Koga No Goshi
07-06-2001, 17:01
I am 1/4 Japanese, and a lot of people told me growing up my last name must have been changed by the immigration officers when my great-grandparents came to Hawaii in 1898 because "Goshi does not seem like a Japanese name." (Many Japanese say this) So for a long time I didn't know what my real last name was. After some extensive research, however, (well, perhaps not so extensive actually, Japan keeps meticulous genealogies so it's much easier to research lineage there than in the U.S. or Europe) I found out that not only did the name Goshi exist, but that I could trace it back along the route my family came from in Japan. I traced it back far enough and found the following story.
Sekigahara, 1600. (The battle between Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari of the Toyotomi House for control of Japan)
"Fushimi was the last castle that Hideyoshi had built, and so was a particularly strong place. Beside the main keep there were five other fortresses, called the Nishi Maru, Sanno Maru, Matsu Maru, Nagoya Maru, and Jibushoyu Maru, forming a garrison of eighteen hundred men..........
From the eighteenth to the twenty-eighth of the seventh month no impression was made on the defense. Then Ishida himself came from Sawayama to encourage the besiegers. At least one of Kobayakawa's men managed to set fire to one of the towers with a fire arrow, but Kato Kurozaemon climbed up a ladder and put it out, though he was burned to death in doing so. On the first of the eighth month, fire was seen to burst from the Matsu Maru and spread to the Nagoya Maru. And this was not the work of the besiegers, but of Koga no Goshi, Daikwan of the Tokugawa estates in Omi and a spy of Ieyasu, who was in charge of the Matsu Maru. And the reason was that Nagatsuka Masaie had siezed his wife and children in Koga and sent a message to him into the castle on an arrow to the effect that he would crucify them if he did not betray his master, but that if he did so he would be rewarded. So, to save them he consented to set fire to the tower he was holding, and also to break down the wall for a space of about a hundred yards with the assistance of forty men whom he had persuaded to help him. Then under the cover of the flames the main gate was assaulted and broken in, though the defenders resisted manfully with spear and halberd. Thus the Matsu Maru and the Nagoya Maru were taken, and then Kobayakawa sent a messenger to propose a truce, but his overtures were rejected, and the attack again proceeded.....
Most of the garrison of eighteen hundred men were killed, and of the attackers three thousand, so that the castle had held out for almost a fortnight and inflicted such loss on the western army that it was a victory of doubtful value."
This is probably the reason why my family lost status and moved to Kyushu and became farmers, and then a few centuries later moved as farm laborers to Hawaii. I mentioned to a few friends I've made on the board to remind me to tell them my family samurai story, and thought maybe you guys would like to read it also. Hope it didn't bore ya. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif
Paul, Koga no Goshi's descendant.
Sekigahara, 1600. (The battle between Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari of the Toyotomi House for control of Japan)
"Fushimi was the last castle that Hideyoshi had built, and so was a particularly strong place. Beside the main keep there were five other fortresses, called the Nishi Maru, Sanno Maru, Matsu Maru, Nagoya Maru, and Jibushoyu Maru, forming a garrison of eighteen hundred men..........
From the eighteenth to the twenty-eighth of the seventh month no impression was made on the defense. Then Ishida himself came from Sawayama to encourage the besiegers. At least one of Kobayakawa's men managed to set fire to one of the towers with a fire arrow, but Kato Kurozaemon climbed up a ladder and put it out, though he was burned to death in doing so. On the first of the eighth month, fire was seen to burst from the Matsu Maru and spread to the Nagoya Maru. And this was not the work of the besiegers, but of Koga no Goshi, Daikwan of the Tokugawa estates in Omi and a spy of Ieyasu, who was in charge of the Matsu Maru. And the reason was that Nagatsuka Masaie had siezed his wife and children in Koga and sent a message to him into the castle on an arrow to the effect that he would crucify them if he did not betray his master, but that if he did so he would be rewarded. So, to save them he consented to set fire to the tower he was holding, and also to break down the wall for a space of about a hundred yards with the assistance of forty men whom he had persuaded to help him. Then under the cover of the flames the main gate was assaulted and broken in, though the defenders resisted manfully with spear and halberd. Thus the Matsu Maru and the Nagoya Maru were taken, and then Kobayakawa sent a messenger to propose a truce, but his overtures were rejected, and the attack again proceeded.....
Most of the garrison of eighteen hundred men were killed, and of the attackers three thousand, so that the castle had held out for almost a fortnight and inflicted such loss on the western army that it was a victory of doubtful value."
This is probably the reason why my family lost status and moved to Kyushu and became farmers, and then a few centuries later moved as farm laborers to Hawaii. I mentioned to a few friends I've made on the board to remind me to tell them my family samurai story, and thought maybe you guys would like to read it also. Hope it didn't bore ya. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif
Paul, Koga no Goshi's descendant.