Kawamura Zuiken

Japanese: 河村瑞賢 - かわむら・ずいけん

Year of death: June 16, 1699 (July 13, 1699)
Year of birth: Genna 4.2 (1618)
A merchant in the early Edo period. A contributor to shipping and flood control. Born in Higashimiya Village, Watarai County, Ise Province (Mie Prefecture). His given name was Yoshimichi, first Shichibei, then Juemon, and in later years he wore his hair up and became Heitayu. His pen name was Zuiken (Zuiken). At the beginning of the early modern period, when the development of the city of Edo began, and there was an urgent need for castle construction, river digging, and development of shipping routes, he emerged to respond to these needs. In that sense, it can be said that he had outstanding talent as a development entrepreneur, known as a modern developer. His talent and skills were not merely armchair theories absorbed as academic knowledge. Born into a poor farming family, he went to Edo at the age of 13 to work as a cart driver, and also worked as a laborer for civil engineering projects, pulling heavy carts loaded with earth and stones at construction sites. Although he was a practical man rooted in experience, he was not what you would call a craftsman, and showed his agility by buying up all the timber in Kiso and making a profit during the Great Edo Fire in 1657 (Meireki 3). He also had an anecdote about how he made money by pickling melons and eggplants for the Obon festival that had drifted below the cliffs of Shinagawa, and selling them as pickles. In that respect, he can be said to have been a businessman with a very rational sense of money and meticulous planning. Among the projects that Zuiken carried out under orders from the shogunate, the renewal of the East-West and West-West shipping routes and the improvement of the Yodo River can be considered his two greatest achievements. These are particularly well known from Arai Hakuseki's Ou Kaiun-ki and Kinai Jikawa-ki. In the winter of 1670, when the shogunate ordered him to ship tens of thousands of koku of rice from the shogunate's Shinobu County in Oshu to Edo, he surveyed the area and decided to sail his ship south from Arahama at the mouth of the Abukuma River, pass through Awa and Misaki (Sagami) or Shimoda (Izu), wait for a southwest wind to blow, turn back, and enter Edo Bay. He ordered the lords along the route to protect the ships transporting rice for their castles, and employed sturdy civilian ships from Ise, Owari, and Kii, which were familiar with the route, and in the 11th year of the same year, he succeeded in transporting rice using this strategy. This Eastern Route required less cost for transporting rice to Edo than the previous route of transferring rice to river boats from Nakaminatoguchi or Choshiguchi. In the following year, he was ordered by the shogunate to transport rice from the shogunate's territory of Murayama County, Dewa Province, to Edo. This time, he employed a civilian Shiwaku-kaisen ship from the Seto Inland Sea as a sturdy ship and its boatman. He designated Ogi (Sado), Fukuura (Noto), Shibayama (Tajima), Yunotsu (Iwami), Shimonoseki, Osaka, Oshima (Kii), Hoza (Ise), Anori (Shima), and Shimoda as ports of call, and he stationed a pilot boat in Shimonoseki and lit a beacon every night at Sugashima (Shima) at the entrance to Toba Port, striving to ensure the safety of the route. This was the development of the Nishimawari sea route, which provided the foundation for the great development of early modern shipping. Furthermore, from 1684 to 1685, he opened the New Aji River at the mouth of the Yodo River, measuring 1,600 ken (2.9 km) long and 50 ken (90 m) wide, and used the soil from that river to create a breakwater called "Zuikenyama," on which he planted pine trees as a landmark for sailors. He also worked hard to control flooding in the Kinai region, such as by equalizing the flow of the waters of the Yodo River and Nakatsugawa River, and he also provided guidance on the construction of the Nakae irrigation canal for the Echigo Takada Domain, the construction of the Gotsu Bay harbor, and the development of mines. He died in Edo and was buried at Kenchoji Temple in Kamakura. A monument commemorating his achievements, commemorating Kawamura Zuiken, stands at the site of the Kunitsu Bridge on the banks of the Aji River. <References> Arai Hakuseki, "Ou Kaiunki" and "Kinai Jikawaki" ("Arai Hakuseki Complete Works", Volume 3), Furuta Ryoichi, "Kawamura Zuiken" ("Jinbutsu Sosho" 121), Kodama Kota and Toyoda Takeshi, eds., "Transport History"

