西軍（明治政府軍）が無実の罪を着せて小栗上野介主従を殺害したため、以後の明治政府は小栗上野介の業績を表に出さないだけでなく、「殺されて当然の逆賊」として扱ってきた。ここに紹介する「小栗上野介の話」は

『德川制度』・下

　　として岩波文庫に納められているから現在でも購入できる。

・明治25～26年に『朝野新聞』に連載された江戸話の一部で、「小栗上野介の話」は明治26年10月19日付で掲載された。

◆読んでみるとあっけにとられるほど、ひどい講談調の小栗上野介の話になっている。しかしこれを読んだ当時の人々は上州権田村の情報など容易に得られない時代であるから、かなりの人が活字を信用して、この文章を信じたことだろう。まともに読むに値しないが、当時の小栗上野介逆賊説（殺されて当然の有罪説）を吹聴した証明史料として掲げる。

Since the Western Forces (Meiji government forces) killed Kozukenosuke Oguri and his followers by falsely accusing them of a crime they did not commit, the Meiji government thereafter not only did not publicize Kozukenosuke Oguri's achievements, but also treated him as a "renegade who deserved to be killed." The "Story of Kozukenosuke Oguri" introduced here is published in the Iwanami Bunko as "'Tokugawa System', Part 2" and is still available for purchase today. The "Story of Kozukenosuke Oguri" is part of the Edo short stories serialized in Choya Shinbun Newspaper from 1893 to 1893.

◆ The "Story of Kozukenosuke Oguri" was written in the kodan (storytelling) style with terrible contents. However, people who read the article at that time could not easily obtain information on Gonda Village in Jyoshu, and therefore, quite a few people must have trusted the printed text and believed in the story. Although it is not worth a serious reading, I hold it up as a proof historical document that blows up the "Kozukenosuke Oguri was a treasonous pirate" theory (a theory that he was guilty and deserved to be killed) of the time.

【この文章「小栗上野介の話」にはタイトルや見出しはなく、下記のように、小栗上野介とは無縁の大垣藩門前の話から始まっていて、初めからめちゃくちゃな出だしとなっている】

　「ここは大垣藩の本営本郷三丁目真光寺の門前に彳たたずみ 、『德川慶喜叛逆の罪状明白に付き、朝廷においてもやむを得ず追討仰せ出だされ、万民塗炭の苦を救わせられ、云々』と大書したる高札を読みて、暫くは長嘆したりしが、大丈夫、あに主家の滅亡を余処に見るべけんやと憤激一番して、有志数十名を語らい・・・」

【ここまでが小栗上野介とは無関係な西軍に属した大垣藩が江戸で陣を置いた本郷の真光寺門前からトンデモナイ話がはじまり、以下に続く…＊「大丈夫」とは一人の男、で小栗上野介を指すらしいが、小栗上野介一家は西軍（明治政府軍）が江戸に入る前、二月二十八日に江戸を発って権田村に向かっているので、この書き出し「（西軍）大垣藩の本営…真光寺」の門前に佇むはずがない】

(This text, "The Story of Kozukenosuke Oguri," has no title or heading, and as shown below, it begins with a story about the Ogaki Domain gate, which has nothing to do with Kozukenosuke Oguri, making for a messy start from the beginning.)

"Here, standing in front of the gate of Shinkoji Temple in Hongo 3-chome, the Ogaki clan's headquarters, DAIJOBU (Kozukenosuke Oguri) read a large sign that read, 'As the charges of treason against Yoshinobu Tokugawa are clear, the Imperial Court has no choice but to order a purge, saving all people from the agony of misery, etc.' and lamented for a while, but then, got furious, thinking how he would have to watch the Shogunate's demise, and later spoke with dozens of volunteers..."　

(The story begins outrageously in front of the Ogaki Clan gate, which has nothing to do with Kozukenosuke Oguri, and continues as mentioned below... * The word "DAIJOBU" seems to refer to Kozukenosuke Oguri. However, Oguri and his family left Edo for Gonda village on February 28, 1868, before the Western Army (the Meiji Government Army) entered Edo, so Oguri could not have been standing in front of the gate of "the Ogaki clan's headquarters...Shinko-ji Temple.")

