Kitamura Yahee

Japanese: 喜多村弥兵衛 - きたむら・やへえ

Year of death: August 17, 15 of the Kan'ei period (September 24, 1638)
Year of birth: Unknown. The founder of the Edo town elders in the early Edo period. It is said that he accompanied Tokugawa Ieyasu from Totomi (Shizuoka Prefecture) when he entered the Kanto region. He worked hard to build the castle town of Edo, but there is also a legend that he worked in horse feed. He managed the town as one of the three elders, but at the same time he also acted as the bill collector for Renjaku merchants in the Kanto region, and later he was given the privilege of issuing Nagasaki thread-discount tickets. Later, the town elders' duties were passed on to his son-in-law, Hikoemon. Hikoemon was a merchant from Kanazawa, and during the Siege of Osaka he went to Osaka with other townspeople to visit Maeda Toshitsune in the camp, where he caught the eye of Ieyasu, who praised his achievements in managing the town in Kanazawa and sent him to Edo. After that, he worked as a town elder for generations. <References> Yoshihara Kenichiro, "Town Elders" (Research on Edo Townspeople, Volume 4)

(Kenichiro Yoshihara)

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

Japanese:

没年：寛永15.8.17(1638.9.24)
生年：生年不詳
江戸初期の江戸町年寄の祖。徳川家康の関東入国時に遠江(静岡県)から供をしたという。江戸の城下町建設に努力したが,馬の飼料の仕事をしていたという伝承もある。町支配を3人の年寄のひとりとして行ったが,同時に関八州の連雀商人の札座をも兼ね,のちには長崎糸割符の特権を与えられたという。のち町支配の業務は婿である彦右衛門に受け継がれた。彦右衛門は金沢の商人の出身で,大坂の陣にさいし他の町人と共に前田利常の陣中見舞いに大坂へ出かけたが,このとき家康の目にとまり,金沢での町支配の実績を評価され,江戸に出府したという。以後,代々町年寄の業務に従事した。<参考文献>吉原健一郎「町年寄」(『江戸町人の研究』4巻)

(吉原健一郎)

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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