Kanjuro Matsunami

A financial leader in the mid-Edo period. His real name was Yoshitoshi. He was born into the Okuda family of Uzura Village (Gifu City) in the Kano domain of Mino Province. In 1658 (Manji 1), he was adopted by Matsunami Bun'emon and became the village headman of Kano-juku, but left the family in 1669 (Kanbun 9). His reasons and whereabouts are unknown, but in 1679 (Enpo 7), he appealed to Sugita Kurobee, the Mino magistrate of the shogunate, to have a land survey carried out in the area where only a small amount of small income tax was being collected, and he was able to set a kokudaka of over 1,000 koku. In 85 and 86 (the 2nd and 3rd years of the Jōkyō era), he carried out land surveys one after another for two hatamoto families, both of whom were relatives, Matsudaira Juzaemon of Sōsa County, Shimōsa Province, and Suzuki Ichibei of Kamo County, Mikawa Province, and succeeded in revitalizing their finances. Using this as a foundation, in the early years of the Genroku era (1688-1704), he was entrusted with revitalizing the finances of two small domains, Otaki in Kazusa Province (Abe Iyo no Kami Masaharu) and Takaoka in Shimōsa Province (Inoue Chikugo no Kami Masataka), and although the details are unknown, he is said to have been successful.

In 1693 (Genroku 6), he was entrusted with the administration of Koriyama Domain in Yamato Province (Honda Shimotsuke no Kami Tadanoshi, 110,000 koku), and in that year he raised the tax rate by 50% in one fell swoop, and succeeded in borrowing an additional 125 kanme of silver using the increased revenue as collateral, while also skillfully utilizing the issuance of domain bills to restore the domain's finances. The same official, Uejima Yosobei, who lost the competition over reform plans at this time and left, was the famous haiku poet Onitsura. His control over the finances of Koriyama Domain continued into the 16th century, when he also took over the territory of Matsushita Hikobee, a hatamoto vassal in Settsu Province, and was also invited to take over the neighboring Takatsuki Domain (Nagai Hyuga no Kami Naotatsu, 36,000 koku), but something went wrong and only his methods were used. Furthermore, he simultaneously administered over 250,000 koku of five territories, including the Miyoshi Domain in Bingo Province (Tosa-no-kami Asano Nagasumi, 50,000 koku) and the Tanagura Domain in Mutsu Province (Kii-no-kami Naito Kazunobu, 50,000 koku). This is because he had a large office in Kyoto from which he made regular visits to the various territories to provide guidance, and in between visits he would hand out sealed instructions which would then be opened one by one to allow the relevant authorities to take action, so it is possible that even more territories were involved during this period.

A typical example of this was the Miyoshi domain, which raised tax rates by 80%, issued domain paper currency, established monopolies for the sale of paper, iron, and other products, and exported all of its local specialties and rice production to Osaka in order to obtain specie currency and overcome its debts.The success of this strategy was aided by the rise in prices due to the shogunate's recoinage from 1696 (Genroku 9).

Around 1704 (the first year of the Hoei era), he was welcomed by his hometown of Kano Domain, but in 1706 he was invited to Mito Domain in Hitachi Province (with a fief of 350,000 koku). In addition to implementing the same policies as other domains, he planned a project that went far beyond the scope of a single domain: the complete waterway transport of inland shipping between Oshu and Mito. This was a grand plan to connect the Kuji River shipping route from Tanagura to the Naka River by digging the Nukata River, improve the shipping route across Lake Hinuma, turn the land transport section between Ebisuzawa and Momiji into a canal, and dredge and widen the Tomoe River that flows into Kitaura, thereby enabling all products of Oshu to be transported by water to Edo. He organized extensive investment and cooperation from both within and outside the domain. If the project had been completed, the huge revenue from fares and transit taxes would have saved the domain's finances, but in 1807 the shogunate suspended the use of domain notes, which caused problems in paying wages and prompted domain residents to file a lawsuit in Edo (the Mito Hoei Uprising). In January 1809, the domain, having given in to the people's struggle, banished him to Kyoto, and the financial reform project came to a halt. In June of the same year, he returned to Edo and was arrested while negotiating his return to the domain, and was killed in prison in Mito along with his two sons, who had been summoned through a forged letter, and was buried in darkness after darkness. However, his deeds are still recorded in the Edo chronicles "Suifu Matsunami-ki" and "Genshokanki," and he is reflected in the ukiyo-zoshi "Imagawa Issui-ki" as Fujinami Jinjuro, an accountant for Takano Moronao.

