was a Japanese

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

active in the early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

. Araki Mataemon was the founder of the koryū

martial art Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

Yagyū Shingan-ryū , is a traditional school ('' koryū'') of Japanese martial arts. Different styles of Yagyū Shingan-ryū, such as Heihojutsu and Taijutsu, assert different founders, Takenaga Hayato and Araki Mataemon respectively, but they all go back to Ush� ...

, known sometimes as Yagyū Shingan-ryū Taijutsu. Araki Matemon studied

Yagyū Shinkage-ryū is one of the oldest Japanese schools of swordsmanship (''kenjutsu''). Its primary founder was Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, who called the school Shinkage-ryū. In 1565, Nobutsuna bequeathed the school to his greatest student, Yagyū Munetoshi, who a ...

under

Yagyū Munenori was a Japanese daimyo, swordsman, and martial arts writer, founder of the Edo branch of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, which he learned from his father Yagyū "Sekishūsai" Muneyoshi. This was one of two official sword styles patronized by the Tokugawa ...

and later received permissionSkoss, Diane (Editor). 1997. ''Koryu Bujutsu''.Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan, volume 1, p. 85. New Jersey, Koryu Books. from Yagyū Jūbei to use the Yagyū family-name in the Yagyū Shingan-ryū. Araki Mataemon was a very strong warrior, and his feud against the samurai Kawai Matagorō is one of the most famous in Japan, called

Igagoe vendetta The Igagoe vendetta was a vengeance incident in Japan in 1634, where the murder of a retainer was avenged by his older brother. The event happened in the town of Iga-Ueno near Iga Pass. The vendetta is known as one of the three major vendetta inc ...

. Matagoro killed Gendayu, the little brother of Mataemon's brother-in-law, Watanabe Kazuma. Becoming a murderer out of jealousy for a childhood friend, Matagoro fled into another domain, using friends of his father and his lineage linked to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Watanabe eventually located him in the neighborhood of Iga-Ueno. By now, Watanabe Kazuma had been joined in his revenge by Araki Mataemon. "On the seventh day of the eleventh month of 1634", Watanabe Kazuma, Araki Mataemon, and two other men waited for Kawai Matagoro at the Kagiya crossroads in Iga-Ueno. They had been informed of Matagoro's route. That morning the road was frozen, Mataemon and his followers entered a nearby shop and waited for Matagoro to arrive from Osaka. When the arrived, Mataemon killed Matagoro's uncle, Kawai Jinzaemon, and the followers who surround Matagoro. Historian Stephen Turnbull wrote, that: Araki Mataemon died by poison in 1638. The culprit was never found.

References

Japanese swordfighters of the Edo period 1590s births 1638 deaths {{Japan-martialart-bio-stub