Tsuneie Yoshikawa

Japanese: 吉川経家 - きっかわ・つねいえ

Year of death: Tensho 9.10.25 (1581.11.21)
Year of birth: Tenbun 16 (1547)
A military commander in the Sengoku period. Son of Tsuneyasu. Childhood name Senkumamaru, commonly known as Kotaro, and called Shikibu Shoyu. Lord of Iwami Fukumitsu Castle (Yunotsu Town, Nima District, Shimane Prefecture). In 1574, he succeeded his father and, joining Kikkawa Motoharu, contributed to the Mori clan's conquest of the Chugoku region. In the 9th year of the same year, he was selected as the governor of Inaba Tottori Castle and entered the castle. As the previous lord of the castle, Yamana Toyokuni, had rebelled against the Mori clan and joined Oda Nobunaga, Tsuneie was welcomed by Yamana's elder retainers and local lords of Inaba, and was tasked with guarding the key castle where the two great powers, Oda and Mori, were fighting. In July of the same year, Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi, on the side of Oda, led a large army to attack the castle, starving it out with a heavy siege. At the time, Kikkawa Motoharu was fighting against Nanjo Mototsugu in Hoki, and Mori Terumoto and Kobayakawa Takakage were in Bitchu and Mimasaka, so no help could be expected. After a five-month siege, food supplies in the castle ran out, and Tsuneie, seeing it impossible to defend, surrendered on the condition that he sacrifice his life to save the lives of the castle soldiers. On October 25th of the same year, he committed suicide at Shinkyo-ji Temple inside the castle. Before his death, he wrote a total of eight wills to Kikkawa Tsunemoto (Hiroie), his father Tsuneyasu, his eldest son Kamejumaru, Hideyoshi, and others, giving detailed instructions on how to handle his death, and stating that it would be an honor for all generations to commit seppuku at the site of "the two great bows and arrows of Japan (Oda and Mori)". Three of his retainers followed him to this heroic end. At Engoji Temple behind Hisamatsuyama, two stupas, said to be the graves of Tsuneie and his retainers, remain to this day. <References> Hideo Segawa (ed.), Yoshikawa Tsuneie's Affair, Tottori Prefecture History, Vol. 2

(Inoue Hiroshi)

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

Japanese:

没年：天正9.10.25(1581.11.21)
生年：天文16(1547)
戦国時代の武将。経安の子。幼名千熊丸,通称小太郎,式部少輔と称す。石見福光城(島根県邇摩郡温泉津町)城主。天正2(1574)年父の跡を継ぎ,吉川元春に属して毛利氏の中国地方制覇に貢献した。同9年因幡鳥取城督に選ばれ,入城。旧城主山名豊国は毛利氏に背き織田信長に下っていたため,山名の家老や因幡の国人らに迎え入れられた経家は,織田・毛利という2大勢力がせめぎ合うかなめの城を守ることになった。同年7月,織田方羽柴(豊臣)秀吉は大軍を率いてこの城を攻め,厳重な包囲網で兵糧攻めにした。折から吉川元春は伯耆の南条元続と戦い,また毛利輝元,小早川隆景も備中,美作にあり,救援は望めなかった。5カ月にわたる籠城の末,城内の食糧が底をつき防戦不可能とみた経家は一身の犠牲をもって城兵の命を救うことを条件に開城。同年10月25日,城内の真教寺で自刃した。死に先立って,吉川経言(広家),父経安,嫡子亀寿丸,秀吉らにあて計8通の遺書をしたため,死後の処置を事細かに指示するとともに,「日本二つの御弓矢(織田と毛利)」の場で切腹するのは末代までの名誉だと記した。この壮烈な最期に家臣3人が殉死。久松山の裏側の円護寺には現在も,経家と彼に殉じた家臣の墓と伝えられる五輪塔2基が残されている。<参考文献>瀬川秀雄編『吉川経家公事跡』,『鳥取県史』2巻

(井上寛司)

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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