Name Araki Mataemon | Died 1637 | |
 | ||
Greatest Men of the Sengoku Era (Japanese Civil War Era)
Araki Mataemon (荒木 又右衛門, 1584 – October 5, 1637) was a Japanese samurai active in the early Edo period. Araki Mataemon was the founder of the koryū martial art Yagyū Shingan-ryū, known sometimes as Yagyū Shingan-ryū Taijutsu.
Araki Matemon studied Yagyū Shinkage-ryū under Yagyū Munenori and later received permission 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. 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 in another domain, using friends of his father and his lineage linked to Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was somehow a complicated matter, as it seems at that time, a law from Toyotomi Hideyoshi allowed a little brother taking revenge for his elder brother, but not the reverse. After some years, the lord of Kazuma and Mataemon found a way, and they were allowed to take revenge for the murder. They fought and killed Matagoro and approximately 36 other samurai who were helping the culprit. It seems at that time, Kazuma was Mataemon's only assistant.
Araki Mataemon died by poison in 1637. The culprit was never found.