Research on "Meguro's Secret" is progressing in a place you don't know December 7, 17:14
What comes to your mind when you hear "Meguro"?
An adult town where celebrities live and tasteful shops are lined up, cherry blossom trees along the river, rakugo "Meguro no pacific saury".
Many people imagine something related to Tokyo's Meguro Ward.
I was like that until a while ago.
That's right, until a year ago when I was assigned to the Aizuwakamatsu branch office...
(Fukushima Broadcasting Station Reporter Central Aihara)
“Meguro” here and there
The area in charge of the NHK Fukushima Broadcasting Station Aizuwakamatsu branch office is 17 municipalities in the western part of Fukushima Prefecture and the Aizu region, including Aizuwakamatsu City, which is famous for the Byakkotai.
Among them, this past year, there was a lot of talk about the area called "Oku-Aizu" near the prefectural border with Niigata, and I often visited for coverage.
And every time, I felt a sense of ill-feeling.
The owner of the photo studio who made a banner celebrating Tadami High School's first Koshien appearance.
Local Chamber of Commerce.
She works at a station shop on the JR Tadami Line, which has resumed operation on all lines for the first time in 11 years.
She is the owner of a cafe in front of the station that serves the famous "seasoned mutton".
For some reason, she was all "Meguro-san".
"Why is the person who appears in your manuscripts always Mr. Meguro?
"
"Even if you say that... it can't be helped because you're everywhere you go, right?
"
"Yes, let's cover this subject," she said.
I asked an expert to investigate
It is not uncommon for people with specific surnames to live in a specific area intensively, and most of them are relatives.
Based on these hypotheses, I first decided to investigate how many Meguro-sans there are in Japan and how much there is a bias depending on the region.
However, although I made inquiries to various people, I was blocked by the wall of personal information, and the interview did not progress easily.
At that time, an expert brought us interesting data.
After all, Fukushima Prefecture seems to have a particularly large number of “Meguro-san”.
Neighboring Niigata Prefecture has a lot of them, and Tokyo, where Meguro Ward is located, also ranks high.
I was forced to ask the office to investigate.
So, this time, I asked the Aizu local government office to investigate the "percentage of Meguro-san among the residents."
As a result, it was found that the four towns of Okuaizu, Tadami Town, Kaneyama Town, Mishima Town, and Yanaizu Town, had many cases.
Especially in Tadami Town, 6.7% of the population of over 4,000, which is close to the number of "Mr. Sato" and "Mr. Suzuki" combined (6.8%), which is common nationwide.
Meguro-san's affairs to Meguro-san
Why are there so many?
I asked Mr. Meguro of Tadami Town, who I met in the interview, but...
It's not like they are all relatives.
All those voices.
Some people said that they tried to get to the roots from the family register, but they could only go back to the Meiji era, so they didn't really understand.
While the interview was at a dead end, I heard that an exhibition related to "Meguro-san" was being held in neighboring Niigata Prefecture, which has the second largest number of Meguro-sans, so I visited.
I visited a museum in Uonuma City.
Here you can find items related to Mr. Meguro, Niigata, who was a wealthy farmer in the Edo period and later became a member of the prefectural assembly and the House of Representatives.
According to the curator, Meguro's roots in the area date back to the Warring States period.
Shinichi Sakurai, curator of the Meguro Residence Museum
: "About 400 years ago, at the end of the Sengoku period, there was a group of samurai called the Yamanouchi clan in the territory of the Ashina clan, who ruled Aizu at that time, in the area of what is now Tadami-cho and Kanayama-cho, and their vassals. One of the members of the group was the Meguro clan."
``However, it is said that several hundred vassals of the Yamanouchi clan, including the Meguro clan, escaped to Echigo because they were attacked by the Date clan and lost their territory due to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's punishment of Oshu. It is written in a document.”
“The Meguro clan, who moved to what is now Uonuma City and became a farmer in the territory of the Uesugi clan, was highly evaluated for his administrative ability and eventually became a regional coordinator, and in the Edo period he was involved in collecting land tax. As a large village headman, he became a landlord who was called 'danna-sama' by the people of the region, and who was more than a lord."
In addition, I found an unexpected connection with Okuaizu.
It was this “Niigata Meguro-san” who called for the opening of the railway that was the origin of the section on the Niigata Prefecture side of the JR Tadami Line.
Sakurai:
“Aizu and Echigo have been connected in the context of mutual help for 400 years, and the reconnection of the JR Tadami Line, which was cut off due to the heavy rain disaster, shows the weight and interest of history. It's one of the symbols.Exploring the roots of the Meguro family is a very interesting field because it means revisiting the relationship between Aizu and Echigo."
As I listened to Mr. Sakurai's words, I thought, ``This little question turned into a big story,'' and broadcast the results of the interviews so far in early November.
Click here for the video of the report
``Why?'' said the desk, ``Meguro is deep.
Just when I thought, "Well, let's start working on the next job...", a letter arrived at the branch office.
A letter from "Meguro-san"
It was a letter from "Meguro-san, who lives in Saitama," who saw the report broadcasted in Fukushima on the Internet.
Mr. Makoto Meguro from Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture
“The other day, I was very interested in watching the TV program ``Meguro-san's Secret''. There were six students with the last name of Meguro in my class (about 36 students), but none of them were related.”
