倉渕の小栗上野介史跡顕彰慰霊碑・観音山・姉妹観音など Kozukenosuke Oguri Historic Sites in Kurabuchi Memorial Cenotaph, Kannon-yama Mt., Shimai (Sisters) Kannon, etc.
顕彰慰霊碑高崎方面から国道406号で信号｢倉渕郵便局前｣を左折、２００ｍ。烏川のほとり・水沼橋のたもと上流側昭和４年、上野介の遺徳をしのび非業の最期を悼む村民は寄金を集め、この斬首の地に顕彰慰霊碑を建てる計画を進めた。明治以降～敗戦まで、こういう碑を立てる時は内務省（いまの自治省）に届ける決まりであり、窓口は警察署であった。碑文に、『偉人小栗上野介　罪なくして此所に斬らる』という文字を刻む予定として届けた。ところがまもなく建碑責任者の市川元吉村長は、高崎署署長の呼び出しを受ける。「碑文に罪なくして斬らるとあるが、斬ったのは官軍だ。官軍は天皇様の軍隊だ、天皇様の軍隊が罪のない者を斬るはずがない、あの碑文はおだやかではない、なんとかしろ。」と署長は告げた。　　　　　　　　　　→続きを読む「官軍」という言葉官軍とは…「天皇様の軍隊であり何をしても正しい軍隊」として、反対語を「賊軍」とする決めつけ言葉。およそ世界中の軍隊で、何をしても正しい軍隊が存在するはずがない。しかも、「官」の反対語は「民」であるのに、官軍の反対語を「民軍」とせず「賊軍」とすりかえ決めつける発想は乱暴かつお粗末である。明治以後の政府は官軍意識で政治を行なってきたことがわかる。当地では官軍と言わず「西軍」と呼ぶ。		顕彰慰霊碑・水沼河原小栗主従はこの河原で西軍によって殺害されました。 The memorial cenotaph in honor of Kozukenosuke Oguri at Mizunuma Riverbank: Oguri and his retainers were killed by the Western Army on this riverbank.
	碑文「偉人小栗上野介罪なくして此所に斬らる　岳南蜷川新書」昭和７年、村人は基金を出し合ってこの碑を建てた。上野介夫人道子の妹ハツの息子で義理の甥にあたる法学博士蜷川新の書が、訪れる人に上野介の無念を伝える。参照： ◆勝てば官軍は勝者のおごり ◆官軍意識との戦い Inscription: "Kozukenosuke Oguri, a great man, was beheaded here for no crime - Written by Arata Gakunan Ninagawa" In 1932, the villagers pooled their funds to erect this monument. The calligraphy of Arata Ninagawa, a doctor of law and a nephew-in-law of Kozukenosuke (a son of Hatsu who is a sister of Michiko, Kozukenosuke's wife) conveys Kozukenosuke's mortification to the visitors. See also: ◆ "Kateba Kangun (If you win, you are the loyalist army)" is the victor's arrogance. ◆ Battle against loyalist army mentality
Memorial Cenotaph in honor of Kozukenosuke Oguri Take Route 406 from Takasaki City center, drive for 40 minutes, turn left at the "Kurabuchi Post Office" traffic light, go 200 meters, turn right before Mizunuma Bridge to the upstream direction onto the banks of the Karasu River, so that you can find the cenotaph. In 1929, the villagers, who were deeply moved by Kozukenosuke's legacy and mourning his death, collected donations and planned to build a cenotaph to honor him at the place of his beheading. From the Meiji era to the end of the WWII, it was a rule to notify the Ministry of Home Affairs when erecting such a monument, and the contact point was the police station. The contact person was the police department. The plan was to inscribe the inscription, "Kozukenosuke Oguri, a great man, was cut down here without any crime." Soon after, however, Motokichi Ichikawa, the mayor of the Gonda village responsible for the monument, was summoned by the chief of the Takasaki Police Station. The chief told him, "The inscription says that he was cut down without any crime, but it was the loyalist army that cut him down. The loyalist army is the Emperor's army, but the Emperor's army would never slay an innocent man. The inscription is a problematc expression, so do something about it." 　　　　　　　　　　 → Read more The term "loyalist army" The term "loyalist (government) army" is a self-righteous term that considers itself to be "the Emperor's army and the right army to do whatever it wants," while condemnin the opposite force as "bandit army." There is no such thing as a "righteous army" in the world. Moreover, the opposite of "government" is "people." Notwithstanding, they insisted a wild and crude idea that the opposite of "government army" is not "people's army" but "bandit army." It is clear that the post-Meiji government has conducted its politics with the mindset of a loyalist army. In the village, we do not call them "loyalist (government) army" but "western forces."
観音山邸址この山の上が屋敷跡小栗上野介は権田の観音山に屋敷を建てて住もうと工事を進めていた。現在その屋敷は前橋市総社町の民家都丸氏邸となっている。観音山は国道からいっきに上がった小高い丘の上で、屋敷跡地や馬場の跡がそのまま残り、遠くの沢から上野介が引いた観音山用水がいまも流れつづけている。「いまにこの谷から太政大臣を出して見せる」上野介は村に土着して若者に新しい時代に対応できる教育を施そうと考えていた。｢ぶちこわし｣の暴徒を追い払った後、脅かされて暴徒側に加わったことを詫びにきた隣村の村役人に、その夢を語ってこれからは手をたずさえてやって行くことを説いた。 ◆関連ページ　観音山の小栗邸址…西軍は「砦を構え、大きな堀に満々と水をたたえ」と言いがかりをつけた。		■アメリカ帰りが４人いたこの屋敷が出来ていればその夢が展開されたはずであった。当時この村には、小栗上野介を含め塚本真彦、江幡祐造、佐藤藤七と、世界一周をしたアメリカ帰りが四人もいたし、養子又一はフランス語伝習所を卒業した優秀な若者だったから、それは可能であったろう。 ■There were four people who visited the U.S. If this mansion had been built, that dream would have unfolded. At that time, there were four people in the village including Kozukenosuke Oguri who had visited the U.S. and traveled around the world. Others were Mahiko Tsukamoto, Yuzo Ebata, and Toshichi Sato. Also, Oguri's adopted son Mataichi was an excellent young man who had graduated from the French language school. Therefore, the dream would have been achieved.
