48：小林年保と金谷善一郎の再会　　　　　　　Reunion of Kobayashi Nenpo and Kanaya Zenichiro

小林年保は日光の花石町生まれ（1848年・嘉永元年）で、日光奉行所の役人でした。
Kobayashi Nenpo was born in Hanaishicho, Nikko (1848, the first year of the Kaei era) and was an official at the Nikko Magistrate's Office. He was Zenichiro's childhood friend.


年保は戊辰戦争の戦火が日光付近に迫った際も落ち着いて日光山の護衛にあたっていたと伝わります。
また、官軍への東照宮保護の申し入れや、孤児などの救助活動も行ないました。
明治維新後、徳川慶喜公と謁見。徳川家の執事になります。
人材不足に悩んでいた明治新政府は、旧幕臣の中から有能な人物を登用していました。、年保も見込まれて新政府に出仕。当時の兵庫県、九州の小倉県、三河県のなどで官職として実績をあげた後、三菱を経て静岡第三十五国立銀行頭取となり、さらに、他三つの銀行を設立しました。
長者番付に名を連ねるほどの成功を収め、日光には「小林銀行」と名付けた銀行を設立します。
年保の別邸があった場所は、一部その建築を残しつつ、現在では田母澤御用邸記念公園になっています。

年保は善一郎との再会から、善一郎が抱いていた民宿からホテルへと事業拡大の夢実現へ力を貸すことになります。
ことの経緯が、金谷眞一の著作にこのように書かれています。
少し長くなりますが、ご紹介いたします。

It is said that Nenpo remained calm and guarded Mount Nikko even when the flames of the Boshin War approached the area around Nikko.　They also requested the government forces to protect the Toshogu Shrine and carried out rescue activities for orphans and others.　　After the Meiji Restoration, he met with Tokugawa Yoshinobu and became a butler for the Tokugawa family.
The new Meiji government, which was suffering from a shortage of human resources, appointed capable people from among the former Shogunate vassals. Nenpo's talent was also recognized and he was appointed to serve in the new government.　After achieving success in government positions in what was then Hyogo Prefecture, Kokura Prefecture in Kyushu, and Mikawa Prefecture, he went on to work at Mitsubishi before becoming president of Shizuoka's 35th National Bank, and went on to found three other banks.　He became so successful that he was listed on the rich list, and founded a bank in Nikko called Kobayashi Bank.
The site where Nenho's villa was located is now Tamozawa Imperial Villa Memorial Park, with some parts of Nenho's mansion still remaining.
After reuniting with Zenichiro, Nenho will help Zenichiro realize his dream of expanding his business from a guesthouse to a hotel.
The story of what happened is written as follows in Shinichi Kanaya's work.
It's a bit long, but I'll introduce it to you.
—


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丁度この時、現在の金谷ホテルが建って居るこの位置に、三角（みかど）ホテルと云って横浜のガイド田島幸吉、日光の飯村多三郎、堀、大島、松田等数氏が共同して建築中の建物があった。
この建物は建築途中で暴風雨に遭い、崩壊して資金不足の為め工事が中止されて、その儘放置されてあった物である。
（中略）
この三角ホテルは立腐れの状態であったわけだ。父は此れに眼を付けて、何んとかしてこれを手に入れ様と思い始めた。
或日この山を登って、半壊した建物を詳細に観察した父は、男体山を拝し、これを取得し、ここで自己の運命を挽回させてくれないかと神に敬虔な祈りを捧げたとのことである。日の暮れる頃父はこの山を下って、大谷川の畔をとぼとぼ歩き出した。そして余り物思いに沈んで居ったので足元に注意が向かず、長坂の下の辺りで足を踏みはずして、大谷川の崖下六尺許りのところに落ちてしまった。
幸いに怪我はなかったが、下駄を飛ばしたので暗闇の中を手探りで探し廻った。
するとその時崖の上で誰かが「近江さん」と呼んで居る。近江さんとは父の幼名である。幼少時父は武士の名で近江之助と呼ばれて居たのだ。
自分の幼名を呼ぶ人は誰かと思って顔を上げて見ると、そこには三十年も会わなかった寺子屋時代の友達小林年保氏が立って居た。小林氏は早くから横浜に出て、当時は大いに成功し銀行の頭取等をやって居た人で、現在の田母沢御用邸の土地を所有して居った人。日光切っての成功者であると共に財産家であったのだ。
三十年も互いに見ることがなかったのが、こうしたことによって巡り会うことになったのも、何かの因縁であると考えた父は、小林氏を招じ入れて久し振りで夕食を共にした。父が暗闇の崖下でゴソゴソやって居たということは、小林氏にとっては大きな疑問であったに違いない。小林氏は父に「時に近江さん、あんた何であんな処に居ったのか」。そこで父は三角ホテルを入手し、有力の競争相手である他のホテルと、競争出来る様な陣容として家運の挽回を図りたいが、生憎く手元不如意で、それだけの余裕がない、それが心配で考え事をして居ったのだ、そして崖から落ちたわけなんだと、自分の心境を説明した。
小林氏は即座に「金のことは心配に及ばんよ、儂が用立てよう」と簡単に答えられた。
然しこの金を借りる気持ちがあっても、貰う気持がない父は「利子は一体幾ら位かね」と尋ねた。
その時小林氏は「当節の利子は一割二分位が相場だろう」。「それは少し高過ぎる、是非一割に負けてくれないか」。

