Asayama Daily News

Japanese: 朝山日乗 - あさやま・にちじょう

Year of death: Tensho 5 (1577)
Year of birth: Unknown. A monk during the Warring States period. He was born in Asayama-go, Izumo (Shimane Prefecture), and it is widely believed that Asayama was his surname, but it is more likely that he was born in Mimasaka (Okayama Prefecture). There is also the view that Asayama was not a surname but a Buddhist name, making it difficult to determine. In 1555, he went to Kyoto and became a monk at Sanzen-in Temple. His sect was therefore Tendai, not Nichiren, as is commonly believed. At this time, he was given the title of shonin by Emperor Gonara. This was because Konoe Motohisa had presented Nichijo's "Muso" to the emperor, but the later Taikoki states that this "Muso" referred to the construction of the Imperial Palace. He subsequently served at the Imperial Court, working on the maintenance of the Imperial Palace, and in 1563, at the request of the Muromachi shogunate, he worked hard to mediate peace between the Mori and Otomo clans. In the same year, he was reprimanded by Shinohara Nagafusa, a subordinate of the Miyoshi Triumvirate, and imprisoned in Nishinomiya, Settsu, but was pardoned by imperial sanction in April the following year. After Oda Nobunaga came to Kyoto in September of the same year, he mediated between the Oda clan and the Imperial Court, and also became the magistrate for repairing the Imperial Palace. He hated Christianity, and in April the following year, he manipulated and obtained an imperial decree to expel the missionaries, but was defeated by the sharp tongue of Friar Lorenzo in a religious debate with Nobunaga present, and the imperial decree lapsed. He was recorded badly by Frois and others for slandering Wada Koremasa and others who tried to expel the missionaries and protect Christianity. In July of the same year, he served as an inspector in the San'in expedition led by Kinoshita (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi and others, but later fell out of Nobunaga's favor. His last recorded activity was when he entered the area at the end of Tensho 1 (1573) to restore the Imperial Palace's territory of Tanbayamakokusho. He is presumed to have been disowned by Nobunaga in March of the same year. In the early Showa period, his grave was discovered among abandoned graves at Chion-ji Temple in Kyoto. Before the war, he was honored as a monk who supported the emperor, and after the war, he was criticized as a demonic monk who rejected Christianity, but he was undoubtedly a prominent monk who colored the final period of the Warring States period. <References> Ogino Sanshichihiko, "About the Mysterious Monk Nikkyo" (Nihon Rekishi, No. 528)

(Akira Imaya)

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

Japanese:

没年：天正5(1577)
生年：生年不詳
戦国時代の僧侶。出身を出雲(島根県)朝山郷とし,因んで朝山を姓とする説が流布しているが,美作(岡山県)出身とするのが有力。朝山も姓でなく法名とする見解があり決し難い。弘治1(1555)年上洛し,三千院で出家。従って宗派は通説のように日蓮宗ではなく天台宗である。このとき後奈良天皇から上人号の宣下を受ける。これは日乗の「夢想」を近衛前久が天皇に奏したためであるが,後年の『太閤記』はこの「夢想」を内裏造営のこととする。以後朝廷に出仕し御所の営繕に従事,また室町幕府の委嘱で永禄6(1563)年には毛利・大友間の和平調停にも奔走した。同10年三好三人衆の部将篠原長房に咎められ摂津西宮の獄にあったが,翌年4月勅許により赦免。同年9月の織田信長上洛以降は織田氏と朝廷の間に周旋し,また内裏修造奉行となった。キリスト教を嫌い,翌12年4月には策動して宣教師追放の綸旨を得たが,信長臨席下の宗論で修道士ロレンソの舌鋒に敗れ,綸旨も失効した。宣教師を排撃し,キリスト教を保護しようとする和田惟政らを讒したため,フロイスなどには悪しざまに記録されている。同年7月には木下(豊臣)秀吉らの山陰出兵に検使として従軍したが,そののち信長の寵を失った。天正1(1573)年末に禁裏領丹波山国荘回復のため入部したのが記録にみえる活動の最後である。同3年3月に信長から勘当されたと推定される。昭和初年,京都知恩寺の無縁墓中に墓が発見された。戦前は勤王僧として顕彰され,戦後はキリスト教排斥の妖僧として非難されるが,戦国末期を彩る一傑僧には違いない。<参考文献>荻野三七彦「怪僧日乗について」(『日本歴史』528号)

(今谷明)

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

<<: Asayama Bontoan

>>: Asayama Irin-an