Yoshikane Ashikaga

Japanese: 足利義兼 - あしかが・よしかね

Year of death: 8th March 1199 (5th April 1199)
Year of birth: Year of birth unknown. A military commander in the early Kamakura period. Son of Yanada Mikuriyasu of Shimotsuke Province (Tochigi Prefecture), his mother was the daughter of Atsuta Omiyaji Noritada. He served as Saburo, Hyoe no Jo, and Hachijoin Kurodo. In 1180 (Jisho 4), he responded to Minamoto no Yoritomo's uprising, and participated in the attack on the Taira clan by Minamoto no Noriyori's army, and in 1189 (Bunji 5), Minamoto no Yoritomo's Oshu Battle, where he distinguished himself. In 1186, when the Okawa Kanenari Rebellion, a remnant of Fujiwara no Yasuhira's party, broke out, he became a punitive emissary and put it down. In 1188, he was appointed as Kazusa no Suke, Yoritomo's fief. After that, as a senior retainer of the shogunate, he married Tokiko, the daughter of Hojo Tokimasa, and inherited the Ashikaga Manor, the estate of Ashikaga County Governor Ashikaga Toshitsuna and Tadatsuna, who were destroyed during the Jisho-Juei Civil War, and became a major force in Shimotsuke on a par with the Oyama clan. After the Oshu War, he built the Kabasaki-dera Temple, which has a Pure Land garden thought to be modeled after the temple in Hiraizumi, and retired there in his later years. The Akamidō Hall of the temple is Yoshikane's mausoleum.

(Minegishi Sumio)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：正治1.3.8(1199.4.5)
生年：生年不詳
鎌倉前期の武将。下野国(栃木県)簗田御厨司義康の子,母は熱田大宮司範忠の娘。三郎,兵衛尉,八条院蔵人。治承4(1180)年源頼朝の挙兵に応じ,源範頼軍の平家攻め,文治5(1189)年の源頼朝の奥州合戦に参陣して功をあげた。6年に藤原泰衡残党の大河兼任の乱が起こると,追討使となってこれを鎮圧した。文治1年頼朝の知行国である上総介に任ぜられた。以後,幕府の宿老として,北条時政の娘時子を妻とし,治承・寿永内乱期に滅亡した足利郡司足利俊綱・忠綱の遺領足利荘を継承して小山氏と並ぶ下野の大勢力となった。奥州合戦後に,平泉の寺院を模したと考えられる浄土式庭園を持つ樺崎寺を建立して,晩年はここに隠退した。同寺の赤御堂は義兼の廟所である。<参考文献>『近代足利市史』通史編上

(峰岸純夫)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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