Nihonmatsu, a strategic location on the Sendai route ~ APR, 2025 ~

For drinkers, Nihonmatsu is the town of "Oku no Matsu" and "Dai-shichi", but I think many people were excited to watch the battle between Date Masamune and the Hatakeyama clan in the NHK historical drama "Dokuganryu Masamune". Also, during the Edo period, the Niwa clan ruled the Nihonmatsu domain with 107,000 koku of rice and developed the castle town. Nihonmatsu Castle, along with Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle, is one of only two castles in Fukushima Prefecture designated as one of the 100 most famous castles in Japan, but it boasts a majestic presence befitting its position as the base of the Oshu Kaido road, and the path up to the castle is well maintained, giving the citizens of Nihonmatsu a deep attachment to it. I have visited many castles in the past, but the view of the Bandai and Adatara mountains from the main citadel was magnificent. Takamura Chieko's family home was in Nihonmatsu, and thanks to this castle, I was able to truly see the "true sky" that was written about in "Chieko Sho".

About 10 years ago, I stopped by Nihonmatsu Castle while following in the footsteps of Matsuo Basho, but the stone walls around the main castle had collapsed due to the effects of the earthquake in 2011, so I was unable to climb up to the main castle. This time, I was able to see the stone walls built by Gamo Ujisato during the Keicho period, including the reinforced areas. The castle was originally built with piles of earth, but after Hideyoshi's Oshu Punishment, the Gamo clan, who held 920,000 koku of land in Aizu, had the Ano-shu, who were brought over from Omi, build the stone walls.

Date Masamune inherited the family headship at the age of just 17 in 1584. Two years had passed since the Honnoji Incident, and Hideyoshi and Ieyasu were in the midst of the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute. As the outcome of the country was being decided, Masamune aimed to become the ruler of Oshu and quickly won over neighboring lords. After driving Ouchi Sadatsuna to Aizu, which belonged to the Ashina clan, he asked the Hatakeyama clan of Nihonmatsu to submit to him.

While Masamune entered Obama Castle, which he had taken from the Ouchi clan, and laid siege to Nihonmatsu Castle, his father Terumune entered the nearby Miyamori Castle. Hatakeyama clan leader Noritsugu visited Miyamori Castle to ask for help in appeasing the hardline Masamune.

After meeting with Terumune, Yoshitsugu took the opportunity to kidnap Terumune and hurried back to Nihonmatsu Castle, but Masamune caught up with them on the way at Awanosu. Resigned to his fate, Yoshitsugu stabbed Terumune to death and committed suicide, but there is also an anecdote that Masamune shot both of them with a gun on his father's orders. Burning with revenge, Masamune launched a fierce attack on Nihonmatsu Castle, but after fighting the Satake and Soma armies that came to Hatakeyama's aid (Battle of Hitotoribashi), he once withdrew, but the castle was surrendered the following year.

The stone walls of Obama Castle, where Masamune was based, were also built by Gamo Ujisato, and this also seems to have been the work of the Ano-shu. Ouchi Sadatsuna, who was chased out by Masamune, was a member of a clan that had lived in Wakasa Obama until two generations ago, and it seems that the castle was named after him.

Apparently there is a famous product in Aizu called Mishirazu persimmon, which is said to have originally been persimmon seeds brought by Sadatsuna Ouchi when he fled to Aizu (the descendants of the original tree are growing at Saienji Temple). I'd like to try it this year.

During the Sengoku period in the Tohoku region, the territory was divided between the retainers who had been there since the Kamakura period and the Ashikaga clan who had been sent there during the Muromachi period. After Yoritomo destroyed the Oshu Fujiwara clan in the Oshu War, he gave his vast remaining territory to the retainers in Nanbu, Ashina (Miura clan), Date, Soma (Chiba clan), Kasai, and other areas. During the Muromachi period, the shogunate sent the Shiba clan (Mogami and Osaki clans) of the Ashikaga clan, and the Kitabatake clan moved there from the Southern Court. Among the feudal lords who became warlords were ancient clans such as the Ando clan (descendant of the Abe clan) and the Tamura clan (descendant of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro), and the authority and ties of the long-standing medieval feudal society were still strongly felt in this region. As Hideyoshi's project to unify the country progressed, Masamune, who came into the world late, rushed to conquer, even if it meant pushing himself a little, but it was unfortunate that there was only six years between his succession as head of the family and the Hideyoshi's Odawara Conquest.

