Duel at Kagiya no tsuji

An ukiyo-e woodblock print triptych depicting Araki Mataemon at the duel.

• Watanabe Kazuma vs Kawai Matagorô
  • Date: 1634/11/7
  • Location: Iga Ueno

In 1630, Kawai Matagorô killed Watanabe Kazuma's brother in Okayama. Matagorô's father let Matagorô go off to Edo and had the hatamoto Andô Jiemon and Kuze Sanshirô hide him. Ikeda Tadao, Lord of Okayama, demanded he be handed over but they refused. Thus, a conflict emerged Okayama han and the hatamoto. When Tadao died, his will asked for the defeat of Matagorô. Finally, the Tokugawa shogunate ordered the hatamoto to release Matagorô, who was then hidden by his uncle in Nara for a while. When he tried to return to Edo, however, he was ambushed at Iga-Ueno. Matagorô was with 10 guards and Kazuma had Sukedachi Araki Mataemon and 2 of Mataemon's pupils.

After a six-hour battle, Matagorô was killed.

A bunraku and kabuki play entitled Igagoe Dôchû Sugoroku was written based on these events; the story was later adapted several times to film and television.

Films

• Araki Mataemon (荒木又右衛門) 1931 (Director:Tsuji Yoshiro)
• Iga no suigetsu (伊賀の水月) 1942 (Director:Ikeda Tomiyasu)
• Araki Mataemon Ketto Kagiya no tsuji (荒木又右衛門　決闘鍵屋の辻) 1952 (Dirctor:Mori Kazuo)
• Iga no suigetsu (伊賀の水月) 1958 (Director:Watanabe Kunio)
• Tenka no Iga goe. Akatsuki no kessen (天下の伊賀越・暁の血戦) 1959 (Director:Matsuda Teiji)

Television

• Araki Mataemon Ketto Kagiya no tsuji (荒木又右衛門　決闘！鍵屋の辻) 1990 NHK
• Ketto Kagiya no tsuji Araki Mataemon (決闘鍵屋の辻 荒木又右衛門) 1993 NTV
• Araki Mataemon Otokotachi no shura (荒木又右衛門　男たちの修羅) 1994 TX
• Tenka Soran (天下騒乱) 2006 TX

References

• Japan Chronik

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