Shigezo Sasagawa

Japanese: 笹川繁蔵 - ささがわのしげぞう

Year of death: 4th July 1847 (14th August 1847)
Year of birth: Bunka 7 (1810)
A gangster from the late Edo period. His real surname was Iwase. The Iwase family made soy sauce and vinegar in Ukei Village, Katori County, Shimousa Province (Chiba Prefecture), and served as village headman. However, his father, Kasaburo, moved to the banks of Sasagawa River in Sugayama Village, Shimousa, and Shigezo was born there as the third son. His older brother, Shichizaemon, was the village headman of Ukei Village. In 1835, he was arrested by the Kanto Toriyakushi for soliciting women and became the village headman, but he established a family at the banks of Sasagawa River, which prospered from shipping on the Tone River, and in 1818, he held a flower ceremony for the Suwa Myojin Shrine festival and erected a monument to Nomi no Sukune. In 1819, he was ordered by the Kanto Toriyakushishi to capture Shigezo, and they also fought repeatedly along the banks of the Tone River, fighting over territory with the family of Iioka Sukegoro. He inflicted heavy damage on Sukegoro's side and fled, but when he returned home in 1847, he was targeted by Sukegoro's gang and assassinated on the night of July 4. The bloody battle, which mobilized the henchmen and helpers of both men, took the world by storm through the storytelling of Takarai Bakin III (Kotoryo) and the rokyoku of Tamagawa Katsutaro II, entitled "Tenpo Suikoden."

(Bin Takahashi)

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

Japanese:

没年：弘化4.7.4(1847.8.14)
生年：文化7(1810)
江戸後期の侠客。本姓は岩瀬氏。岩瀬家は下総国香取郡(千葉県)羽計村で醤油,酢醸造を業とし,名主を勤めたが,父嘉三郎が下総須賀山村の笹川河岸に進出したため,繁蔵は3男としてここに生まれた。兄七左衛門は羽計村名主。天保6(1835)年に婦女誘引の罪で関東取締出役に捕らえられ,村預となるが利根川舟運で栄える笹川河岸で一家を構え,同13年には諏訪明神祭礼の花会を開き,野見宿禰碑を建立した。同15年関東取締出役から繁蔵召し捕りを命ぜられた飯岡助五郎一家と縄張り争いも加わって大利根河原を舞台に争闘を繰り返した。助五郎方に痛手を負わせ,逃亡するが,弘化4(1847)年帰郷したところを助五郎一味のものにねらわれ,7月4日夜暗殺された。両者の子分,助っ人を動員した血闘は「天保水滸伝」と題して3代目宝井馬琴(琴凌)の講談,2代目玉川勝太郎の浪曲を通して一世を風靡した。

(高橋敏)

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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