Yue Fei

A military commander during the founding of the Southern Song Dynasty in China. His courtesy name was Pengju. He was from Tangyin, Xiangzhou (Henan Province). He was born into a poor farming family. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, volunteer armies arose all over the country in response to the invasion of the Jin army, and Yue Fei applied to join in 1122. He achieved military success in repeated battles with the Jin and in putting down peasant rebellions within the country, and was appointed military governor in 1134, achieving an unprecedented promotion. In 1136, after stationing in Xiangyang (Hubei Province), he was promoted to military governor, and took full control of the military, administrative, and financial powers within his jurisdiction, growing into a major warlord capable of opposing the Southern Song government. Yue Fei, Han Shizhong and other warlords advocated fighting against the Jin Dynasty, but in 41, Prime Minister Qin Hui, who led the peace movement, exploited the conflict between the warlords to seize their power and restore a centralized government run by civil servants. Yue Fei, who was the most hardline of the generals, was imprisoned on the pretext of treason. However, after his death, his innocence was questioned. Yue Fei was highly educated, rare for a military commander of the time, and was also a first-rate calligrapher. In later generations, he was enshrined in the Yue Fei Temple and is beloved as a hero who saved the country.

[Hiroaki Ito]

“Yuefei and Qinhinoki” by Gunji Toyama (1939, Tomiyamabo)”

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、南宋(なんそう)建国期の武将。字(あざな)は鵬挙(ほうきょ)。相州湯陰(とういん)（河南省）の人。貧しい農家に生まれる。北宋末、金(きん)軍の侵入に対して各地に義勇軍がおこったが、岳飛は1122年にこれに応募し、たび重なる金との戦いや国内の農民反乱の平定に軍功をあげて、34年に節度使(せつどし)に任ぜられ、異例の出世を遂げた。36年、襄陽(じょうよう)（湖北省）に在駐してのち、宣撫使(せんぶし)に昇格すると、本格的に管内の軍事、行政、財政の三権を掌握して、南宋政府に対抗できるほどの一大軍閥に成長した。岳飛、韓世忠(かんせいちゅう)ら軍閥諸勢力は金との抗戦を主張したが、41年、和平論を主導する宰相秦檜(しんかい)は、軍閥間の対立を利用して、その実権を奪い、文官による中央集権政治の回復を図った。とくに諸将軍中もっとも強硬であった岳飛は、謀反を口実に獄死させられた。しかし死後、その無実はそそがれた。岳飛は当時の武将には珍しく学問があり、また書家としても一流であった。後世、岳飛廟(びょう)に祀(まつ)られ救国の英雄として親しまれている。

［伊藤宏明］

『外山軍治著『岳飛と秦檜』（1939・冨山房）』

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