Shimokawabe Choryu

Japanese: 下河辺長流 - しもこうべ・ちょうりゅう

Year of death: 3rd June 1686 (22nd July 1686)
Year of birth: unknown. A poet and scholar of poetry from the early Edo period. His father's surname was Ozaki, and Shimokawabe was his mother's surname. His name was Kyohei, and he was commonly known as Hikoroku. His name is sometimes written as Choryu. There are theories that he died at the age of 60, 62, or 63, but this is not confirmed. He is said to have been born in Uda, Yamato Province, or Tatsuta, but which is unknown. He spent his teenage years hunting, but he also devoted himself to linked verse, improving his skill to the point that he was the envy of the Katagiri clan (lord of Tatsuta Domain in Yamato). He also had an interest in the art of poetry, and studied under Kinoshita Choshoshi in his later years. Choshoshi's strong reverence for Choshoshi was evident in the way he later compiled the Chosho Kasen and included many of Choshoshi's poems in his own private collection of poems. After leaving the Tatsuta Domain around the same time as Choshoshi's death, he seems to have lived a wandering life for a while, moving temporarily to Osaka and associating with Nishiyama Soin. He also served the Sanjonishi family as a junior samurai in order to have a look at the "Man'yoshu" written by Prince Tomohira and the "Man'yoshu Commentary" by Akiaki, which were kept by the Sanjonishi family. He devoted himself to copying the two works and also worked on drafting the basic notes for the annotations, which also produced the by-product of publishing "Kasensho" and "Man'yoshu Nayoro". After leaving the Sanjonishi family, he was forced to live an unstable and impoverished life again, but it was during this period that he made a series of great achievements public as a poet and poet. First of all, as a poet, he published the private anthologies "Rinba Ruijinshu" and "Heisui Wakashu", which included many poems by unknown poets. However, we must be careful in evaluating Choshu's intentions from the perspective of rebellion against the court nobles. His annotations of the Manyoshu Kanken, for which he put his best efforts as a poetic scholar, were never published, but his abilities can be seen in works such as Zoku Karin Ryozaishu. He became friends with Keichu from middle age onwards, and it is well known that in his later years he was commissioned by the Mito Tokugawa family to annotate the Manyoshu, but was unable to do so due to illness and instead entrusted the task to Keichu. Family anthologies: Choryu Waka Enposhu and Bankashu. <References> Mori Senzo, "Shimokawabe Choryu" (Mori Senzo Collected Works, Volume 2), Murakami Akiko, "Shimokawabe Choryu's One Hundred Poems Donated to Mishima Shrine" (Kokubungaku Ronso, No. 31)

(Keichi Kubota)

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

Japanese:

没年：貞享3.6.3(1686.7.22)
生年：生年不詳
江戸前期の歌人・歌学者。父の姓は小崎,下河辺は母方の姓である。名共平,通称彦六。長流を長竜と表記することもある。享年60,62,63歳説があり,未確定。大和国宇陀,あるいは竜田の出生というが,いずれが是か未詳。10代は遊猟に明け暮れたが,一方では連歌にも身を入れて上達,片桐氏(大和竜田藩主)に妬まれたほどであった。また歌道にも心を寄せ,晩年の木下長嘯子に師事した。長流の長嘯子尊崇の念は強く,のちに『長嘯歌選』を編み,自ら編んだ私撰集に長嘯子の歌を多く採るなどという形となって表れている。長嘯子の死とほぼ同時期に竜田藩を致仕してからは,しばらく放浪生活を送ったらしく,一時的に大坂に移って西山宗因と交わった。また三条西家蔵の具平親王筆『万葉集』と顕昭の『万葉集註』を一見すべく,三条西家に青侍として仕え,両書の書写に打ち込みつつ注釈の礎稿作成にも従事したようで,『歌仙抄』『万葉集名寄』の刊行という副産物も生まれた。三条西家を退いてからは再び不安定な貧窮生活を余儀なくされたが,歌人,歌学者として大きな業績を次々と公にしたのはこの時期である。まず歌人としては,無名の歌人の詠を多く採った私撰集『林葉累塵集』『萍水和歌集』の刊行が挙げられる。ただし長流の意図を堂上公家への反抗といった視点で評価することには慎重でなければなるまい。歌学者として最善を尽くした注釈『万葉集管見』は刊行に至らず,『続歌林良材集』などにその力量がしのばれる。中年以降契沖と親交を持ち,晩年水戸徳川家から万葉集の注釈を委嘱され,病で遂行不能のまま契沖に託した経緯はよく知られる。家集『長竜和歌延宝集』『晩花集』。<参考文献>森銑三「下河辺長流」(『森銑三著作集』2巻),村上明子「下河辺長流の三島社奉納百首歌」(『国文学論叢』31号)

(久保田啓一)

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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