Tsugunosuke Kawai

Japanese: 河井継之助 - かわい・つぐのすけ

Year of death: 16th August 1868 (1st October 1868)
Year of birth: 1827.1.27 (1827.1.27)
A samurai of the Nagaoka Domain (Niigata Prefecture) during the late Edo period. His father was Akiki and his mother was Sadako. He studied twice in Edo, then in Chugoku and Kyushu, and in 1865 he was appointed as a county magistrate, the following year he served as a town magistrate, and in 1866 he was promoted to chief retainer. In December of the same year he accompanied the domain lord Makino Tadanori to Kyoto, where he proposed that the new government established by the restoration of imperial rule be re-entrusted to the Tokugawa. In January of the following year, 1868, he retired to Edo after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. He sold the assets of his domain residence and purchased a Gatling gun and other new weapons, and returned to Nagaoka in March. He remained neutral between the new government and the Aizu Domain and the various Oshu domains, and attempted to reconcile the two, but failed, and joined the Oshu-Echigo Reppan Dōmei. Nagaoka Castle fell to an attack by government forces on May 19, and was recaptured on July 24, but fell again on the 29th. He was wounded in the battle and was treated by Ryojun Matsumoto, but he died in battle.

(Inoue Isao)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：明治1.8.16(1868.10.1)
生年：文政10.1.1(1827.1.27)
幕末の長岡藩(新潟県)藩士。父は秋紀,母は貞子。2度にわたり江戸,次いで中国,九州を遊学し,慶応1(1865)年郡奉行,翌年町奉行兼務,同3年家老に上る。同年12月藩主牧野忠訓に従い上洛,王政復古で誕生した新政府に対し徳川への大政再委任を建言した。翌明治1(1868)年1月鳥羽・伏見の戦ののち江戸に退く。藩邸の資財を売却しガトリング砲ほかの新式兵器を購入,3月に長岡に帰る。新政府と会津藩並びに奥羽諸藩との間に中立し,双方の融和を図ろうとして失敗,奥羽越列藩同盟に加わる。5月19日政府軍の攻撃を受け長岡落城,7月24日奪回するが同29日再び落城。戦闘で負傷し,松本良順の手当てを受けたが甲斐なく陣没。<参考文献>今泉鐸次郎『河井継之助伝』

(井上勲)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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