There are ruins of the mansion on Kannon-yama Mountain, pictured here. Kozukenosuke Oguri was constructing a mansion to live at Kannon-yama Mountain in Gonda. The house is now the residence of the Tomaru family in Soja-cho, Maebashi City. Kannon-yama is a small mountain that rises right behind the national highway. The site of the mansion and the stable remain intact, and the Kannon-yama water supply that Oguri drew from a stream in the distance still flows through the hill. I will show you someday that a Grand Minister of State will be born from this valley." Oguri wanted to settle in the village and educate young people to cope with the new era. After driving out the "Buchikawashi" mob, he told his dream to a village official from a neighboring village, who came to apologize for joining the mob under threat, and explained that from now on they would work hand in hand. The term "bushikowashi" refers to a situation that occurred after the middle of the Edo period when, due to bad harvests and hoarding, the people, who were having difficulty making a living, attacked rice dealers, loan sharks, liquor stores, and other wealthy merchants in groups, destroying their houses and taking their rice, silver, and other goods. ◆ Related Page: The site of the Oguri residence on Kannon-yama Mountain... The Western forces accused him of "setting up a fort and filling a large moat with water.
小高の部落		小高用水　　　　権田村字小高の部落は流水が乏しく、いつも田植えの水確保に困っていた。上野介が観音山に器械測量で簡単に水を引いたので、小高部落の人々は小栗上野介に頼んで尾根向こうの稲瀬沢から引く用水の道を測量してもらった。　　　　　小栗の死後に完成したその用水は、今も小高の集落をうるおし続けている。 →小高用水 Kotaka Irrigation Waterway The community of Kotaka in Gonda Village was always having trouble securing water for rice planting due to the scarcity of running water. Seeing Kozukenosuke Oguri had easily drawn water to Kannon-yama Mt. by instrumental survey, the people of Kotaka asked Oguri to survey the path of irrigation water to be drawn from Inasezawa on the other side of the ridge. After Oguri's death, the irrigation system was completed and continues to supply water to the Kotaka community to this day. → Kotaka Irrigation Waterway
塚本一家の悲劇　塚本真彦は小栗家の用人。万延元年には従者として渡米し、地球一周して帰国している。家族で上野介に従って江戸から権田へ移り住んだ。真彦が高崎で小栗又一とともに斬られると、塚本夫人は義母とともに、幼女三人と幼い男児を連れて権田を逃れ、七日市藩(前田家・富岡市)の知るべを頼って、松井田へ出ようと山道に分け入った。山中で道に迷い、義母と孫の幼女一人が自害。　夫人は幼女二人を相間川に沈め、男子のみを背負ってようやく松井田に現れ、助けられて七日市へ向かった。関連ページ：地蔵峠（リンク）：見つかった馬の鞍…真彦が使ったか？ ■ Tsukamoto Family Tragedy Mahiko Tsukamoto was a servant of the Oguri family. In 1860, the first year of Man'en, he went to the U.S. as a follower of Oguri in the Japanese mission, circled the globe, and returned home. The Tsukamoto family followed Oguri and moved from Edo to Gonda, but when Mahiko was killed in Takasaki along with Mataichi Oguri, Mrs. Tsukamoto fled Gonda with her mother in law, all three young daughters and a infant son and went into the mountains to go to Matsuida, relying on a friend of the Maeda family in Tomioka City, Nanaokaichi Domain. However, they lost their way in the mountains, and the mother in law and an infant girl committed suicide. Mrs. Tsukamoto drowned two young daughters in the Aima River, and finally appeared in Matsuida with only her son on her back, and was rescued and headed for Nanokaichi. Related Pages: - Jizo Pass (link) - Horse saddle found...did Mahiko use it?		姉妹観音 ■姉妹観音小栗家の用人塚本真彦の幼女二人を悼んで建てられた平成４年１２月、小栗上野介顕彰会は殉難した幼女二人を悼んで、この観音像を相間川のとおらず渓谷のほとりに建てた。一石から姉妹を彫った珍しい像。制作：萩原義雄(吉岡町）小板橋良平著『小栗上野介一族の悲劇』に詳しい。 Statues of Shimai (Sisters) Kannon The statues were erected in memory of two young daughters of Makiko Tsukamoto, a servant of the Oguri family. In December 1992, the Kozukenosuke Oguri Honoring Society erected these Kannon statues by the Aima River in memory of two young girls who were martyred. They are rare statues of two sisters carved from a single stone. Created by Yoshio Hagiwara (Yoshioka Town) For detals of the story, see "Oguri Kozukenosuke Ichizokuno Higeki (The Tragedy of the Kozukenosuke Oguri Clan)" by Ryohei Koitabashi.