[Hayashi Motoi]

"Hayashi Motoi 'The Search for Matsunami Kanjuro'" (Ibaraki Prefecture History Research, No. 29-60, 1974-88, Ibaraki Prefecture)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸中期の財政家。名は良利。美濃(みの)国加納(かのう)藩領鶉(うずら)村（岐阜市）の奥田家に生まれ、1658年（万治1）松波文右衛門(ぶんえもん)の養子となり、加納宿庄屋(しょうや)となったが、69年（寛文9）同家を去った。理由も行先も不明だが、79年（延宝7）幕府の美濃代官杉田九郎兵衛(くろべえ)に訴えて、少額の小物成(こものなり)しか徴収していなかった地域に検地を入れさせ、千数百石を超える石高(こくだか)を打ち出させている。85、86年（貞享2、3）には、下総(しもうさ)国匝瑳(そうさ)郡の松平十左衛門(じゅうざえもん)、三河国賀茂(かも)郡の鈴木市兵衛(いちべえ)という親戚(しんせき)同士の2旗本家のために次々に検地を行い、その財政立て直しに成功し、それを土台に元禄(げんろく)（1688～1704）初年には上総(かずさ)国大多喜(おおたき)（阿部伊予守(いよのかみ)正春）、下総国高岡（井上筑後守(ちくごのかみ)政敬(まさたか)）の2小藩の財政立て直しを委託され、詳細不明ながら、成功したといわれる。

　1693年（元禄6）から大和(やまと)国郡山(こおりやま)藩（本多下野(しもつけ)守忠年、11万石）の委託を受け、同年の租率を一挙に5割も引き上げ、その増収分を担保に銀125貫目の追加借入れに成功する一方、藩札発行をも利用して巧みに財政を立て直した。このとき改革案をめぐる競争に敗れて去った同役上島与惣兵衛(うえじまよそべえ)は、有名な俳人鬼貫(おにつら)である。彼の郡山藩財政支配は、元禄10年代にも続くが、このころにはほかに摂津国の旗本松下彦兵衛(ひこべえ)領を引き受け、隣接の高槻(たかつき)藩（永井日向守(ひゅうがのかみ)直達(なおたつ)、3万6000石）にも招かれかけるが故障があって、彼の方策だけが利用される。さらに備後(びんご)国三次(みよし)藩（浅野土佐守長澄、5万石）、陸奥(むつ)国棚倉(たなぐら)藩（内藤紀伊守弌信(かずのぶ)、5万石）など五か領25万石余を同時に管理していたことになる。それは、京都に大事務所を構え、そこから諸領に定期的に出張、指導したからで、出張の中間期については指示書を封印して渡しておき、順次これを開いて処置させるという方式であるから、この時期にはさらに多くの関係領域がみいだされる可能性がある。

　このころに典型的なのは、たとえば三次藩でのように、租率を8割にも引き上げ、藩札を発行して、紙、鉄などの専売制を敷き、これら特産物や産米のすべてを大坂に移出することで正貨を獲得し、負債を克服するという方策で、1696年（元禄9）からの幕府の改鋳による物価騰貴が、その成功を助けたのである。

　1704年（宝永1）ごろには、出身地の加納藩に迎えられているが、06年からは常陸(ひたち)国水戸(みと)藩（35万石）に招かれる。ここでは、他藩と同様の諸政策のほかに、奥州―水戸間内陸舟運の完全水路化という一藩の枠を大きく超えた事業を計画した。これは、棚倉からの久慈(くじ)川舟運を額田(ぬかた)川の開削によって那珂(なか)川につなぎ、それから涸沼(ひぬま)を横断する舟運路を改良し、海老沢(えびさわ)―紅葉(もみじ)間の陸送部分を運河化し、北浦に出る巴(ともえ)川を浚渫(しゅんせつ)・拡幅することで、奥州の諸産物が江戸まで完全に水上輸送できるようにする大計画で、藩内外の広範な出資協力をも組織した。完成すれば運賃・通過税の膨大な収入が藩財政を救うはずであったが、07年幕府が藩札を停止したため、労賃支払いに支障をきたし、領民の江戸出訴のきっかけとなった（水戸宝永一揆(いっき)）。09年正月、領民の闘争に屈した藩によって京都に追放され、財政改革事業は停止した。同年6月江戸に戻って藩に復帰を交渉中捕らえられ、偽(にせ)手紙で呼び出された2人の息子とともに水戸で獄死させられ、闇(やみ)から闇に葬られたが、それでも彼の事跡は江戸の実録文学『水府松並記(すいふまつなみき)』で、また『元正間記(げんしょうかんき)』で伝えられ、浮世草子『今川一睡(いっすい)記』では高師直(こうのもろなお)の勘定方(かんじょうかた)藤浪甚十郎(ふじなみじんじゅうろう)として反映されるのである。

［林　基］

『林基「松波勘十郎捜索」（『茨城県史研究』29～60号所収・1974～88・茨城県）』

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