(Yuzuki Manabu)

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

Japanese:

没年：元禄12.6.16(1699.7.13)
生年：元和4.2(1618)
江戸前期の商人。海運・治水の功労者。伊勢国(三重県)度会郡東宮村生まれ。諱は義道,はじめ七兵衛,のち十右衛門,晩年束髪して平太夫。瑞賢(瑞軒)は号。近世初頭,江戸の町づくりが始まり,築城から河川の開削,海運ルートの開発などの必要に迫られたとき,それにこたえて登場した。その意味では現代のディベロッパーと呼ばれる開発事業家として,すぐれた才能を持っていたということができる。その才能と技術は,単なる学問として吸収した机上の空論ではなかった。貧農の家に生まれ,13歳のとき江戸に出て車力となり,また土木工事の人夫として普請場で土石を積んだ重い車を引いた。体験に根ざした実務家でありながら,いわゆる職人でもなく,明暦3(1657)年の江戸大火の際には木曾の材木を買い占めて利益をあげる機敏さをみせた。また品川の崖の下に漂流する盂蘭盆の瓜や茄子を拾って漬け物にし,それを売り歩いて資金を作ったというエピソードの持ち主でもあった。その点で実に合理的な金銭感覚と緻密な計画性を持った事業家であったといえる。瑞賢が幕命を受けて行った事業のうち,東廻り・西廻り海運の刷新と淀川河川の改修が2大功績としてあげられる。これらについては,特に新井白石の『奥羽海運記』と『畿内治河記』によってよく知られるところである。寛文10(1670)年の冬,幕府から奥州信夫郡の幕領米数万石を江戸に廻漕するよう命じられると,現地踏査を行い,阿武隈川河口の荒浜から船を南下させ,安房から三崎(相模)か下田(伊豆)を経て,西南風を待って引き返し,江戸湾に入ることに決めた。沿道の諸侯に御城米輸送船の保護を命じ,堅牢で航路に慣れた伊勢,尾張,紀伊などの民間船を雇い,同11年この方策によって廻米を成功させた。この東廻り航路は那珂湊口や銚子口から川船に積み替える従来のルートより江戸廻米の経費が少なくすんだ。翌12年,さらに幕府から出羽国村山郡の幕領米を江戸に廻漕するよう命じられた。このときは民間の堅牢な船として瀬戸内海塩飽廻船と船頭を採用した。寄港地として小木(佐渡),福浦(能登),柴山(但馬),温泉津(石見),下関,大坂,大島(紀伊),方座(伊勢),安乗(志摩),下田を定め,下関には水先案内船をおき,鳥羽港口の菅島(志摩)では毎夜烽火をあげるなどして航路の安全確保に努めた。これが西廻り航路の開発で,これにより近世海運は大きく発展してゆく基盤が与えられた。さらに貞享1(1684)年から同4年まで,淀川河口に長さ1600間(2.9km),幅50間(90m)の新安治川を開き,その土砂で「瑞賢山」と称される防波丘を作り,松樹を植えて航海者の目標とした。また淀川,中津川の水勢を均分するなど畿内の治水に尽力し,越後高田藩の中江用水の開削や郷津湾の築港,鉱山の開発なども指導した。江戸で没し,鎌倉の建長寺に葬られた。安治川畔の国津橋跡には「贈正河村瑞賢紀功碑」が建つ。<参考文献>新井白石『奥羽海運記』『畿内治河記』(『新井白石全集』3巻),古田良一『河村瑞賢』(『人物叢書』121),児玉幸多・豊田武編『交通史』

(柚木学)

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

<<: Hideaki Kawamura - Hideaki Kawamura

>>: Kawamura Wakashiba - Kawamurajakushi