塚本一家の悲劇 ■塚本家族殉難の地　塚本の母マキと娘（孫）シサの二人は、山中で迷い、炭焼をしていた下田喜十郎に会い案内を頼む。喜十郎が支度のため家に戻り、着替えて弁当を持って戻った時、あまりにも帰りが遅いことから密告されたと絶望したものか、マキは孫の喉を突き、自らも自害して息絶えていた。　喜十郎は驚き、遺品を持って七日市に報告。遺骸は後に下田家墓地の脇へ、さらに昭和30年東善寺へと改葬された。場所：地蔵峠から林道を西へ約3キロ、さらに右手（北）へ入る林道を500ほど走って、尾根を越えた下ノ沢。（峠にゲートがあり、営林署の許可無しでは車では入れません）家殉難の地　塚本の母マキと娘（孫）シサの二人は、山中で迷い、炭焼をしていた下田喜十郎に会い案内を頼む。喜十郎が支度のため家に戻り、着替えて弁当を持って戻った時、あまりにも帰りが遅いことから密告されたと絶望したものか、マキは孫の喉を突き、自らも自害して息絶えていた。　喜十郎は驚き、遺品を持って七日市に報告。遺骸は後に下田家墓地の脇へ、さらに昭和30年東善寺へと改葬された。場所：地蔵峠から林道を西へ約3キロ、さらに右手（北）へ入る林道を500ほど走って、尾根を越えた下ノ沢。（峠にゲートがあり、営林署の許可無しでは車では入れません） ■The place of martyrdom of the Tsukamoto family Mahiko Tsukamoto's mother, Maki, and her granddaughter, Shisa, were lost in the mountains when they met Kijuro Shimoda, a charcoal burner, and asked him for guidance. Kijuro returned home to get ready, changed his clothes, took lunch boxes for them, and returned to where they were waiting. When he returned there, however, he found that Maki had stabbed her granddaughter in the throat, and then herself had committed suicide and died, perhaps in despair that they had been tipped off because Kijuro had returned so late.　 Kijuro was surprised and reported to Nanokaichi with their belongings. The remains were later moved to the side of the Shimoda family cemetery, and then to Tozenji Temple in 1955. Location where the that happened: About 3 km west of the Jizo Pass on a forest road, then another 500 km on a forest road to the right (north), and then over a ridge to Shimonosawa. (There is a gate at the pass, and you cannot enter by car without permission from the forest office.)		■塚本家殉難の碑碑「自決の場」地元民の案内なしではわからないところです。 ■ Monument to the Martyrdom of the Tsukamoto Family Monument "Place of Takeing their own lives" It is a place that cannot be found without the guidance of the locals.

