Duel at Kagiya no Tsuji

On the 7th day of the 11th month of Kan'ei 11 (1634), a fierce duel took place at a crossroads on the highway known as Kagiya no Tsuji, in Ueno in Iga Province (present-day Iga City, Mie Prefecture). Remembered as one of the Three Great Vendettas of Japan, the duel saw Araki Mataemon, the husband of Watanabe Kazuma's elder sister, assist Kazuma in a vendetta. Four men fought against eleven. The duel, a legendary incident in the swordsmanship culture of the Edo period, has been depicted again and again in kōdan, rōkyoku, theatre, and film.

Background to the Incident: The Death of Watanabe Kazuma's Younger Brother

The origins of the vendetta go back to Kan'ei 7 (1630). The incident began when Watanabe Gendayū, a page to Ikeda Tadakatsu, lord of Okayama domain, was cut down by Kawai Matagorō, a retainer of the same domain. Gendayū's elder brother, Watanabe Kazuma, sought to take Matagorō's life as a vendetta for his dead younger brother.

After the killing, Matagorō fled to Edo and was sheltered by the hatamoto Andō Jiemon. He kept evading the vendetta by using the protection of the hatamoto as a shield. This situation, in which the target was under the protection of a samurai household, was a difficult one that tormented Kazuma for more than four years, even under a system in which the shogunate officially permitted vendettas.

What changed this situation was Araki Mataemon, the husband of Kazuma's elder sister. Mataemon was a sword instructor for the Yamato-Kōriyama domain and was known as the foremost swordsman of his time. He waited for Matagorō to leave the protection of Andō Jiemon, and in the 11th month of Kan'ei 11 (1634), he located Matagorō.

Araki Mataemon as a Swordsman: The World of Swordsmanship in the Early Edo Period

Araki Mataemon (1599–1638) was a swordsman from Araki village in the Hattori district of Iga Province, and he served as a sword instructor for the Yamato-Kōriyama domain. He is said to have learned Chūjō-ryū from his father and Shintō-ryū from his uncle. Some accounts say he also studied Shinkage-ryū as a disciple of Yagyū Munenori and Yagyū Mitsuyoshi, but there are various views on his lineage. In any case, Mataemon was regarded as a representative swordsman of the early Edo period, with swordsmanship backed by real combat and calm, composed judgment in battle.

The early Edo period was a transitional era in which the wars of the Sengoku period came to an end and swordsmanship changed from a practice of actual combat into training and a "way" (michi). After the founding of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603, swordsmanship schools developed rapidly, and schools such as Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, Ittō-ryū, and Shintō-ryū became established as sword instructors for the domains. The Kan'ei era (1624–1644), when Mataemon was active, was a time when swordsmanship was being organized as a required accomplishment for samurai.

The sword Mataemon carried is said to have broken during the duel after it took a blow from a bokutō held by an attendant on Matagorō's side. Accounts say the sword was either Iga-no-kami Kanemichi or Izumi-no-kami Kanemichi (both shintō, made after the Keichō era).

The Decisive Battle at Kagiya no Tsuji: Four Against Eleven

Early in the morning of the 7th day of the 11th month of Kan'ei 11 (1634), Watanabe Kazuma and Araki Mataemon waited at Kagiya no Tsuji in Ueno in Iga Province for Kawai Matagorō's party. Matagorō's party consisted of eleven men, which gave them a numerical advantage over Kazuma, Mataemon, and their two attendants, a total of four.

When the duel began, Araki Mataemon displayed extraordinary swordsmanship. According to tradition, Mataemon alone faced most of Matagorō's attendants and assistants, cutting them down and wounding them, and in doing so created a situation in which Kazuma could face Matagorō one-on-one. Kazuma focused on confronting his enemy. After a sword fight lasting several hours, and after more than four years of hardship, he finally cut down Matagorō.

