident led to the total collapse of the Mudan faction. It is thought that the reason for the harsh punishment was to show the magistrates who had committed fraud, but Nagayasu himself was aware that he was being suspected.

Proof of this is a memorandum written to Takatora Todo a few days before his death, which was found among the "copies of documents held by Tozaemon Toda." It is written that the gold and silver mines that were in charge have been settled, and the names of the people in charge of each of them are listed. He insists that he does not use anyone's property without permission.

The truth remains in the darkness of history, whether there was really any fraud or not. What do you think, guys? It might be interesting to think about it in various ways.