Emperor's Armed Forces in the Warring States

Chapter 14 - The Beginning of Immigration to North America

This will be the beginning of a new chapter.

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14-1

Nobumoto Mizuno felt sorry for his sister. She was the daughter of a lord, albeit a minor one, and the wife of a lord named Hirotada Matsudaira. She had never expected to become one of the pioneers in a foreign land, a land far from the sea. But since he became one of the pioneers, he can say that he was one of them as well. However, it was too bad for his sister that his brother-in-law, Hirotada, had died young from the various hardships he endured during the pioneering work.

If she had stayed in Japan, she might have been able to mourn her husband's loss. In this frontier area, Japanese women, especially those who can bear children, are very precious. As Nobumoto himself recommended, his sister remarried with Toshikatsu Hisamatsu and had a child.

Note that her son with Hirotada was still very young and had to be left behind in Japan when his sister and her husband went to this frontier area. Hirotada's paternal aunt (sister of Kiyoyasu Matsudaira), Hisa, took care of the son. His son was to go to the west coast of this frontier land, the North American continent, as soon as he graduated from elementary school, but after his father died and his mother remarried, the ownership of the land left by his father became an issue.

After all, this was a frontier area, and there were many factors that could cause a dispute, such as the boundary of the land. His brother-in-law was also a landowner of a considerable amount of land and farmland, as he had been a lord and had brought his people to the area as peasants. Toshikatsu Hisamatsu, partly in his own eyes, ostensibly took the attitude that the farmland inherited from Hirotada belonged to his son. However, in such a case, it is more than possible that the inherited land was divided among relatives, and when the son went there, he found that the land was gone. This is why the son, who had not yet graduated from elementary school, was hurriedly called to the settlement.

However, it was natural that it would take time to exchange documents between Japan and North America, and it was also necessary for the son to board an emigrant ship. As a result, it took about two years after his father's death for Hirotada Matsudaira's son to set foot in North America. As for Nobumoto, he felt sorry for his sister and her son (nephew for him).

What made Hirotada Matsudaira, Nobumoto Mizuno, and others emigrate to the North American continent?

It was because of the Imperial forces' insistence on their emigration. However, it was hard to say whether it was a complete hardship or not, even for Hirotada and Nobumoto. At the time of the Imperial forces' arrival, Mikawa was sandwiched between the two major forces of the Oda clan in Owari and the Imagawa clan in Suruga, while within Mikawa, mainly in the western region, there was infighting among the Matsudaira clansmen and fighting among the Kira clansmen in the eastern Mikawa region.

The Imperial forces intervened and ordered Hirotada and his brother-in-law Nobumoto to leave Mikawa (and Owari), claiming that Hirotada and others were the cause of chaos in the Mikawa region. Hirotada discussed with Nobumoto about his future plans (it should be noted that the banishment of Hirotada and others from Mikawa was not officially decided until about two years after the Imperial forces had made their way to Kyoto. That was how carefully the situation was investigated. This is why there was no outburst of 'risking the face of the military').

"At this point, I would like to leave Japan," Hirotada said to his brother-in-law.

"Out of Japan?"

Nobumoto was actually reluctant at this initial consultation. However, as he listened to his brother-in-law's words, he agreed with them.