こんな問答が繰り返された後小林氏は「儂も随分人に金を貸したが、利子を負けてくれと云う人に会ったことがない。利子を負けて呉れと云う人に元金を倒す人もないだろう。近江さんの正直な心持が気に入った。よろしい、一割で御用立しましょう」。
ここで一万円を借りる約束をした。

然し手元に四千円計りあったので、約六千円を小林氏から借りて、父の望み通り、三角ホテルを三千七百円で買い、他は土地の代償として支払い、買収することに成功した訳である。
そして、明治二十五年の十二月、茲（ここ）に移り住み、金谷ホテルが本格的に、その業務を始めることが出来たのである。
 
「ホテルと共に七拾五年」金谷眞一・著
　
At that time, where the Kanaya Hotel currently stands, there was a building called the Mikado Hotel that was being built jointly by Yokohama guide Tajima Kokichi, Iimura Tasaburo from Nikko, Hori, Oshima, Matsuda Toshiro and several others.
During construction, this building was hit by a rainstorm and collapsed, and due to a lack of funds, construction was stopped and the building was left abandoned.
Omitted
The Mikado Hotel was in a state of decay. My father noticed this and began thinking about how he could somehow obtain it.
One day, my father climbed the mountain where the Mikado Hotel stands and examined the half-destroyed building in detail. He then bowed down to Mt. Nantai and offered a devout prayer to the gods, wishing to acquire the building and expand his business from an inn to a hotel. As the sun was setting, my father descended the mountain and trudged along the banks of the Otani River. My father had been so lost in thought that he had not paid attention to his step, and at the bottom of the Naga-saka he lost his footing and fell about six feet below the cliff above the Otani River.
Fortunately, I wasn't hurt, but my clogs flew off, so I had to grope around in the dark to find them.
At that moment, he heard someone on the cliff calling out "Omi-san." Omi-san was father's childhood name. When his father was a child, he was called Ominosuke, a samurai name.
When he looked up to see who was calling him by his childhood name, he saw his friend Nenpo Kobayashi, who he hadn't seen in 30 years, standing there from his days at a temple school. Kobayashi had moved to Yokohama at an early age and was very successful in his time, serving as president of a bank and other positions, and owned the land where the Tamozawa Imperial Villa is now located. He was one of the most successful people in Nikko, and was also a wealthy man.
My father believed that it must have been fate that they had met through this encounter after not seeing each other for thirty years, so he invited Mr. Kobayashi over for dinner for the first time in a long time. The fact that my father was rustling around at the bottom of a cliff in the dark must have been a big mystery to Mr. Kobayashi. Mr. Kobayashi asked my father, "By the way, Mr. Omi, why were you in a place like that?" So, my father wants to acquire the Mikado Hotel and try to restore his family's fortunes by creating a team that can compete with other hotels that are strong competitors, but unfortunately, i am not on hand enouf money and doesn't have the luxury of doing so, so i am worried about that. I explained my state of mind by saying that I had been thinking about that and that's why I had fallen off the cliff.  Mr. Kobayashi was able to easily reply, ``Don't worry about money, I'll prepare it for you.''
However, my father, who was willing to borrow the money but had no intention of accepting it, asked, "How much will the interest be?"
At that time, Mr. Kobayashi said, ``Currently, the average interest rate would be around 10.2%.'' "That's a little too high, could you please lower it to 10%?"  After this exchange of questions and answers, Kobayashi said, "I have lent money to many people, but I have never met anyone who negotiated the interest rate. "He's the kind of person who would ask for a lower interest rate, so there's no way he wouldn't pay the principal. I like your honest attitude. Very well, I'll pay you 10%."
However, my father had 4,000 yen on hand, so he borrowed about 6,000 yen from Mr. Kobayashi and, as my father wished, bought the Mikado Hotel for 3,700 yen, paying the rest as compensation for the land, and was successful in the acquisition.
Then, in December 1892, we moved here and the Kanaya Hotel was able to begin full-scale operations.

"75 Years with the Hotel" by Shinichi Kanaya

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金谷善一郎（本文では「父」）と小林年保は“崖の下と上”で偶然にも再会する、というところが、当時の善一郎と年保の置かれていた状況をそのまま示しているようにも見え、飛ばした下駄を「暗闇の中を手探りで探し廻った」という表現も、何かのメタファーのようにも思えてしまいます。
こんなドラマチックな再会と友情が、その後の「金谷」の運命を変え、現在の金谷ホテルへとながっているのです。

Zenichiro Kanaya ('father' in the text) and Toshiyasu Kobayashi coincidentally meet again 'at the bottom and top of a cliff', which seems to directly reflect the situation Zenichiro and Toshiho were in at the time. The expression, ``I groped around in the darkness, searching for the geta'' that had flown away, seems like a metaphor for something.
This dramatic reunion and friendship changed the fate of "Kanaya" thereafter, leading to the current Kanaya Hotel.


小林年保については、こちらもご参考に
「日光西町観光ガイド」
日光西町観光ガイド

田母沢御用邸記念公園
田母沢御用邸記念公園