Nihonmatsu is not well known, overshadowed by the Aizu War, but it was a place of resistance during the Boshin War, and where young samurai, like the Byakkotai, fought against the government forces. The Aizu clan, an illegitimate son of Shogun Hidetada and raised by Iemitsu to a related feudal lord with a fief of 280,000 koku, would have had a reason to resist the government forces to the end at a time of crisis for the shogunate, but it is interesting to know why the Nihonmatsu clan, an outside feudal lord, put up such a desperate resistance.

Niwa Nagahide, along with Shibata Katsuie, was one of Nobunaga's top retainers, and is also famous for having received a character from his name when Hideyoshi took the name Hashiba. Nagahide became a great daimyo with 1.23 million koku, mainly in Echizen, but after his death, Nagashige, who succeeded him, was wary of Hideyoshi and had his fief reduced by 90% to 123,000 koku. Furthermore, although he sided with the Tokugawa in the Battle of Sekigahara, he was stripped of his fief for violating military orders, but after a while Hidetada restored him to a daimyo with 10,000 koku. It is said that this was because Hidetada's fearsome wife (Ogo) and Nagashige's wife were cousins. He was later increased to 107,000 koku in Shirakawa, and moved to Nihonmatsu under the successor Mitsushige. Niwa Nagashige and Tachibana Muneshige are the only two daimyo to regain a fief of over 100,000 koku after being stripped of their fiefs once. During the Boshin War, the Yanagawa Domain (Tachibana family) located in Kyushu joined the Imperial Army early on, fighting all the way to Aizu and receiving prize money, but the Nihonmatsu Domain fought to the end and surrendered. The lord of the domain, Nagakuni, retired and was adopted by the Uesugi family of the Yonezawa Domain, and the domain was reduced in size by 50,000 koku.

During the time of Shogun Tsunayoshi, Sakuma Katsuchika, a small feudal lord of Naganuma Domain in Shinshu with a fief of 10,000 koku, was stripped of his title and placed in the care of Nihonmatsu Domain. It seems that the fact that both Niwa and Sakuma were former retainers of the Oda clan was a consideration. Niwa Nagatsugu, the lord of the domain, took into consideration the fact that Naganuma Domain's founder Katsuyuki had once been adopted by Sassa Narimasa, and prepared a mansion for Katsuchika, ordered his retainer Sassa Kichibei (a descendant of Narimasa) to guard him, and treated him with the utmost respect. Ryusenji Temple is located in a corner of a hilly area lined with castles, and the hill with the tombstone is surrounded by rape blossoms.

The famous places in Nihonmatsu are the castle and the family home of Chieko Takamura. I walked along Junai（true love） Street, but I'm sure the locals would be bewildered if myself, who is over 60 years old, were wandering around alone. The family home, which was a sake brewery, has been renovated and a memorial hall has been added.

Unfortunately, the cherry blossoms had already passed their peak this time, but there are so many cherry trees in the mountain villages of Fukushima. There are signs for famous places with cherry blossoms everywhere, so you may not have time to visit castles or temples during the full-bloom season. The Ozawa cherry blossoms in Tamura City were once the filming location for the movie "First Love" starring Rena Tanaka (although the setting was Kamiina, Nagano Prefecture). I changed departments about 25 years ago, and there was a time when my business trips between Japan and the United States suddenly increased. I used to drink a lot of alcohol and go to sleep on night flights, but I happened to watch "First Love" and cried so hard that the flight attendant brought me two wet towels. This movie and "Serendipity" that I watched at the time are must-haves for two wet towels.