倉渕の小栗上野介史跡
顕彰慰霊碑・観音山・姉妹観音など
Kozukenosuke Oguri Historic Sites in Kurabuchi
Memorial Cenotaph, Kannon-yama Mt., Shimai (Sisters) Kannon, etc.

顕彰慰霊碑

高崎方面から国道406号で信号｢倉渕郵便局前｣を左折、２００ｍ。烏川のほとり・水沼橋のたもと上流側

昭和４年、上野介の遺徳をしのび非業の最期を悼む村民は寄金を集め、この斬首の地に顕彰慰霊碑を建てる計画を進めた。

明治以降～敗戦まで、こういう碑を立てる時は内務省（いまの自治省）に届ける決まりであり、窓口は警察署であった。

碑文に、『偉人小栗上野介　罪なくして此所に斬らる』という文字を刻む予定として届けた。

ところがまもなく建碑責任者の市川元吉村長は、高崎署署長の呼び出しを受ける。

「碑文に罪なくして斬らるとあるが、斬ったのは官軍だ。官軍は天皇様の軍隊だ、天皇様の軍隊が罪のない者を斬るはずがない、あの碑文はおだやかではない、なんとかしろ。」
と署長は告げた。
　　　　　　　　　　→続きを読む

「官軍」という言葉

官軍とは…「天皇様の軍隊であり何をしても正しい軍隊」として、反対語を「賊軍」とする決めつけ言葉。

およそ世界中の軍隊で、何をしても正しい軍隊が存在するはずがない。
しかも、「官」の反対語は「民」であるのに、官軍の反対語を「民軍」とせず「賊軍」とすりかえ決めつける発想は乱暴かつお粗末である。
明治以後の政府は官軍意識で政治を行なってきたことがわかる。

当地では官軍と言わず「西軍」と呼ぶ。
　　

　顕彰慰霊碑・水沼河原
小栗主従はこの河原で西軍によって殺害されました。

The memorial cenotaph in honor of Kozukenosuke Oguri at Mizunuma Riverbank: Oguri and his retainers were killed by the Western Army on this riverbank.