How Mataemon fought in this battle was told in many stories and traditions throughout the Edo period. In later kōdan and other tellings, Mataemon's "36-man slaying" legend was recounted and became the central highlight. In fact, the only men Mataemon cut down were Kawai Jinzaemon and Sakurai Hanbei. The dead were said to be four on Matagorō's side, including Matagorō himself, and one on Kazuma's side. The "36-man slaying" is an exaggeration, but the facts that Kazuma cut down Matagorō and that Mataemon was overwhelmingly active are points on which the various historical sources agree.

The System of Vendetta: Samurai Honor and the Role of the Sword

What makes the duel at Kagiya no Tsuji stand out is not simply a matter of combat ability, but that it took place within the legal framework of the Edo shogunate's vendetta system.

In principle, the Edo shogunate recognized vendettas for avenging a lord, a father, an elder brother, or other senior relatives, and it permitted them on condition that they be reported to and approved by the domain. The system was a mechanism for protecting samurai honor, and those who succeeded in a vendetta were regarded as heroes in society. On the other hand, when the target was under the protection of a samurai household or there was political pressure, realizing a vendetta was difficult.

In Kazuma's case, it was unusual by the customs of the time for an elder brother to avenge a younger brother. However, his lord, Ikeda Tadakatsu, had instructed on his deathbed that Matagorō be killed. The four years in which Matagorō continued to be protected by the hatamoto Andō Jiemon were a period of conflict in which "legitimate vendetta" clashed with the "political dynamics of samurai society." The determination of Kazuma and Mataemon, who overcame this conflict, embodied the Edo-period ethic that a samurai's duty is to avenge his enemy, and it won the hearts of later generations.

Japanese swords played a central role in this vendetta system. Vendettas were basically duels fought with swords, and avenging an enemy with a sword was the formal procedure for restoring a samurai's honor. It can fairly be said that Mataemon's outstanding swordsmanship is one of the clearest embodiments of the Edo-period bushidō spirit, in which the sword is the "soul of the samurai" and the witness to one's honor.

Cultural Influence of Kagiya no Tsuji: Spread to Kōdan, Rōkyoku, and Film

From the mid-Edo period onward, the duel at Kagiya no Tsuji came to be widely loved, together with the Soga brothers' vendetta and Chūshingura (the Akō incident), as one of the Three Great Vendettas of Japan.

In kōdan, the story of Araki Mataemon was especially popular, and the "36-man slaying" highlight became a standard piece in which storytellers competed in skill. It was likewise told again and again in rōkyoku. It was also staged from the Edo period onward in kabuki and ningyō jōruri puppet theatre, under titles such as Igagoe Dōchū Sugoroku.

From the end of the Meiji period onward, the story was repeatedly adapted for film and television drama. Numerous works were produced, including the films starring Onoe Matsunosuke in the 1910s and Araki Mataemon: Kettō Kagiya no Tsuji (1952; screenplay by Kurosawa Akira, starring Mifune Toshirō). Even today, Araki Mataemon continues to be recognized as the protagonist of Japan's legend of its greatest swordsman and vendetta.

Kagiya no Tsuji Today: A Historic Site in Iga City, Mie Prefecture

The site today has been developed as the Kagiya-no-Tsuji Historic Site Park in Oda-chō, Iga City, Mie Prefecture. Iga City is known as a home of ninja, but it is also a region of historical value as the site of Araki Mataemon's vendetta. A stone monument has been erected at the historic site, where visitors can reflect on the duel of the 7th day of the 11th month of Kan'ei 11.

The Kagiya no Tsuji duel was a sign of Edo-period samurai society, in which the Japanese sword, as the "soul of the samurai," carried spiritual and social meaning that went beyond that of a mere weapon. Each stroke of the sword that Mataemon wielded condensed three elements: samurai honor, obligation (giri), and swordsmanship. Roughly 400 years later, its legend continues to live on as a story of the Japanese sword and bushidō.