The 39th episode of the NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (General TV, Sunday 8pm and others), starring actor Ryusei Yokohama , titled "Unable to Live in the Pure Land of Shirakawa, Half My Life" aired on October 12th, and the final scene depicted Hasegawa Heizo ( Nakamura Hayato), an Arson and Theft Investigation Officer, capturing Aoi Kozo, a thief who had been attacking merchant houses one after another, pretending to be the "illegitimate son" of the former Shogun. Aoi Kozo was a real thief, and in historical fact he was also captured by Heizo. However, there are almost no records left behind, and the incident is shrouded in mystery.
◇ Edo was put on high alert as a procession bearing the "Aoi Imperial Crest" was organized to search for merchants.
Around April 1791 (Kansei 3), merchant houses in Edo were attacked one after another, and not only were their money and valuables stolen, but the women who owned them were also raped. The leader of the bandits called himself "Aoimaru." He broke into houses wearing clothing bearing the Tokugawa family's three-leaf hollyhock crest. Aoimaru rode in a magnificent palanquin bearing the hollyhock crest, and his subordinates were disguised as samurai attendants. They paraded through the city like a feudal lord's procession, searching for merchant houses to target.
Many merchants, out of respectability, chose not to report the crimes because their wives, daughters, and female servants had been violated. However, rumors spread, and people began whispering that the culprit was "Aoi Kozo." This eventually reached the ears of Matsudaira Sadanobu and other high-ranking members of the shogunate.
Initially, Heizo and another member of the Arashi-fu-teki-rakata (Arm-fighting and Theft-fighting Inspectorate) were in charge of the search for Aoi Kozo. Every year, between autumn and spring, when fires are most common, a deputy mayor was appointed to be the Arashi-fu-teki-rakata (Arm-fighting and Theft-fighting Inspectorate), and this year Matsudaira Sakingo, leader of the eighth squad of the Sente-teppo-teppo-hachi-gumi (Advance Firearms Division), was in charge. Even so, Aoi Kozo was not caught. The shogunate then ordered all members of the Sente-gumi (Advance Firearms Division), responsible for maintaining order in Edo, to "mobilize for public safety," but even under strict security, Aoi Kozo continued to commit crimes.
◇ Heizo's "certain ability to discern" was the deciding factor in the arrest of Aoi Kozo
This was a crime that took advantage of people's "awe" towards the hollyhock crest. Asano Naganori (1842-1937), the last lord of the Hiroshima domain, told an interesting anecdote about the prestige of the hollyhock crest. In Edo, where the mansions of feudal lords from all over the country were located, feudal lord processions would frequently pass each other on the roads, and when they spotted a procession bearing the hollyhock crest up ahead, they would detour down a side street as if fleeing. This was because if the procession was that of one of the Tokugawa Gosanke (three main families), it would be too much of a hassle to get out of their palanquins and bow.
Since this was the situation even for feudal lords, officials from the Arson and Robbery Control Department and the First Division felt uneasy surrounding and tailing the procession bearing the chrysanthemum crest. "What if it was a real procession bearing the chrysanthemum crest...?" The procession of Aoi Kozo was so impressive that it made them think so. Eventually, Heizo succeeded in capturing Aoi Kozo.
It is not clear how Heizo was able to spot the fake chrysanthemum crest procession, but there is this anecdote: Heizo once worked as a "gift attendant" at Edo Castle. His job involved handling gifts from daimyo to the Shogun family and attending ceremonial events where daimyo were present. Heizo could identify daimyo families by their family crests. There were also several different designs of the chrysanthemum crest, and each was slightly different for the Shogun, the Gosanke, and the Tokugawa and Matsudaira clans of the daimyo family, but Heizo was able to identify these as well. It is said that one night, he became suspicious of the chrysanthemum crest he saw in a procession in the city, which led to his arrest.