碑文
「偉人小栗上野介罪なくして此所に斬らる　岳南蜷川新書」

昭和７年、村人は基金を出し合ってこの碑を建てた。
上野介夫人道子の妹ハツの息子で義理の甥にあたる法学博士
蜷川新の書が、訪れる人に上野介の無念を伝える。

参照：
◆勝てば官軍は勝者のおごり
◆官軍意識との戦い

Inscription:
"Kozukenosuke Oguri, a great man, was beheaded here for no crime - Written by Arata Gakunan Ninagawa"

In 1932, the villagers pooled their funds to erect this monument. The calligraphy of Arata Ninagawa, a doctor of law and a nephew-in-law of Kozukenosuke (a son of Hatsu who is a sister of Michiko, Kozukenosuke's wife) conveys Kozukenosuke's mortification to the visitors.

See also:
◆ "Kateba Kangun (If you win, you are the loyalist army)" is the victor's arrogance.
◆ Battle against loyalist army mentality

Memorial Cenotaph in honor of Kozukenosuke Oguri

Take Route 406 from Takasaki City center, drive for 40 minutes, turn left at the "Kurabuchi Post Office" traffic light, go 200 meters, turn right before Mizunuma Bridge to the upstream direction onto the banks of the Karasu River, so that you can find the cenotaph.

In 1929, the villagers, who were deeply moved by Kozukenosuke's legacy and mourning his death, collected donations and planned to build a cenotaph to honor him at the place of his beheading.

From the Meiji era to the end of the WWII, it was a rule to notify the Ministry of Home Affairs when erecting such a monument, and the contact point was the police station. The contact person was the police department.

The plan was to inscribe the inscription, "Kozukenosuke Oguri, a great man, was cut down here without any crime."

Soon after, however, Motokichi Ichikawa, the mayor of the Gonda village responsible for the monument, was summoned by the chief of the Takasaki Police Station.

The chief told him, "The inscription says that he was cut down without any crime, but it was the loyalist army that cut him down. The loyalist army is the Emperor's army, but the Emperor's army would never slay an innocent man. The inscription is a problematc expression, so do something about it." 　　　　　　　　　　

→ Read more

The term "loyalist army"

The term "loyalist (government) army" is a self-righteous term that considers itself to be "the Emperor's army and the right army to do whatever it wants," while condemnin the opposite force as "bandit army."

There is no such thing as a "righteous army" in the world.
Moreover, the opposite of "government" is "people." Notwithstanding, they insisted a wild and crude idea that the opposite of "government army" is not "people's army" but "bandit army."
It is clear that the post-Meiji government has conducted its politics with the mindset of a loyalist army.

In the village, we do not call them "loyalist (government) army" but "western forces."

観音山邸址

この山の上が屋敷跡

小栗上野介は権田の観音山に屋敷を建てて住もうと工事を進めていた。現在その屋敷は前橋市総社町の民家都丸氏邸となっている。
観音山は国道からいっきに上がった小高い丘の上で、屋敷跡地や馬場の跡がそのまま残り、遠くの沢から上野介が引いた観音山用水がいまも流れつづけている。

「いまにこの谷から太政大臣を出して見せる」
上野介は村に土着して若者に新しい時代に対応できる教育を施そうと考えていた。｢ぶちこわし｣の暴徒を追い払った後、脅かされて暴徒側に加わったことを詫びにきた隣村の村役人に、その夢を語ってこれからは手をたずさえてやって行くことを説いた。
◆関連ページ　観音山の小栗邸址…西軍は「砦を構え、大きな堀に満々と水をたたえ」と言いがかりをつけた。

■アメリカ帰りが４人いた

この屋敷が出来ていればその夢が展開されたはずであった。
当時この村には、小栗上野介を含め塚本真彦、江幡祐造、佐藤藤七と、世界一周をしたアメリカ帰りが四人もいたし、養子又一はフランス語伝習所を卒業した優秀な若者だったから、それは可能であったろう。

■There were four people who visited the U.S.

If this mansion had been built, that dream would have unfolded.

At that time, there were four people in the village including Kozukenosuke Oguri who had visited the U.S. and traveled around the world. Others were Mahiko Tsukamoto, Yuzo Ebata, and Toshichi Sato. Also, Oguri's adopted son Mataichi was an excellent young man who had graduated from the French language school. Therefore, the dream would have been achieved.
　

There are ruins of the mansion on Kannon-yama Mountain, pictured here.

