Araki Murashige

Araki Murashige (荒木 村重, 1535 – June 20, 1586) was a retainer of Ikeda Katsumasa, head of the powerful "Setssu-Ikeda clan" of Settsu Province. Under Katsumasa, Murashige sided with Oda Nobunaga following Nobunaga's successful campaign to establish power in Kyoto.

In this Japanese name, the surname is Araki.
Araki Murashige
荒木 村重
Lord of Ibaraki castle
In office
1573–1574
Lord of Itami castle
In office
1574–1579
Personal details
Born1535
DiedJune 20, 1586
Military service
Allegiance Settsu-Ikeda clan
Oda clan
RankDaimyo
Battles/warsBattle of Shiraigawara (1571)
Siege of Itami (1574)
Siege of Ishiyama-Honganji (1576)
Siege of Miki (1578)
Siege of Itami (1579)

Military life

Murashige became a retainer of Oda Nobunaga and become daimyō (feudal lord) of Ibaraki Castle in 1573 and gained further notoriety through military exploits across Japan.[1]

In 1571, Murashige and Nakagawa Kiyohide killed Wada Koremasa a senior retainer of Ashikaga Shogunate at Battle of Shiraigawara.[2]

In 1574, Murashige along with Hashiba Hideyoshi capture Arioka Castle (Itami castle) from Itami Chikaoki and Nobunaga given Itami castle to Murashige.

In 1576, he commanded part of Nobunaga's army in the ten-year siege of the Ishiyama Honganji. But in 1578, during the Siege of Miki he was accused of sympathies to the Mōri clan, one of Nobunaga's enemies. Murashige retreated to Itami Castle (Hyōgo Prefecture) and held out there against a one-year siege by the forces of Oda before the castle fell in 1579.

Araki escaped from the Siege of Itami (1579)[3] and lived the rest of his life as a chanoyu disciple of Sen no Rikyū. He also served as a teaist and took the tea name of Dōkun 道薫.[4] Rikyū shared some of his most detailed teachings with Murashige, one example being the well-known ‘Araki Settsu Kami-ate Densho’ (荒木摂津守宛伝書) manuscript. In the ‘Teaist Genealogy of All Generations Past and Present’ (Kokin Chajin Keifu 古今茶人系譜), Murashige is included as one of Rikyū’s Seven Sages.[4]

Tale

There is a semi-legendary tale told about Araki's creative use of a tessen, or iron fan, in saving his own life. After being accused of treason by Akechi Mitsuhide, Araki was called before his lord, Oda Nobunaga. As was customary, he bowed low over the threshold before entering the room. But he sensed somehow Nobunaga's plan to have his guards slam the fusuma sliding doors on him, breaking his neck. Araki placed his fan in the doors' groove, preventing the doors from closing. Nobunaga's plan revealed, Araki's life was spared, with much reconciliation.

His son, raised under his mother's name, was the artist Iwasa Matabei.

References
  1. Ueda, Sōkei (2016). The Ueda Sōko Tradition of Chanoyu. Hiroshima Bunko. p. 32.
  2. Papinot, Edmond (1906). Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon (in French). pp. 863, 498, 662.
  3. Turnbull, Stephen (2000). The Samurai Sourcebook. London: Cassell & C0. p. 230. ISBN 1854095234.
  4. Chanoyu jinbutsu jiten : ryakuden kotoba itsuwa. Sekai Bunkasha., 世界文化社. Tōkyō: Sekaibunkasha. 2011. ISBN 9784418113088. OCLC 731903922.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. "『黒牢城』米澤穂信著 籠城戦が密室ミステリーに". Sankei Shimbun. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  • Ratti, Oscar and Adele Westbrook (1973). Secrets of the Samurai. Edison, NJ: Castle Books.



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