Meiwa Incident

In 1766-67 (Meiwa 3-4), Yamagata Tainii, Fujii Umon and others were arrested and executed on suspicion of rebellion against the Edo Shogunate. This incident is noted as the first example of an anti-shogunate ideology. Yamagata Tainii, a ronin, Confucian scholar and military scholar from Nagasawa-cho, Hatchobori, Edo, had a thriving private school and many disciples. In 1766, there happened to be an internal conflict in the Obata Domain in Kozuke Province (Gunma Prefecture), and Yoshida Genba, a disciple of Tainii and a chief retainer of the domain, was overthrown and imprisoned by the servant Matsubara Gundayu. This was fabricated as if Daini had been plotting a conspiracy and Genba was one of his kind, so when Daini's disciples, the ronin Momoi Kyuma and the doctor Sergeant Miyazawa Junso, heard about it and feared that they would be implicated and brought harm upon them, they filed a complaint with the shogunate, alleging that Daini was plotting to overthrow the shogunate. Daini was arrested by the magistrate along with his disciple Fujii Uemon and others with whom he was living (December 1861). The verdict was handed down on August 21st of the following year, 1867, and although it was found that there was no basis for the conspiracy, Daini was sentenced to death the following day for his lectures on military books and his daily actions and words, which were deemed to be disrespectful to the shogunate. Uemon, who died in prison, had his body carried to the gallows, and Takeuchi Shikibu, who had been arrested in connection with the Horeki Incident, was exiled to Hachijojima.

[Tadao Yamada]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1766～67年（明和3～4）山県大弐(やまがただいに)、藤井右門(うもん)らが江戸幕府への謀反の嫌疑で逮捕され、処刑された事件。倒幕思想の最初のものとして注目される。江戸八丁堀長沢町の浪人、儒者、兵学者の山県大弐は、家塾が繁栄し数多くの門弟を擁していた。1766年たまたま上野(こうずけ)国（群馬県）小幡(おばた)藩に内紛があり、大弐門人で同藩家老の吉田玄蕃(げんば)が用人松原郡太夫(ぐんだゆう)によって失脚、監禁されるという事件が起こった。これがあたかも大弐の陰謀計画があって玄蕃もその同類のごとく捏造(ねつぞう)されたため、漏れ聞いた大弐門弟の浪人桃井久馬、医師宮沢準曹(じゅんそう)らは連累者として禍(わざわい)の及ぶのを恐れて、幕府に大弐の倒幕陰謀計画なるものを訴人したので、大弐は同居中の門人藤井右門らと町奉行(ぶぎょう)の手で逮捕された（66年12月）。翌67年8月21日判決が下り、陰謀は無根だが、兵書の講義や日ごろの言動が幕府に対して不敬の至りふとどきとして、翌日、大弐は死罪に処せられ、獄死した右門は死屍(しし)を獄門に、関連して捕らえられた宝暦(ほうれき)事件の竹内式部(たけのうちしきぶ)は八丈島流罪となった。

［山田忠雄］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例