Kozukenosuke Oguri was constructing a mansion to live at Kannon-yama Mountain in Gonda. The house is now the residence of the Tomaru family in Soja-cho, Maebashi City. Kannon-yama is a small mountain that rises right behind the national highway. The site of the mansion and the stable remain intact, and the Kannon-yama water supply that Oguri drew from a stream in the distance still flows through the hill.

I will show you someday that a Grand Minister of State will be born from this valley."
Oguri wanted to settle in the village and educate young people to cope with the new era. After driving out the "Buchikawashi*" mob, he told his dream to a village official from a neighboring village, who came to apologize for joining the mob under threat, and explained that from now on they would work hand in hand.

* The term "bushikowashi" refers to a situation that occurred after the middle of the Edo period when, due to bad harvests and hoarding, the people, who were having difficulty making a living, attacked rice dealers, loan sharks, liquor stores, and other wealthy merchants in groups, destroying their houses and taking their rice, silver, and other goods.

◆ Related Page: The site of the Oguri residence on Kannon-yama Mountain... The Western forces accused him of "setting up a fort and filling a large moat with water.

　　　　　　　　　小高の部落

小高用水
　　　
　権田村字小高の部落は流水が乏しく、いつも田植えの水確保に困っていた。上野介が観音山に器械測量で簡単に水を引いたので、小高部落の人々は小栗上野介に頼んで尾根向こうの稲瀬沢から引く用水の道を測量してもらった。　　　　　
小栗の死後に完成したその用水は、今も小高の集落をうるおし続けている。
→小高用水

Kotaka Irrigation Waterway

The community of Kotaka in Gonda Village was always having trouble securing water for rice planting due to the scarcity of running water. Seeing Kozukenosuke Oguri had easily drawn water to Kannon-yama Mt. by instrumental survey, the people of Kotaka asked Oguri to survey the path of irrigation water to be drawn from Inasezawa on the other side of the ridge. After Oguri's death, the irrigation system was completed and continues to supply water to the Kotaka community to this day.
→ Kotaka Irrigation Waterway

塚本一家の悲劇

　塚本真彦は小栗家の用人。万延元年には従者として渡米し、地球一周して帰国している。家族で上野介に従って江戸から権田へ移り住んだ。真彦が高崎で小栗又一とともに斬られると、塚本夫人は義母とともに、幼女三人と幼い男児を連れて権田を逃れ、七日市藩(前田家・富岡市)の知るべを頼って、松井田へ出ようと山道に分け入った。山中で道に迷い、義母と孫の幼女一人が自害。

　夫人は幼女二人を相間川に沈め、男子のみを背負ってようやく松井田に現れ、助けられて七日市へ向かった。

関連ページ
：地蔵峠（リンク）
：見つかった馬の鞍…真彦が使ったか？

■ Tsukamoto Family Tragedy

Mahiko Tsukamoto was a servant of the Oguri family. In 1860, the first year of Man'en, he went to the U.S. as a follower of Oguri in the Japanese mission, circled the globe, and returned home. The Tsukamoto family followed Oguri and moved from Edo to Gonda, but when Mahiko was killed in Takasaki along with Mataichi Oguri, Mrs. Tsukamoto fled Gonda with her mother in law, all three young daughters and a infant son and went into the mountains to go to Matsuida, relying on a friend of the Maeda family in Tomioka City, Nanaokaichi Domain. However, they lost their way in the mountains, and the mother in law and an infant girl committed suicide.

Mrs. Tsukamoto drowned two young daughters in the Aima River, and finally appeared in Matsuida with only her son on her back, and was rescued and headed for Nanokaichi.

Related Pages:
- Jizo Pass (link)
- Horse saddle found...did Mahiko use it?

姉妹観音
■姉妹観音
小栗家の用人塚本真彦の幼女二人を悼んで建てられた

平成４年１２月、小栗上野介顕彰会は殉難した幼女二人を悼んで、この観音像を相間川のとおらず渓谷のほとりに建てた。一石から姉妹を彫った珍しい像。制作：萩原義雄(吉岡町）

小板橋良平著『小栗上野介一族の悲劇』に詳しい。

Statues of Shimai (Sisters) Kannon

The statues were erected in memory of two young daughters of Makiko Tsukamoto, a servant of the Oguri family.

