Prince Koretaka - Koretakashinnou

Japanese: 惟喬親王 - これたかしんのう

Year of death: 20th February 897 (26th March 897)
Year of birth: Jowa 11 (844)
A member of the imperial family in the mid-Heian period. He was the first son of Emperor Montoku, and his mother was Shizuko, the daughter of Kinomoto no Natora. In 850, when his fourth son, Prince Korehito, was born to Akiko, the daughter of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Yoshifusa, Emperor Montoku (whose mother was also Yoshifusa's sister) felt uncomfortable with Yoshifusa, and shortly after ascending to the throne that year, appointed Korehito as crown prince (later to become Emperor Seiwa). On the occasion of this appointment as crown prince, Yoshifusa and Natora each had the Shingon monks Shinga and Shinzai perform rituals, or the two men had a sumo match to settle the matter, but these stories remain merely legends. In 858, he became Dazai no Sochi, in 863, Danjo no Tada, and the following year, Governor of Hitachi. In February of the same year, he was appointed governor of Kozuke as he was, but in July, due to illness, he became a monk and retired to Ono (Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City) in the north of Kyoto, under the name Sokaku. It is likely that he accompanied KI no Aritsune and Ariwara no Narihira to Nagisa-no-in, a villa in Makino Village, Katano County, Kawachi Province (Hirakata City), and held a poetry party there before he became a monk. Ki no Tsurayuki also wrote about Nagisa-no-in in a poem on his return journey from Tosa Province (Kochi Prefecture), in which he remembers the prince and Narihira (Tosa Nikki). He reminisces about the past with Narihira, who visited him in the village of Ono, and writes about his feelings in a poem that shows resignation: "If I could live on the mountain where the white clouds are constantly rolling, this would be the world I live in (a world that is difficult to clear)" (The Tales of Ise). The prince stayed there for more than twenty years, and passed away at the age of 54. There is a medieval Gorin-to tower here today. However, in the Middle Ages, the prince moved from here to the mountains of Kanzaki-gun, Omi Province (Egenji-cho, Shiga Prefecture) during his lifetime and ordered woodcutters to work in woodworking, giving rise to a legend that he came to be worshipped as the ancestor deity of woodworkers. This is one of the legends that originated in the world of non-agricultural people and that regards aristocrats such as emperors and princes as ancestor deities, and many false documents were created. There are legends, ruins, and tombs related to the prince in various places, including the northern part of Kyoto. <References> Yanagita Kunio, "Legends as Historical Materials"

(Murai Yasuhiko)

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

Japanese:

没年：寛平9.2.20(897.3.26)
生年：承和11(844)
平安中期の皇族。文徳天皇の第1皇子で母は紀名虎の娘静子。嘉祥3(850)年,右大臣藤原良房の娘明子との間に第4皇子惟仁親王が生まれると,良房に気兼ねした文徳天皇(母も良房の妹)は,その年即位して間もなく惟仁を皇太子とした(のちの清和天皇)。この立太子に際し,良房と名虎がそれぞれ真言僧真雅と真済とに修法を行わせたとも,ふたりが相撲をとって決着をつけたともいうが,伝説の域を出ない。天安2(858)年大宰帥,貞観5(863)年弾正尹,翌年常陸太守となる。同14年2月,弾正尹はもとのままで上野太守に任じられたが,7月,病のため出家し,素覚と号して洛北小野(京都市左京区)に隠棲した。河内国交野郡牧野村(枚方市)にあった別業渚の院へ紀有常や在原業平らを同道し,歌宴を催したのは,出家以前のことであろう。この渚の院は紀貫之も土佐国(高知県)からの帰路歌に詠み,親王や業平をしのんでいる(『土佐日記』)。小野の里にたずねてきた業平と往事を回想し,その心境を詠んだ歌,「白雲の絶えずたなびく嶺だにも住めば住みぬる(澄むにかける)世にこそありけれ」には諦念もうかがわれる(『伊勢物語』)。親王はこの地にあること二十数年,54歳の生涯を終えている。いまこの地には中世の五輪塔がある。ところが中世に降り,親王は生前この地より近江国神崎郡(滋賀県永源寺町)の山中に移り住み,杣人らに木地を営むよう命じたので,木地師の祖神として仰がれるようになったという伝承を生んだ。非農業民の世界に生まれた,天皇や親王など貴種を祖神とする伝承のひとつで,偽文書も数多くつくられた。洛北をはじめ各地に親王にまつわる伝承や遺跡,墓塔がある。<参考文献>柳田国男『史料としての伝説』

(村井康彦)

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