Gojo Yorimoto

A Southern Court official and military commander. His posthumous Buddhist name was Muge Sosho. He was the second son of the Daigaiki Kiyohara Yoshie. His mother is unknown. He served Emperor Godaigo and held various positions, including Daigaiki, Shonagon, and Kageyu, but around the time of Engen (1336-1340), the emperor appointed his son, Prince Kanenaga, as Seisei Shogun (General of the West) in order to pursue the Ashikaga clan, and sent him to the west. He had Yorimoto accompany him and take charge of his protection and education. It was in May 1343 (Kokoku 4, Koei 2) that Yorimoto and other princes traveled to Kutsuna Island in the Seto Inland Sea and landed in Satsuma (Kagoshima Prefecture), and from then on cooperated with powerful clans such as Kikuchi and Aso as part of the Kyushu Southern Army, fighting in various places. In his later years, he became a monk, but he is said to have died on May 20, 1362, at Minaki-no-sho in Chikuzen, although some say he died on the 28th of the same month. His descendants, the Gojo clan, still exist in Fukuoka Prefecture.

[Masashi Murata]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

南朝の廷臣、武将。法名無礙宗性(むげそうしょう)。大外記清原良枝の二男。母未詳。後醍醐(ごだいご)天皇に仕えて大外記、少納言(しょうなごん)、勘解由(かげゆ)次官などに歴任したが、延元(えんげん)（1336～40）のころ、天皇が足利(あしかが)氏追討の軍略から皇子懐良親王を征西将軍に任じ、西国に下向させることになり、頼元を随従させ、その守護と教育の任にあたらせた。頼元が親王らとともに瀬戸内海の忽那(くつな)島を経て、薩摩(さつま)（鹿児島県）に上陸したのは1343年（興国4・康永2）5月で、これよりのち菊池、阿蘇(あそ)らの豪族と協力して九州南軍の一翼として各地に転戦、活躍した。晩年には出家しているが、正平(しょうへい)22年5月20日筑前(ちくぜん)三奈木荘(みなきのしょう)で死没したとあり、一説には同月28日死没ともいう。その子孫の五条氏はいまも福岡県に存続している。

［村田正志］

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