◆Jiang Feng
Life is a journey. This is a "golden phrase" that I don't know how many people have recited it. In this regard, our experience is that during travel, there will be some unexpected discoveries in life.
On November 3, 2022, on the day of the holiday for Japan's "Culture Festival", we took the shinkansen train from Tokyo to Shizuoka Station, then changed trains and went to the Fujieda City Folk Museum, where a batch of cultural relics was borrowed from the Taishi Museum of History and was holding the "Sengoku Daimyo Exhibition of Tenxia People and the East Sea", which also included correspondence between Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Before the exhibition opened, the media was already reporting lively.
Looking closely at the letters of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Japan's "Three Masters of the Warring States" in the display case, we found a "secret" - that is, Oda Nobunaga's letters used many kanji, and most of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's letters were hiragana. In ancient Japanese society, how to use kanji was an expression of a person's origin, upbringing, and knowledge. And these letters "exposed" the low origin of Toyotomi Hideyoshi from another side. From the considerable number of biographies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi that we have read, no author has clearly addressed this.
Here, I won't talk much about this exhibition. Instead, when we saw the Lotus Temple Jizo-zun on the way back, we found that the current Fujieda City was the Tanaka Domain of the Edo period, and that "Tanaka Castle" was built. We, who have become "Japanese ancient castle control", immediately began to search for "Tanaka Castle".
Unfortunately, the buildings of Tanaka Castle are gone, and you can only walk along the way and search for it, imagining the ancient castle from the marked commemorative signs such as Fujieda Municipal Nishi-Masatsu Elementary School, Fujieda City Folk Museum, Bukichi, Sanobori, Ninobori, Mikazukibori, and Otemon.
It is said that the castle was originally built by the Daimyo Imagawa family in 1537 (the sixth year of astronomy). In 1570 (the third year of Eiroku), Takeda Shingen, the "Tiger of Kafei", arrived, which not only caused the castle owner to change people, but also changed the name of the castle from "Toku Isshiki Castle" to "Tanaka Castle". Why it was changed to this name, we still do not understand.
Twelve years later, in 1582 (the tenth year of Tensho), the "Honnoji Change" occurred in Kyoto, "the head of the warring states" Oda Nobunaga burned himself to death in despair, and the Tokugawa army participated in the "Koshu Conquest" here, forcing the castle lord to endure the humiliation of Kaejo, and the Tokugawa family Takari Kiyocho became a new generation of castle lords.
If it was just snatching and killing, this small city may not be famous in history. Because at that time, there were already tens of thousands of castles in Japan. What history cannot forget is that on January 21, 1616 (the second year of Genwa), Tokugawa Ieyasu passed by Tanaka Castle, and that night he took a break and stayed at a banquet by Shiro Jiro, a wealthy Kyoto merchant Chaya, whose dish was tempura (fried prawns, etc.), which is known as one of Japan's "three major dishes". Unexpectedly, Tokugawa Ieyasu felt unwell all over the same night after eating. A few days later, he returned to Junfu City and died.
In this way, the small Tanaka Castle has become an ancient city that poisoned Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the "Three Masters of the Warring States" and the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, and became an ancient city that carries an indelible historical stigma. Tanaka Castle, so it has a special place in the history of Japanese castles.
Having said that, we have no intention of whitewashing Tanaka Castle. Because it has nothing to do with the history of our China and the history of the Chinese nation. However, it is our responsibility to introduce some accounts of the cause of Tokugawa Ieyasu's death, so that those "keyboard heroes" who know a little bit on the Internet and do not care about the rest and make a noise can experience the situation of "endless learning" and "endless hard work in the sea".
One of the causes of death of Tokugawa Ieyasu was "Tenbura poisoning theory". However, according to the research of Japanese scholars, in Tokugawa Ieyasu's later years, because of a major incident that caused a fire in Edo Castle due to the great Oku maid making tempura, tempura has become a taboo food with bad omen, and no one dares to bring it to Tokugawa Ieyasu's dinner table. At the same time, if Tokugawa Ieyasu is believed to have eaten tempura in Tanaka Castle on the night of January 21, 1616, he died of illness in Junfu Castle on April 17, 1616. Which food in the world can last for nearly 4 months with toxicity? Which murderer wants his victim to live for nearly 4 months after he precipitates? Therefore, the "Tempura poisoning theory" cannot stand the test.
Another theory of the cause of death in Tokugawa Ieyasu is the "stomach cancer theory." The Japanese scholar Yuyu Fujikawa made this statement in 1907 in a paper entitled "On the Body of Tokugawa Ieyasu" published in the Journal of History, Vol. 18, No. 12. In 2005, Japanese medical doctor and writer Tatsuaki Shinoda agreed with this view in his book "The Medical History of the Fifteenth Generation of the Tokugawa Shogun's Family" (New Wave New Book, first edition in May 2005). And they are based on the "Tokugawa Shiki". This ten-volume, 458-volume historical book can still be found at the National Archives of Japan, and the reference number is "Special 075-0001".
The third version of Tokugawa Ieyasu's cause of death is the "assassination theory," or in contemporary parlance "conspiracy theory." However, for such a popular statement that has been circulating for many years, no historical materials have been found to support it. Although none of us believe that "a lie told a thousand times is the truth", there is no historical source that can prove that it is a lie, and no historical source can disprove this lie. Whether from history or reality, it is difficult to prove that "your mother is your mother".
The fourth theory of the cause of Tokugawa Ieyasu's death is the "Battle of Osaka Death Theory". This statement is based on the fact that Tokugawa Ieyasu has several cemeteries in Japan. Naturally, there is no detailed historical data to support it. The more historical stories that cannot be confirmed by historical materials, the easier it is to pass them down. Isn't it true that many of the so-called "histories of letters" were passed down by word of mouth! Here, it can be added that the so-called "Tokugawa Ieyasu Battle Death Theory" is not just one, but there are three "battle death theories", such as "Battle Death Theory of Barrel Room", "Battle Death Theory of Sekigahara", and "Battle of Osaka Battle Death Theory".
Today, researchers at the Fujieda City Vernacular Museum are constantly researching the history of Tanaka Castle with an unspeakable knot. Perhaps the sword went sideways, or perhaps the hope was crooked, they repeatedly emphasized that Oda Nobunaga had stayed at Tanaka Castle before the "change of Honganji Temple", emphasized that Toyotomi Hideyoshi had stayed in Tanaka Castle before attacking Odawara Castle, and emphasized that Takeda Shingen used this place as a place for his development and his son's inheritance.
History, sometimes, is all in the dark.