Grave of Goto Matabei

As if to support the legend of the postwar warlord "Goto Matabei," the temple sits quietly in the mountain village of the scenic "Ifuku no kei" in Yabakei. There are also guesthouses and a soft-shelled turtle farm nearby.

The Sengoku period warlord Goto Matabei was born in Banshu (southwestern Hyogo Prefecture) in Eiroku 3 (1560). His father, Motokuni, was a vassal of the Bessho clan, lord of Miki Castle in the same Harima province, and was a sincere and courageous senior general, but Matabei committed suicide when he was still a young boy. Following his father's will, he served his peer "Kodera Kanbei" (later Kuroda Takataka) to train his mind and body, and thanks to his boldness of heart and training in swords and spears, he became a brave general known throughout the country in both name and reality. In March of Tensho 15 (1587), during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Kyushu conquest, he accompanied Kuroda Kanbei, the first vanguard, south, and when Kuroda entered Nakatsu to pacify the local lords, it is said that he made a great contribution by forcing the stalwart general of Joitani, Utsunomiya Chinfusa, to surrender. Later, when Kuroda Josui and Nagamasa, father and son, were appointed to Hakata, Chikuzen (Fukuoka), as a fierce commander of the 24 Kuroda warriors he was given 16,000 koku and became the lord of Osumi Castle. However, a gap arose between the father and son and they became ronin (masterless samurai). They received invitations from daimyo from all over the country, including Hosokawa Tadaoki, but did not accept them. Due to interference from their former lords (Kuroda Josui and Nagamasa), they resigned from all of them. When the Siege of Osaka broke out, they accepted Hideyori's invitation and entered the castle. During the Summer Siege, they fought in the Yamato area and achieved military success, but it is said that they were killed in battle at Domyoji-gawara.
According to one theory, after the defeat of the Osaka side, he went on a wandering journey westward and eventually escaped to this area where he had connections, where he hoped to restore the Toyotomi clan in seclusion, but when he heard through the grapevine that the Toyotomi clan had been dethroned, he eventually committed suicide.

After some time passed, the villagers learned that the samurai who had committed suicide was Goto Matabei and built a grave there. Later, in Horeki 13 (1763), Ifuku Mosuke, unable to bear the old grave falling into disrepair, had it replaced.
The gravestone reads "Giba Chimitsu Koji." The inscription reads, "The knight's name was Matabei, and it is unknown where he came from. He once lived in this village for 3 years, and was a man of great ambition, valor, and a keen eye for shooting people. I recall that he committed suicide by sword on the night of January 29, 1654 (the 3rd year of the Shoo era), perhaps because he had rebelled against the feudal lords and powerful men. Since then, the stone monument has been missing for many years. Therefore, the villagers long for the past and have erected a new stone monument here to commemorate his soul." It does not specify that he was Goto Matabei, but it is thought that this was done out of consideration for the shogunate during the Tokugawa period.

[City designated historic site (designated January 10, 1975)]