Emperor Gohanazono

Japanese: 後花園天皇 - ごはなぞのてんのう

Year of death: Bunmei 2.12.27 (1471.1.18)
Year of birth: June 18, 1419 (July 10, 1419)
Emperor of the Muromachi period (reigned 1428-64). His given name was Hikohito. He was the legitimate son of Fushiminomiya Sadanari (Gotakuin). His mother was Sachiko (Shikiseimon'in), the daughter of Fushiminomiya Housekeeper Ushosho Niwada Tsuneari. The Fushiminomiya family was founded by Emperor Suko and was not originally a family that produced imperial lineage, but when Emperor Shoko died of illness in July 1428 (Shocho 1) without an heir, Shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori quickly made Hikohito the successor. Emperor Shoko had an older brother, Ikkyu Sojun, but he was not supported because his mother was from the Southern Court courtier Kazan-in and he had a long career as a Zen monk. However, Gohanazono looked up to Ikkyu as his older brother throughout his life and called Ikkyu the "legitimate heir" of the imperial line (Chuon-an documents). Initially, the Emperor became the adopted son of the retired Emperor Gokomatsu and was under the guardianship of the retired emperor, but after Komatsu's death in 1433, he began to rule directly. The most important of his administrative achievements was the issuance of a 'chibai rinji' (imperial edict) following the outbreak of the Eikyou Rebellion in August 1437. This marked the revival of the system of 'chotetsu' (enemies of the court), which had been abolished after Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's death 60 years earlier, and the Emperor's political authority rose in inverse proportion to the decline of the Muromachi Shogunate. A 'chibai rinji' (imperial edict) was also issued in the suppression of Akamatsu Mitsusuke following the Kakitsu Incident in June 1441, and the Shogunate subsequently requested these rinji to put down rebellions of all sizes, and the Emperor's presence grew even while he was still in power. It is well known that in the midst of the great famine in 1461, he sent a Chinese poem to admonish Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who was busy building a mountain villa. In July of the same year, he abdicated to Emperor Tsuchimikado, but continued to rule as an innkeeper. When the Onin War broke out, he tried to remain neutral, but was ashamed of the fact that the imperial decree he had issued to Hatakeyama Masanaga had been the cause of the great rebellion, and in September of the first year of the Onin War (1467), he secretly became a monk, earning praise from the public for taking responsibility for the imperial immorality of the irresponsible Shogun Yoshimasa. Hosokawa Katsumoto misinterpreted the neutral imperial decree of the retired emperor as an imperial decree to subjugate the Western Army, and used it as a means to mobilize troops. At the end of the second year of the Bunmei era (1470), he died of a stroke at the temporary palace, Muromachi Daiizumidono. Well versed in Japanese and Chinese studies, he was an extremely important figure as a heroic ruler who restored imperial power after Yoshimitsu's attempted usurpation of the throne.

(Akira Imaya)

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

Japanese:

没年：文明2.12.27(1471.1.18)
生年：応永26.6.18(1419.7.10)
室町時代の天皇(在位1428～64)。諱は彦仁。伏見宮貞成(後祟光院)の嫡子。母は伏見宮家司右少将庭田経有の娘幸子(敷政門院)。伏見宮家は崇光天皇を祖とし本来皇統を出す家ではなかったが,称光天皇が嗣子なく正長1(1428)年7月に病死したため,急遽将軍足利義教によって嗣立されたのが彦仁である。称光天皇には兄一休宗純がいたが,母が南朝廷臣花山院の出であったこと,禅僧としての経歴が長かったことなどから擁立が見送られたのである。しかし後花園は終世一休に兄事し,自ら一休を皇統の「正嫡」と呼んでいる(『酬恩庵文書』)。嗣立当初天皇は後小松上皇の猶子となりその院政による後見を受けたが,永享5(1433)年後小松の没後は親政を開始した。治績中最も重要なものは同10年8月の永享の乱勃発による治罰綸旨の発給で,足利義満以後廃絶していた朝敵制度が60年にして復活し,以後天皇の政治的権威は室町幕府の衰退と反比例して上昇していく。嘉吉1(1441)年6月の嘉吉の変に伴う赤松満祐討伐にも治罰綸旨が出され,以後幕府は大小の反乱鎮圧にこの綸旨を奏請,居ながらにして天皇の存在は巨大化していった。寛正2(1461)年の大飢饉のさなか,山荘造営に明け暮れる将軍足利義政に漢詩を贈って諷諫したことはあまりにも有名。同5年7月息後土御門天皇に譲位したが,自ら院政を敷いた。応仁の乱勃発に際しては中立を貫こうとしたが,自ら発給した畠山政長への治罰綸旨が大乱の発端となった事実を恥じて応仁1(1467)年9月ひそかに出家を強行,無責任な将軍義政に対して帝王不徳の責を引いた挙として世人の称賛を浴びた。細川勝元は,上皇の中立的な院宣を西軍討伐の院宣と読みかえて軍勢動員の手段とした。文明2(1470)年末,仮御所室町第泉殿で中風のため病死。和漢の学に通暁し,義満の皇位簒奪未遂以後の皇権を回復した中興の英主として極めて重要な人物。

(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

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