上林竹庵と徳川家

茶筅を旗印として戦に臨んだ上林竹庵は、徳川家康に仕え、三河の土呂郷（現在の愛知県岡崎市）の知行を与えられました。しかしその後、竹庵は宇治へ戻り、千利休のもとで茶の湯を学ぶ道を選びます。

慶長5年（1600年）、関ヶ原の戦いに先立つ伏見城の戦いが起こると、竹庵は家康率いる東軍に加わり、茶筅を掲げて参戦しました。家康が会津へ向かっている間に西軍が伏見城へ迫り、竹庵は城主・鳥居元忠らとともに籠城します。東軍1,800人に対し、西軍はおよそ4万人という圧倒的な兵力でした。

豊臣秀吉が築いた堅固な伏見城と、竹庵らの必死の奮戦により西軍は苦戦しましたが、最終的に城は落城。竹庵は鈴木重朝の槍に倒れ、元忠らとともに討ち死にしました。遺体は大阪・京橋口に晒されましたが、二人に恩義のあった京都の商人・佐野四郎右衛門が密かに遺骸を引き取り、宇治の平等院に葬ったと伝えられています。

Kaｍbayashi Chikuan, who went into battle under a banner bearing a tea whisk, served Tokugawa Ieyasu and was granted the fief of Toro‑go in Mikawa (present‑day Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture). He later returned to Uji, choosing to study the Way of Tea under Sen no Rikyū.

In 1600, when the Battle of Fushimi Castle—an early clash preceding the Battle of Sekigahara—broke out, Chikuan joined Ieyasu’s Eastern Army and again raised the tea‑whisk banner as he entered the fray. While Ieyasu marched toward Aizu, the Western Army advanced on Fushimi Castle. Chikuan, together with the castellan Torii Mototada and others, took refuge within the castle. The Eastern Army numbered only about 1,800 men, while the Western Army brought an overwhelming force of roughly 40,000.

Thanks to the strong fortifications built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the desperate resistance of Chikuan and his comrades, the Western Army struggled to take the castle. Yet in the end, Fushimi Castle fell. Chikuan was struck down by the spear of Suzuki Shigetomo and died in battle alongside Mototada. Their bodies were exposed at Kyōbashi in Osaka, but it is said that Sano Shirōemon, a Kyoto merchant indebted to them, secretly retrieved their remains and buried them at Byōdō‑in in Uji.