Hironori Iyoshi - The child of life

Japanese: 伊吉博徳 - いきのはかとこ

Year of birth: Unknown
An official from the late 7th century. In the 5th year of Saimei (659), he joined a Japanese envoy to Tang China and traveled to China. According to the travel record "Iki Hakutokusho" cited in the "Nihon Shoki," he arrived in Yue Province in Tang China in September of the 5th year of Saimei, and had an audience with Emperor Gaozong in Luoyang in the intercalary tenth month. However, because the Tang was preparing to attack Baekje, he was placed under house arrest in Chang'an (Xi'an). He was pardoned the following September and left Chang'an, passing through Jeju Island (Korea) before returning to Kyushu in May of the 7th year of Saimei. The book also describes the dialogue with Gaozong, how the Japanese envoys were superior to other foreign envoys, and how the group suffered when slanderers emerged from among the attendants. After returning to China, he was active in diplomacy, receiving envoys from the Tang China twice, but in the 1st year of Shucho (686), he was implicated in the Prince Otsu Incident. However, he was soon pardoned, and in the 9th year of the reign of Empress Jitō (695), he became an envoy to Silla, participated in the establishment of the Taiho Code, and received a reward in the 4th year of the Bunmu era (700). His highest rank was Junior Fifth Rank. He can be said to have been a capable bureaucrat who made use of his overseas experience. <References> Kitamura Bunji, "Basic Research on the Taika Reforms"

(Haruyuki Higashino)

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

Japanese:

生年：生没年不詳
7世紀後半の官人。斉明5(659)年,遣唐使に加わり入唐。『日本書紀』に引かれた旅行の記録『伊吉博徳書』によると斉明5年9月に唐の越州につき,閏10月洛陽で高宗皇帝に拝謁したが,唐が百済征討を準備中であったため,長安(西安)に禁足され,翌年9月,許されて長安を出発,済州島(韓国)を経て斉明7年5月に九州に帰還した。この書には,高宗との問答,日本使が他の外国使より優れていたこと,随員から讒言者が出て,一行が苦しんだことなども述べられている。帰国後は2度にわたり唐使を応接するなど外交に活躍したが,朱鳥1(686)年,大津皇子の変に連座した。しかしまもなく許されて,持統9(695)年には遣新羅使となり,大宝律令の制定にも参画して,文武4(700)年には褒賞を受けた。極位は従五位下であった。外国経験を生かした有能な官僚といえよう。<参考文献>北村文治『大化改新の基礎的研究』

(東野治之)

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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