After retiring from his job as a junior high school social studies teacher, he had wondered about the number of Meguro surnames in Tadami Town. rice field.
There, various new information was written, from the story that actor Hiroki Matsukata's real name was Mr. Meguro, information on Mr. Meguro's roots all over the country, and even his connection with Meguro Ward, Tokyo.
In addition, it turns out that a special exhibition about Mr. Meguro was held last year at the historical museum in Meguro Ward.
When I reported to the desk, "I have no choice but to do 'Chapter 2'. Go to Meguro and ask Meguro-san's secret, and follow along with Meguro-san."
We made preparations in a hurry and headed to Tokyo.
Get in touch with the latest "Meguro-san research"
According to the catalog of the special exhibition and the curator in charge at the time, Tatsunori Maekawa, there are various theories about the roots of the surname Meguro and the origin of the name of Meguro, Tokyo. The Meguro clan, who appeared as one of the gokenin and was based in Meguro-mura, Ebara-gun, Musashino Province (present-day Meguro-ku, Tokyo), is considered to be one of its origins.
"Meguro" spreads from west to north
After the Kamakura shogunate won the Jokyu War, it confiscated the manors owned by the Imperial Court in the western part of the country and newly appointed samurai in the eastern part of the country as land stewards. There are historical materials that indicate that the Meguro clan moved to Osaka and Hyogo prefectures.
Also, in the first half of the 15th century, the Meguro clan moved its base to Mutsu Province (a part of the Tohoku region) and settled there, and it is said that the Meguro clan appears many times in the letters of Date Masamune, a daimyo of the Sengoku period.
The ``regions where the Meguro clan has advanced'' that have been clarified from such historical materials and genealogies handed down by the Meguro family in various places are as follows.
Broadly speaking, there are three lines: (1) the Meguro clan who lived around Meguro Ward in Tokyo, (2) the Meguro clan who moved west, and (3) the Meguro clan who moved to the Tohoku region. The family can be roughly divided into those who moved to Kakuda City, Miyagi Prefecture, and those who moved to Yanaizu Town, Fukushima Prefecture (part of Okuaizu).
Also related to taiga dramas
Of these, Meguro moved to Yanaizu-cho because the descendants of Shigetada Hatakeyama, a retainer who became a hot topic in the Taiga drama "Kamakura-dono no 13nin" played by actor Taishi Nakagawa, could no longer use the family name Hatakeyama. There is a strong theory that the name Meguro came to be derived from the place name of the village that was hidden.
Finally, the mystery of meeting Mr. Meguro in Oku-Aizu, where mountain villages spread like the original landscape of Japan, and the stylish adult town of Meguro in the big city.
Since there are several lineages with different roots among the Meguro clan who moved to Tohoku, it is believed that there are many unrelated 'Meguro-san' in this area.
The presence of a keyman that emerged
Then, did this ``Meguro-san of Yanaizu-cho'' flee to Echigo during the Sengoku period and become ``Meguro-san of Niigata'', becoming a bridge between Aizu and Echigo for more than 400 years?
As we deepened our coverage, the existence of a person who held the key to elucidating "Meguro's secret" emerged.
That is "Meguro-san" who lives in Tokyo.
It is said that he is a descendant of that "Niigata Meguro-san" and that he owns an ancient document handed down from his ancestors that should never be shown to anyone other than his family.
Can you somehow show me?
Accompanied by Mr. Maekawa, a curator, I visited the current head of the family, Mr. Isao Meguro.
"Tomi Taden Muno Kokoro Koto".
A secret scroll that has been told by our ancestors that it should not be shown to anyone.
About 3 hours to talk with family.
When I asked him to explain the significance of the interview, he said that he did not have the actual product at hand, so he was able to show me the images he had taken before.
There, the ancestors of ``Meguro in Niigata'' descended from the Taira clan and used a different surname based in Ise Province (present-day Mie Prefecture), but in 1395 the surname was changed to Meguro. In 1457, for some reason, he moved to Oshu, became a vassal of the Ashina clan, a Sengoku daimyo (feudal lord) who ruled Aizu, and took control of Keitoku Village (current part of Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture). However, it was written that it was the beginning of Mr. Meguro in Aizu.
Isao Meguro:
"We are also interested in his roots before he escaped to Echigo during the Warring States period, but there is no evidence to support what is written in the genealogy, and the genealogy states that it is confidential. For some reason, I didn't dare to make it public.I hope that this survey will lead to further research into the roots of the Meguro surname."
When the unopened door opens
“Aihara-san is already on this side, too,”
said Maekawa-san after leaving Meguro-san’s house.
The first question, why there are so many Meguro-sans in and around Tadami-cho, remains unanswered. It looks like it's gone.
“At first, I was an amateur who didn’t know anything, but when I was picky about something and repeatedly interviewed and contacted the parties and experts, it was rare that I caught up and overtook them and was running in the lead. Journalists are interesting." I
feel like I understand what Desk used to say.
Both the history and coverage are deep.
Why don't you check out the roots of the name you care about?
Fukushima Broadcasting Station Reporter
Aihara Aihara Joined the station
in 2020 Since
last autumn
, I have been working hard at interviews with the help of many Meguro-sans at the Aizuwakamatsu branch office.