After his capture, the case took a strange turn. The investigation was cut short, and Aoi Kozo was executed on May 3rd, 10 days after his arrest. It was the quickest "case settlement" for a death sentence in Edo, but no other records remain.
◇Was the trial terminated to protect the victim's privacy?
Regarding the swift resolution of the incident, historian Mitamura Engyo (1870-1952) speculates that "I believe it was Hasegawa Heizo who arranged it." The gist of it is this: Aoi Kozo proudly confessed to the women he had assaulted in the merchant's house he broke into. Even in the Edo period, it was the same practice that victim reports had to be prepared based on the suspect's statements, even if a report of the crime had not been filed.
However, it was unbearable to remind the victims of the incident. Heizo consulted with the shogunate, terminated the investigation, concluded the case, and destroyed the interrogation records. Ikenami Shotaro's "Onihei Hankacho" also includes a story called "Aoi Kozo the Demon Thief" (Bunshun Bunko, Volume 2, Chapter 4), which is based on Aoi Kozo, and the story unfolds according to Mitamura's reasoning.
However, protecting the privacy of the victims is a weak argument. Jirokichi Nezumi Kozo (1797-1832), who later caused a stir in Edo, broke into nearly 100 feudal lord residences and stole 3,121 ryo (approximately 312.1 million yen in today's value). Yet, not a single report of the crime was filed. Having one's residence broken into was a complete loss of face and embarrassment. By chance, the magistrate's office interrogated a man who was caught on the street, and he confessed to being Nezumi Kozo. Based on his confession, the magistrate's office visited each feudal lord residence, persuading and questioning him. The extent of the crime was confirmed from the residences of prominent families, including the Tokugawa Gosanke (three main branches of the Tokugawa family) and the Ii family (Hikone Domain).
The Aoi Kozo case, in which the victim was not interviewed out of respect for the privacy of the merchant family (townspeople), and the Nezumi Kozo case, in which the victim was interviewed despite the honour and dignity of the feudal lord family, are both examples. Aoi Kozo was executed ten days after his capture, while Nezumi Kozo was executed three months later. There is no balance between how the two cases were handled. Perhaps there was another reason why Aoi Kozo's execution was rushed and no records were left.
◇ The true identity of Aoi Kozo, described by Matsudaira Sadanobu, remains a mystery
In his autobiography, "Uge Jingoto," Matsudaira Sadanobu wrote about the events of this time, describing the "thieves and demons" that infested Edo: "Thieves and demons appeared, creating a terrible situation. Thieves broke into several houses in one night. When dogs barked, people assumed a thief had come out and rang the half-bell. The sound of the bell caused further commotion, resulting in sleepless nights. People were going around gossiping about this and that, and those rumors spread, creating a state of unrest. This was a rare occurrence. Then someone named Hasegawa arrested a man named Omatsu Goro. This man had broken into over 50 places over the past month or two."
At the time, there were a series of robbery incidents in Edo, so it is not possible to say for sure that "Omatsu Goro" was the same person as Aoi Kozo, but the circumstances make it the most likely that Omatsu Goro was Aoi Kozo. According to Sadanobu, Omatsu Goro was originally a gambler, but became a thief out of poverty. He also writes that in response to the incident, the shogunate decided to step up arrests of gamblers to nip those who would become thieves in the bud. No further details about this incident are mentioned.
A historical novel about Aoi Kozo is "Jibukuri Denbei: Juzo Shimatsu (2)" (Osaka Tsuyoshi, Kodansha Bunko). The protagonist is Kondo Juzo (1771-1829), who joined the search for Aoi Kozo as a police officer in the Arson and Theft Control Division of the assistant mayor led by Matsudaira Sakingo, and later became famous as an explorer. The story thrillingly depicts the reasons why no records of the incident remain, including the true identity of Aoi Kozo, from a completely different perspective than "Onihei Hankacho." The mystery of Aoi Kozo is deep. (Text by Komatsu Kenichi)