In December 1992, the Kozukenosuke Oguri Honoring Society erected these Kannon statues by the Aima River in memory of two young girls who were martyred. They are rare statues of two sisters carved from a single stone.
Created by Yoshio Hagiwara (Yoshioka Town)

For detals of the story, see "Oguri Kozukenosuke Ichizokuno Higeki (The Tragedy of the Kozukenosuke Oguri Clan)" by Ryohei Koitabashi.

塚本一家の悲劇
■塚本家族殉難の地

　塚本の母マキと娘（孫）シサの二人は、山中で迷い、炭焼をしていた下田喜十郎に会い案内を頼む。喜十郎が支度のため家に戻り、着替えて弁当を持って戻った時、あまりにも帰りが遅いことから密告されたと絶望したものか、マキは孫の喉を突き、自らも自害して息絶えていた。
　喜十郎は驚き、遺品を持って七日市に報告。遺骸は後に下田家墓地の脇へ、さらに昭和30年東善寺へと改葬された。

場所：地蔵峠から林道を西へ約3キロ、さらに右手（北）へ入る林道を500ほど走って、尾根を越えた下ノ沢。
（峠にゲートがあり、営林署の許可無しでは車では入れません）家殉難の地

　塚本の母マキと娘（孫）シサの二人は、山中で迷い、炭焼をしていた下田喜十郎に会い案内を頼む。喜十郎が支度のため家に戻り、着替えて弁当を持って戻った時、あまりにも帰りが遅いことから密告されたと絶望したものか、マキは孫の喉を突き、自らも自害して息絶えていた。
　喜十郎は驚き、遺品を持って七日市に報告。遺骸は後に下田家墓地の脇へ、さらに昭和30年東善寺へと改葬された。

場所：地蔵峠から林道を西へ約3キロ、さらに右手（北）へ入る林道を500ほど走って、尾根を越えた下ノ沢。
（峠にゲートがあり、営林署の許可無しでは車では入れません）

■The place of martyrdom of the Tsukamoto family

Mahiko Tsukamoto's mother, Maki, and her granddaughter, Shisa, were lost in the mountains when they met Kijuro Shimoda, a charcoal burner, and asked him for guidance. Kijuro returned home to get ready, changed his clothes, took lunch boxes for them, and returned to where they were waiting. When he returned there, however, he found that Maki had stabbed her granddaughter in the throat, and then herself had committed suicide and died, perhaps in despair that they had been tipped off because Kijuro had returned so late.　

Kijuro was surprised and reported to Nanokaichi with their belongings. The remains were later moved to the side of the Shimoda family cemetery, and then to Tozenji Temple in 1955.

Location where the that happened: About 3 km west of the Jizo Pass on a forest road, then another 500 km on a forest road to the right (north), and then over a ridge to Shimonosawa.
(There is a gate at the pass, and you cannot enter by car without permission from the forest office.)

■塚本家殉難の碑

碑「自決の場」

地元民の案内なしではわからないところです。

■ Monument to the Martyrdom of the Tsukamoto Family

Monument "Place of Takeing their own lives"

It is a place that cannot be found without the guidance of the locals.

関連ページ	Related Pages
◇小栗椿・小栗主従の墓：小栗主従の墓に毎年春に咲く名花「小栗椿」は黒椿 ◇遣米使節小栗上野介の従者 ◇横浜フランス語伝習所日本最初のフランス語学校 ◇勝てば官軍は勝者のおごり：何をしても正しい軍隊はない	◇ Oguri camellia: The famous flower that blooms every spring at the tombs of Oguri and his followers, is a black camellia. ◇ Oguri's Followers on the Mission to America: Nine Followers of Tadamasa Oguri ◇ The first French language school in Japan ◇ "Kateba Kangun (If you win, you are the loyalist army)" is the victor's arrogance.