Kusanagi Enseki

Japanese: 日柳燕石 - くさなぎ・えんせき

Year of death: August 25, 1868 (October 10, 1868)
Year of birth: Bunka 14 (1817)
A loyal gambler in the late Edo period. His real name was Kashimaya Chojiro. Hiyanagi Enseki was his pen name as a Chinese poet. He was born in Enoki Village, Sanuki Province (Kagawa Prefecture). His family, the Kashimaya family, were wealthy pawnbrokers and landowners, and he was familiar with Chinese classics from an early age and was well educated, but he became a gambler because Enoki Village was next to the land of the Konpira Shrine, where gambling was also thriving. From the age of 16, he squandered the family fortunes with his debauchery, but was well off thanks to the money he made from the Konpira Shrine's gambling den. There are few anecdotes about him fighting over his husband's gambler status. He became a loyalist under the influence of Matsudaira Sakon, a leader of the loyalist faction in Takamatsu domain and a member of the domain's lord's family, and in 1855 he teamed up with other loyalists in the domain and planned to raise an army, manufacturing weapons in 1856 and raising 2,000 ryo for military expenses in 1863, but this was discovered and the domain's samurai were arrested, but Enseki was safe. In 1865 he hid Takasugi Shinsaku from Choshu who had fled to Shikoku with his concubine Ouno, using the pseudonym Beniya Kisuke. It is said that the reason so many of Takasugi's Kiheitai members were former gamblers was because of his relationship with Enseki. In addition to Takasugi, there were many other loyalists to the emperor who were hidden there, and Enseki gave them Chinese poetry to praise their aspirations, but it seems strange that a samurai would be given Chinese poetry by a gambler. He was arrested in the leap year of the first year of the Keio era (1865), and after being released in the first year of the Meiji era (1868), he participated in the Oshu War as a diary assistant to the expeditionary commander-in-chief, Prince Ninnaji (Prince Akihito), and died of illness in the Kashiwazaki camp. Many gamblers participated in the civil war of the Meiji Restoration, but the loyalist faction was represented by Enseki, and the pro-shogunate faction was represented by Shinmon Tatsugoro. <Works> "Kunugi Yowa" <References> Tamura Eitaro "Thoughts on the Yakuza"

(Masaaki Hiraoka)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治1.8.25(1868.10.10)
生年：文化14(1817)
幕末の勤皇博徒。本名加島屋長次郎。日柳燕石は漢詩人としての雅号。讃岐国(香川県)榎井村生まれ。生家加島屋は質屋兼地主で裕福であり,幼少より漢籍に親しんで学もあったが,榎井村の隣が金比羅様社領で博奕も盛んだったことから博徒になった。16歳ごろからの遊蕩で生家を食いつぶしたが,金比羅様の賭場からあがるテラ銭で潤沢。旦那博徒のため切った張ったの逸話にとぼしい。高松藩勤皇派の魁で藩主一族の松平左近の影響で勤皇派になり,安政2(1855)年同藩勤皇派と組んで挙兵を計画し,6年に兵器製造,文久3(1863)年には軍費2000両の調達にかかったが,露見して藩士たちは捕らえられたものの燕石は無事。慶応1(1865)年長州の高杉晋作が紅屋喜助の変名で妾おうのと四国へ逃げてきたのをかくまった。高杉の奇兵隊に博徒出身者が多いのは燕石との付き合いからだといわれる。高杉のほかにもかくまわれた勤皇の志士は多く,燕石から漢詩をもらってその志を称されているが,サムライが博奕打に漢詩をもらうのも妙。慶応1年閏5月に逮捕され,明治1(1868)年出獄後,征討総督仁和寺宮(彰仁親王)の日誌方として奥羽戦争に参戦し,柏崎の陣中で病没した。維新の内戦に参加した博徒は多いが,勤皇派は燕石,佐幕派は新門辰五郎が代表。<著作>『椚蝨余話』<参考文献>田村栄太郎『やくざ考』

(平岡正明)

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