Masato Awata - Awata no mahito

Japanese: 粟田真人 - あわたのまひと

Year of death: Yoro 3.2.5 (719.2.28)
Year of birth: Unknown. Court nobleman of the Nara period. The Awata clan, along with the Kasuga, Oya, Ono, and Kakimoto clans, are related clans of the Wane (also written as Wani) clan in ancient times. In 681, he received the rank of Konishiki-no-ge, and in 689, he was given the surname Ason. In 689, he appeared as Dazai of Tsukushi, and participated in the compilation of the Taiho Code during the reign of Emperor Mommu. In 701, he was a Chodai-ni rank and served as the Minister of Civil Affairs, and was appointed as a Kentō Shisetsushi (Envoy to the Tang Dynasty), but the weather was not good that year, and he left for Tang in June of the following year. It is said that the monk Doji and the Man'yō poet Yamanoue Okura were among his companions. In the following year, he arrived in Chang'an (Xi'an) of the Tang Dynasty and met with Empress Wu Zetian, where he was appointed as the Shizen-in-gaikyo (official minister of the Tang Dynasty) because he had read the classics and histories well and was of a gentle and elegant appearance. He returned to Japan in 704, and in recognition of his achievements he was awarded 20 cho of rice paddies and 1,000 koku of grain in Yamato Province (Nara Prefecture). In 705 he was appointed Chunagon and participated in political affairs. In 708 he was reappointed Dazai no Sochi. His achievements as a Japanese envoy to the Tang Dynasty included the establishment of regular diplomatic relations directly with the Tang Dynasty, as the first such envoy since the Battle of Baekgang (663). He was a gentle and elegant man, well versed in classical history, and in the 14th year of Emperor Tenmu's reign he tried to pass the position on to his father (possibly Kasuga Awata no Omi Baekje), so he was involved in the compilation of the Ritsuryo Code and was likely entrusted with the important task of being a Japanese envoy to the Tang Dynasty for the first time in a long time.

(Kiyoaki Kito)

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

Japanese:

没年：養老3.2.5(719.2.28)
生年：生年不詳
奈良時代の公卿。粟田氏は春日,大宅,小野,柿本氏らとともに,古くは和珥(和邇とも書く)氏の同族氏族である。天武10(681)年小錦下の位を受け,同13年朝臣の姓を与えられた。持統3(689)年には筑紫大宰としてみえ,文武天皇の時代には大宝律令の編纂にも参加した。大宝1(701)年直大弐の位で,民部尚書の職にあり遣唐執節使に任命されたが,この年は天候に恵まれず翌2年6月唐へ出発した。同行者には僧道慈や万葉歌人の山上憶良らもいたという。翌3年,唐の長安(西安)に至って則天武后に謁見,経史をよく読み,容姿温雅だとして司膳員外卿に任命されたという。慶雲1(704)年に帰国,その功績によって大和国(奈良県)に水田20町,穀1000石を与えられた。同2年中納言に任命され,政局に参加。和銅1(708)年に大宰帥に再任。遣唐使としての功績は,白村江の戦(663)以来初めての遣唐使として,直接唐との正規の外交を樹立し,外交政治上も重要な任務を果たしたことである。天武14年には位を父(春日粟田臣百済か)に譲ろうとするなど性質は温雅で経史にも詳しかったから,律令の編纂にも参加させられ,ひさびさの遣唐使の大任もまかされたのであろう。

(鬼頭清明)

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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