I believe that no Sengoku lover will be unfamiliar with Maeda Keiji, and Takayoshiro's original novel "Ichimon-an Wind Flow" is even more vivid in tetsuo Hara's pen, becoming a favorite reading for many Lovers of the Warring States in the Chinese-speaking world. Influenced by the "Hanano Keiji" manga, the image of Maeda Keiji in the series and tv games is very similar to the manga, and under this influence, the image of "Keicoji the Curious" who rides a giant horse Matsukaze, is uninhibited and debauched, but is brave and brave, can flex and stretch, and has both culture and martial arts.
At the same time, many people are asking: Is Maeda Keiji really that good? What kind of a character is he? With these questions in mind, I'm here to briefly introduce them to you.
Keiji Maeda
1. Historically, Maeda Keiji
Except for his own Diary of The Way, which maeda wrote in his later years, maeda basically has no historical record that can prove his actions and footprints. Therefore, the stories we now know about Maeda Keiji are actually from the Edo period storybooks and military records, such as the "Considerable Novel" mentioned later, as well as "Oncho" and "Tokiyama Kitan".
So, what is the origin of Maeda Keiji? Keiji Maeda's birthplace. In the genealogical records of the Kaga Maeda family, it is mentioned that Maeda Keiji began with the name Maeda Keiji, and later changed to Maeda Toshita, commonly known as "Munabebe", and the "Keiji" we are familiar with seems to have been used later. Maeda Keiji's biological father was widely disagreed, generally speaking as the elder brother of Oda Nobunaga's heavy courtier, Kazumi Takikawa. The son of Takikawa Masashi, his mother was pregnant and remarried to Maeda Toshihisa, the eldest brother of the Maeda Toshi family, and his wife was the daughter of Maeda Yasukatsu, the second brother of the Maeda Toshi family, so Keiji and the Toshi family were both adoptive uncles and nephews, and Maeda Keichi was also the niece and son-in-law of the Toshi family. After Keiji's death, his son Maeda Masaho returned to Kaga, and Maeda Toshitsune, the last son of the Toshihito clan.
Toshitsune Maeda
The Kaga Maeda family differs from his Uesugi family's accounts of his life, with the former recording Maeda Keiji's birth in 1533 and his death in 1605, while the Uesugi family's record is that he was born in 1541 and died in 1612. Both records are records of many years after Keiji's death, and it is impossible to say which one is the most accurate, but considering Keiji's death in Yonezawa, the Uesugi family's record would be more credible.
Regardless of which of the records is correct, both show that Maeda Keiji is actually a contemporary of the Maeda Toshiya family, and the Maeda family records show that Keiji is even five years older than the Maeda family! The records of the Uesugi family show that Keiji is only more than three years younger than the Riki family, so the description in the manga that Keiji is similar to the age of Okumura Nagafuku, one of the eight ministers of the Maeda family, who is the friend of life and death, is reasonable, but the setting that the Rishi family is much older than Keiji is a bit wrong.
Eifuku Okumura
2. Keichi and Toshiya, Uesugi family
Much of Keiji's account of Keiji and Maeda Toshiya in Hana no Kiji is derived from the above-mentioned storybook Considerable Novel. The Considerable Novel was written in the early 18th century of the Edo period, and is a story book of characters written by the Kaga Maeda family's courtiers, and the 33rd volume of it contains anecdotes about Maeda Keiji, detailing the story of Keiji, including teasing the Toshi family, displaying flags in front of the Uesugi family,and thus quarreling with the Uesugi family.
However, since the book was written in the early eighteenth century, most of the people in the Kaga Maeda family who knew about Keiji died, and although the author Aochi Reikon was a member of the family, his maternal great-grandfather was the brother of Naoe Kensei, a major minister of the Uesugi family, but it is difficult to judge how accurate the information received is. Returning to the official historical data of the Maeda family, there is no detailed explanation of the reason why Keiji left the Maeda family, only written in the note: Keiji and the Toshi family have a gap, and can not know more, and the above -mentioned "Considerable Novel" mentions that before Keiji teased the Toshi family, in fact, it is mentioned that the Toshi family was dissatisfied with Maeda Keiji's cynicism, and often criticized Maeda Keiji, making Maeda Keiji feel that he could not leave a cloud.
Masanari Masashi
Before leaving the Maeda family, the only thing that can be confirmed of Maeda Keiji's legacy in the Maeda family was in 1584, when Sasa Narimasa, a former colleague of neighboring Echizen, invaded Maeda's domain, and Maeda Keiji, as one of the defenders of the castle, successfully defended the castle under the battle. The first volume of Hana no Keiji sets this as the Battle of Suemori Castle in the same year, and the castle will be Okumura Nagafuku. Other than that, there is no more record.
After leaving the Maeda family, Keiji went to the Uesugi family to join the family. The records of the Maeda family refer to The fact that Jingsheng was outstanding in his martial prowess and gave Maeda Keiji a lot of 2,000 stones, which were rumors that the Maeda family later inquired about, while in the records of the Uesugi family, it can only be found that Maeda Keiji was a group of outsiders and gave 1,000 stones.
As a general of the Uesugi family, Maeda Keiji's only recorded military exploit was after the attack on Mogami Yoshimitsu in 1600, and after receiving news of the defeat of the Western Army at the Battle of Sekigahara, the Uesugi family was forced to retreat, and the generals under Naoe Kane, including Maeda Keiji, were in charge of the rear of the palace, and successfully caused the Uesugi army to return to Aizu. In addition to the later records of the Uesugi and Maeda families in this part, the military chronicle of Yoshimitsu Mokami also mentions the name of Maeda Keiji, and on the whole, regardless of whether he has military merit or not, Keiji's participation in the battle against the top should be true.
Battle of Sekigahara
3. Curious or bard?
Finally, to talk about the title of "Qiqi", the etymology of the Qiqi is "Qiqi", which originally means to behave strangely, but in fact, the word "Qiqi" is the creation of later generations, "Qiqi" first appeared in the early Edo period, is a homophone of Kabuki, that is to say, Qiqi is actually the meaning of Kabuki, that is, refers to the novel dance founded by the famous Izumo Argoku, or the person who dances this kind of dance.
In the early Edo period, when new cultural etiquette was still forming, there were indeed a number of young samurai with maverick clothes and hairstyles in Edo, Osaka, and other places, but considering that Keichi was dead at that time, I believe it should have nothing to do with him. In fact, neither the Uesugi family nor the Maeda family have ever referred to Keiji as a "stranger", and the above-mentioned "Considerable Novel" only says that Keiji's behavior during the Maeda family and the Uesugi family is debauched, which is exactly the same as the "cynicism" said by the toshiya in the book, which is completely different from the description in the manga.
On the contrary, in the records of the Uesugi and Maeda families, Maeda Keiji was unanimously described as a man of literary ability, especially Keiji's waka achievements were affirmed and praised by both families. The maeda family's historian expressed great regret because he could not collect the song collection that Keiji had personally compiled during his life at Yonezawa. In fact, his "Diary of Michichu", written on his way to Uesugi's house, contained a large number of improvised, beautifully written songs, haiku, and descriptions of the scenery on the road, and the delicacy of the writing and the depth of his upbringing were affirmed by the specialists, and the "Dochu Diary" also became an important material for Japanese folklore researchers to study Japanese customs in the early Edo period.
Therefore, perhaps the above explanation will affect some readers' perception of Maeda Keiji's image, but it is clear that in the transition period when there is not much red tape, you can live freely by your own talents, and Keiji's way of living and life is war