The Beheading of Sugitani Zenjubo —Gifu, 5 October 1573

The Beheading of Sugitani Zenjubo
Oil on canvas, 65×80cm, 2009-2021, M.Tsushima

Sugitani Zenjubo was one of the most dangerous snipers who shot Nobunaga. Three years after his attempted murder of Nobunaga, he was caught and executed in a most ferocious manner.

Background

In 1570 Nobunaga's military campaign in the north coast failed due to the sudden betrayal of his ally warlord, Azai Nagamasa. Nobunaga evacuated the battlefield and fled to Kyoto, then left for Gifu, his HQ. On the way back to Gifu, Nobunaga was shot by a sniper, Sugitani Zenjubo, but the bullets missed him.

Three years later, in 1573, Sugitani, who had been wanted by Nobunaga, was eventually arrested. He was sent to Gifu, where he was beheaded.

Accounts

Ota Gyuichi(1527-1613), a samurai who served Nobunaga, writes[1]:

Sugitani Zenjubo, incidentally, was a good sniper. Years ago, when Nobunaga crossed the Chigusa Mountain Pass, Sugitani, asked by Rokkaku Yoshikata, in the mountain, loading a gun with two bullets, fired ruthlessly from a distance of from 22 to 24 meters. However, the bullets grazed Nobunaga's body, as god of heaven watched over him. Nobunaga, getting off the hook, returned to Gifu.
Around this time, Sugitani Zenjubo hid in Takashima, relying on Namazue Kouchiku. Isono Tanba arrested him, and on 10 September, sent him to Gifu. Sugaya Kyuuemon and Hafuri Yosaburo, both as magistrates, questioned him about the detail of his firing a gun in the Chigusa Mountain, and then executed him in a satisfactory manner: he was buried upright, and beheaded by a saw. All the people, venting years of pent-up anger, could not be more satisfied with this.

Characters

Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), after unifying Owari Province in 1565, conqured Gifu in 1567 and moved there his HQ. From Gifu, he marched his army to Kyoto to support Ashikaga Yoshiaki to be enthroned as the fifteenth Shogun. On the way to Kyoto lies Ohmi Province, where he made enemies: one of them was Rokkaku Yoshikata.

Sugitani Zenjubo (?-1573), was from Sugitani family, one of 53 Koka ninja clans. He was so good a sniper that he could shoot a bird in flight without missing[2]. In 1570, he was employed by Rokkaku Yoshikata to kill Nobunaga. Ambushed in the Chigusa Mountain Pass, he shot Nobunaga, but missed.

Sugaya Kyuuemon Nagayori (?-1582), was a close aide to Nobunaga. Though in his early years, in the 1560s, he, as a mounted guard, attended wars in Owari Province, in the 1570s his job shifted to administrative duties: one of them was the execution of Sugitani Zenjubo.

The execution

The way of execution employed to behead Sugitani Zenjubo was called "nokogiri-biki", meaning sawing. Before it was abolished in 1869, it was the most severe execution method among six death penalties in Japan: in its final years, though, it had been already formalized to be less cruel.

The way of nokogiri-biki is depicted in the book about criminal cases in the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867)[3] which was published in 1893. According to the headnote, the criminal is put in a box which is buried in the ground, exposing the criminal's head on the ground. The criminal is poked at his neck to bleed, then the blood is smeared on a saw made of bamboo. After being exposed to public view for three days, he is dragged in the city street and crucified. So, the sawing itself was not actually conducted: it was a punishment as a warning.

In the 16th century, however, it was different: the sawing was actually done. The early example was the beheading of Wada Shingoro in 1544, who had committed adultery with a shogun's son's handmaid. He was cut at the neck by a saw: first cut both hands, then the neck. A court noble, Yamashina Tokitsugu (1507-1579), writes that it was an unprecedented punishment[4].

The event might inspire writers, or vice versa? It is around this time that revenge stories including the scene of nokogiri-biki were made. A folktale, Sansho Dayu, is the revenge story of Zushio, who in his childhood with his sister had been bought and abused by a rich man, Sansho Dayu; so hard that the sister was forced to suicide. Zushio, after he fled, called Sansho Dayu to Kokubunji Temple where he buried Sansho Dayu to his neck and had Sansho Dayu's sons saw the neck by a saw made of bamboo[5].
One of the oldest written stories is the 1555 picture book, The Story of Tekokuma: Tekokuma, a daughter of a vassal samurai, was murdered by her father's lord's brother, Kayuta, who was to be caught and executed by nokogiri-biki for vengeance[6].

Nokogiri-Biki    Left:Tokugawa Shogunate Period(1603-1867) [3],    Right:The Story of Tekokuma(1566) [6]

What is common in these stories is that nokogiri-biki is described as a way of vengeance. It was a poetic justice. Once it was employed by samurai warlords, the fiction became reality.
Nobunaga's ally warlord, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), in 1574, executed his ex-servant, Oga Yashiro, who had attempted a plot to take over Ieyasu's castle. Oga was cut at the artery in the leg, put in a hole on a street, locked in a pillory. His ten fingers were cut off and put in front of his face. While two saws — one made of bamboo, the other of iron — were left at his side, passers-by, arguing that the hateful deserved to be punished, sawed his neck one after another. Within the day he died[7].

Sugitani Zenjubo might be beheaded in a likewise manner. Nokogiri-biki is effective to prolong criminal's pain. Nobunaga's vassals were all satisfied with the vengeance completed: it took three years since Nobunaga was shot by the ninja. But Nobunaga might be still aware of the power of ninjas: his military campaign in the ninja province was to be deferred as late as 1581.

References

[1] 信長公記, 太田牛一
[2] 改正三河後風土記 上 p473 (1886)
[3] 徳川幕府刑事図譜, 藤田新太郎 (1893) [page 50/69]
[4] 言継卿記 第一, 山科言継 [page 255/289, 言継卿記 九　天文十三年八月]
[5] 説経節正本集 第1
[6] てこくま物語 (1566)
[7] 三河物語, 大久保忠教 [page 98/158]