In late Edo, the Kanda Nishiki-chō area was open ground called Gojūin-hara where two acts of vengeance occurred in just eleven years—as noted earlier in this column. In samurai society, vengeance approved by one's lord or the magistrate's office incurred no penalty for killing an enemy. But as Meiji Japan rushed toward a modern state, vengeance was banned as proof of established public punitive authority—Eto Shinpei's prohibition on revenge in 1873 (Meiji 6).
Vengeance still occurred, but the case called Japan's last is the "Usui Rokurō Vengeance Incident" of 1880 (Meiji 13).
In 1868 (Keiō 4), Usui Watarini, regent of the progressive Akizuki domain, was killed with his wife and young daughter in an attack by several members of the Mustered Army sent by conservative senior councilors. Eldest son Rokurō, ten, survived in a secondary residence. The domain did not punish the attackers, so as he grew Rokurō resolved on vengeance, studied swordsmanship under Yamaoka Tesshū, and honed his skill.
Rokurō traced the killer to Yamamoto Katsumi, alias Ise Naohisa, then a judge who moved often and was hard to locate. Around noon on December 17, 1880, at the Kuroda Nagamori estate in Sanjikkenbori 3-chōme, Tokyo (present Ginza, Chūō Ward), he found Ise, then assistant judge at the Tokyo High Court, and fulfilled his vow by stabbing him in the throat with a hidden short sword as Ise came to the door.
Rokurō surrendered immediately and was indicted for murder. On September 22, 1881 (Meiji 14), the Tokyo Court sentenced him to life imprisonment. Amnesty with the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution and other measures led to his release on September 22, 1891 (Meiji 24). He later opened a manjū shop near Mojiko Station, married, and lived contentedly until dying of illness in 1917 (Taishō 6), buried beside his parents in his hometown.
Described in Yoshimura Akira's novel Adauchi and adapted for television, the predecessor Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun of The Mainichi Newspapers—headquartered at Palaceside Building in Takebashi—carried the vengeance story on December 18, 1880＝photo right and the verdict text on September 24, 1881＝photo left.