明治19年、水野家当主 水野智義は私財を投じ、赤城山麓の一画を買い占め徳川埋蔵金の発掘事業を開始する。智義の義父、中島蔵人は小栗上野介の部下であった。その蔵人は死ぬ間際に智義に秘密を告げて埋蔵金発掘を託す。以来、水野家は三代に渡って徳川埋蔵金を追い続けている。

明治23年、初代智義は黄金の徳川家康像を発見。 その後、近所にある寺の縁の下で、埋蔵金の在りかを記したとされる銅板の地図が発見されるが、大正15年に死去。昭和７年、２代目義治は直径が20メートルもある巨大な石灰の亀を山中で発掘するも、やはり埋蔵場所の特定には至らず。３代目の智之氏に引き継がれた。

水野家３代120年間の発掘作業を経て、埋蔵の証となり得る家康像や銅板の地図等様々な手がかりをもとに謎解きをしてきた智之氏。「与えられる」その時が来るまで発掘に執念を見せる。

 

In 1876, in the early years of the fledgling Meiji Government, it is believed that the former hatamoto (bannerman) Tomoyoshi Mizuno, who owned a money exchange business in Nihonbashi, participated in hiding the Tokugawa buried treasure while working under the kanjo bugyo (finance commissioner) Kozukenosuke Oguri.

Mizuno’s father-in-law Kurando Nakajima left a legal will to him.
In the will his father-in-law said, “Remember, Tomoyoshi, the buried treasure in Akagi is not a made-up story. The amount of treasure there is 3.6 million ryo [gold coins].”
Mizuno invested his money to buy up all of the area in Akagi, and with the help of more than 300 workers, began excavating for the buried treasure.

Mizuno acquired the “Taigiheiho hizusho” [Secrets of the Great Cause and Arts of War] and “Douban no chizu” [Copperplate Map], which were believed to show the location where the treasure was buried.
During 40 years of excavation at Akagi Mountain, Mizuno discovered a golden statue of Tokugawa Ieyasu but nothing more, eventually dying at age 78.

In the second generation, Yoshiharu Mizuno, who inherited the business of excavating buried treasure, discovered a statue of a giant turtle, 20 meters in length.

Together with his brother Aisaburo, Mizuno continued to excavate the neighboring area, where the turtle was discovered, which was first marked by Heiho Hachimon Tonko, for over 40 years, but he never found the buried treasure. The excavation business has since been carried on by a third-generation Mizuno, Tomoyuki Mizuno.