《77》The Dawn of Early Modern Hakata and Hakata Merchants (Part 1)...The Three Great Merchants of Hakata
- For a while from today, I will start a historical walk in early modern Hakata. To begin with, we will focus on the Hakata merchants at the dawn of Hakata in the early modern period, especially three wealthy merchants, Sotan Kamiya, Soshitsu Shimai, and Soku Ohga, who have been called the "Hakata Sanketsu" since long ago.
- After the fall of the Ouchi clan in 1551, medieval Hakata, which had long been in a period of stability, underwent a complete about-face and entered a period of upheaval, suffering from continuous warfare and repeated burnings until the time of Hideyoshi Toyotomi's pacification of Kyushu (1586).
- The area was a burnt field as far as the eye could see. This was the state of Hakata at the end of the Middle Ages.Many of the burnt-out Hakata residents took refuge in the suburbs of Hakata, and the city itself was a city of death. 1587, a savior appeared in this rubble-strewn, irrevocable Hakata, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who defeated the Shimazu forces and unified the country.
*The photo shows present-day Hakata Station and Kushida Shrine in the old Hakata city district. /
近世博多の黎明期と博多商人（その１）…博多三傑と呼ばれた豪商たち
- 今日からしばらくは、近世博多の歴史散歩を始めてみます。手始めに近世博多の黎明期における博多商人、とりわけ古くから「博多三傑」と呼ばれる神屋宗湛、島井宗室、大賀宗九の３人の豪商を取り上げましょう。
- 長らく安定期にあった中世博多が、1551年の大内氏滅亡以降一転して激動の時代へと移り、豊臣秀吉の九州平定の時期（1586年）までの間、打ち続く戦乱と度重なる焼き討ちに見舞われました。
- 辺りは見渡す限りの焼け野原。それが中世末期の博多の姿だったのです。焼け出された博多の町民たちの多くは博多近郊に避難しており、博多は死の街そのものでした。1587年、このがれきに埋もれた再起不能の博多に現れた救世主が、島津勢を討って天下を取った豊臣秀吉でした。
※写真は、現在の博多駅と旧博多市街地の櫛田神社です。