旧領地上州群馬郡権田村に赴き、官軍に抗したる御勘定奉行小栗上野介〈忠順ただまさ〉（二千五百石）は、しばしば高崎藩より方向を誤るまじき旨の説諭を受けたれど肯きかず。

「われら父子命を失うは覚悟の前なり。今内に兵糧・兵器の備えなく、外に援けの勢なければ、数万の官軍に当たらんは実に蟷螂の振舞なれど、主家の滅亡見るに忍びず、もとより烏合の衆なれども、官軍に一矢参らせ、潔く討ち死にの覚悟なれば、御説諭に応じ難し」と答え、なおも脱走の士を集めて軍備を整え、官軍の来襲を今や遅しと待ちかけたり。

　時に慶応四年（一八六八）四月朔日、東山道の総督岩倉〈具定〉殿の命に依り、官軍高崎・安中・小幡三藩の兵五百余騎を以て、三倉駅より権田村に押し寄せたるに、かねて期したることなれば少しも騒がず、渦まきたる如き大勢の中へ、わずか百余の烏合の勢、喚おめき叫びて蒐かけ入り、右に突き、左に撞き、勇を振るって戦いたれど、大村・大垣の兵後陣より裏手を遮り、一人も余すまじと山の崩れ来りたる如く駈り立てられければ、小栗勢は遂にみずから権田の本営に火をかけ、川浦村に退き、碓氷の山際に沿うて信濃路に落ち行かんとせしに、黒雲地を裹つつみ、俄に大雨車軸を流し、衣を湿ぬらし、肌を透し、ことに前日の霖雨にて泥深く、馬の蹄立て難くして進み得ざるより、路傍の竹木を切り取り路を造りたれど、いずれも饑うえ疲れて困難を極めたる折柄、大垣の勢に行く手を遮られ、進退窮まりて、遂に上野介又一父子は大垣の手に生捕られ、同月三日権田村の河原において斬首せられぬ。

The accounting magistrate, Kozukenosuke Oguri (Tadamasa) (2,500 koku), who had gone to Gonda Village in Joshu (today's Gunma Prefacture), his former domain, to fight against the government forces, was often told by the Takasaki clan that he was going in the wrong direction, but he would not accept their advice.

"We, father and son, are prepared to lose our lives. We have no provisions or weapons inside now, and we have no support outside. Although we are a ragtag band, we are prepared to die a clean death if we are attacked by the government forces, so it is difficult for us to accept your advice." Then, he gathered deserters and prepared their armies, and waited for the arrival of the government forces.

On the first day of April in the fourth year of Keio (1868), at the order of Tomotsune Iwakura, Governor of Tosando Province, a force of over 500 cavalry from the three clans of Takasaki, Annaka, and Obata rushed into Gonda Village from Sannokura Village. As they had long expected, Oguri and his men made little noise, and only a hundred or so of their own men, in the midst of the whirling mass, rushed in, shouting and shouting, and fought valiantly, thrusting to the right and striking to the left. However, the soldiers of Omura and Ogaki blocked their rear and galloped as if a mountain was collapsing, determined not to lose a single man. As a result, the Oguri forces finally set fire to Gonda's headquarters, retreated to Kawaura Village, and tried to fall along the edge of the Usui Mountains to the Shinano Road. The heavy rain suddenly poured down on the axles, wetting their clothes and making their skin transparent, and the mud was so deep from the previous day's rainstorm that it was difficult for the horses to stand on their hooves. Finally, the advance was blocked by Ogaki's forces and they were forced to retreat. Finally, Kozukenosuke Oguri and his son, Mataichi, were captured alive by Ogaki soldiers and beheaded on the bank of the river in Gonda Village on the 3rd of the same month.

　【以上太字の地名と人名が正しいだけ、あとはすべて救いようのないデタラメな物語】

　◆語注：蟷螂の振舞･･･カマキリが抵抗するようなもの

　◆校注・加藤貴氏となっている。しかし注を見ても小栗上野介の一般的な業績紹介だけで、このデタラメな内容についての校合はない。なぜ一言も内容の真偽に触れないのだろう。
　◆これ以下の本文は少し信用に足る小栗上野介の千川上水活用による滝野川大砲製作所、遣米使節、横須賀製鉄所、仏語伝習所などの業績について書かれているが、ここに引用は省略する。
　◆掲載した『朝野新聞』は明治政府の招請を拒んで仕えず、在野で政府批判を展開していた旧幕臣の成島柳北が明治7年から主筆となり、数年に亘って明治政府とは別の政府像を求めた論陣を張っていたこともある。それほどの新聞がなぜこのような記事を検討せずに掲載したのか、理解に苦しむ。

[In those paragraphs, only the names of places and people in bold above are correct, but all the rest is irredeemable nonsense.] 　

◆ Annotation by Takashi Kato. It only introduces the general achievements of Kozukenosuke Oguri, and there is no commentary on the contents of this nonsense story. Why is there not a single word about the authenticity of the contents of the book?

◆ The parts after the above text describes Kozukenosuke Oguri's achievements such as Takinogawa Cannon Factory, the delegation to the United States, Yokosuka Ironworks, and French Language Institute, but we have omitted the parts. 　

◆ The "Choya Shinbun" (Newspaper), which refused the invitation of the Meiji government and did not serve it, was written by Ryuhoku Narushima, a former shogunate vassal who had been criticizing the Meiji government in the field, as its lead writer from 1874, and for several years he argued for a different image of government from the Meiji government. It is difficult to understand why such a newspaper would publish such an article without considering it.