Sword Gifting in the History of Relations between the Imperial Court and the Tokugawa Shogunate: Focusing on the donation of two swords in the Songo incident

application/pdf

刀剣研究家福永酔剣によれば、将軍徳川家斉は尊号一件で関係のこじれた朝廷の「機嫌取り」のため、『享保名物帳』記載の名物刀剣、早川正宗・小池正宗を献上したという。関連する朝廷・幕府史料を調査した結果、この通説は訂正を要することがわかった。家斉は寛政四年（一七九二）一二月五日、上使前田長禧を参内・参院させ、光格天皇に「正宗の野太刀」（早川正宗）、後桜町上皇に「御太刀」（小池正宗）などを贈ることを目録と口上で伝え、装飾（拵え）の希望を聴取した。その結果、早川正宗は螺鈿造に、小池正宗は朱銘・白鞘入りに改め、同六年十一月一〇日に京都へ送付した。進献物は家斉の意向を汲み選択されており、光格もまた返礼品に関与していた。名目としては、尊号一件で尊号宣下を断念した光格天皇への挨拶と、その説得にあたった後桜町上皇への御礼である。一件の中心人物である武家伝奏正親町公明・議奏中山愛親の下向を要求する圧力としての側面も推定される。

According to sword researcher Fukunaga Suiken, shogun Tokugawa Ienari presented the famous swords Hayakawa Masamune and Koike Masamune, described in “Kyoho Meibutsu Cho”, to the Imperial Court in order to appease the it after relations had been strained by the Songo incident. Despite this, an investigation of relevant historical documents from the Imperial Court and the Shogunate has revealed that this common belief should be corrected. On December 5, 1792, Ienari dispatched Maeda Nagatomi as an envoy to inform Emperor Kokaku that he was presenting the “nodachi of Masamune” to him and the “otachi” to Empress Gosakuramachi, and to inquire about his and her wishes regarding its decoration. As a result, he sent Hayakawa Masamune, decorated with a mother-ofpearl inlay, and Koike Masamune, engraved with vermilion inscriptions and sheathed in a plain-wood scabbard, to Kyoto on November 10, 1794. The gifts were chosen based on Ienari’s intentions, and Kokaku was also involved in the decision of what to return. The reason for sending the two swords was to greet Kokaku, who had given up on honoring his own father with a noble title, and to thank Gosakuramichi who had persuaded him to do so. It may have been the resulted from pressure to summon Ogimachi Kin-akira and Nakayama Naruchika, who are the central figures in the incident, to Edo.