Ankokuji Ekei

A Zen monk and politician in the Azuchi-Momoyama period. His pen name was Yoho. He was the chief priest of Ankoku-ji Temple in Aki, Ankoku-ji Temple in Bingo, and Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto. He is said to be the son of Takeda Nobushige, the lord of Ginzan Castle in Aki Province (Hiroshima Prefecture). From the end of the Eiroku period (1558-1570), he became a diplomatic monk for the Mori clan. In 1573 (Tensho 1), he went to Kyoto to mediate the discord between Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Oda Nobunaga, and negotiated with Kinoshita (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi, who was on Nobunaga's side, and at this time he predicted Nobunaga's fate 10 years later and Hideyoshi's future prospects. In 1582, when Hideyoshi attacked Takamatsu Castle in Bitchu, Ekei sided with the Mori clan and negotiated a peace treaty with them. After this, he served more as a vassal of Hideyoshi than as a member of the Mori clan, and after Hideyoshi's conquest of Shikoku, he was given 23,000 koku of rice in Wake County, Iyo Province (Ehime Prefecture), and became one of the Toyotomi daimyo. He was a distinguished inspector or magistrate in the conquest of Kyushu and the Bunroku and Keicho wars, and in the early Keicho era, he was given 60,000 koku of rice in Iyo. He joined the Western Army as a leader in the Battle of Sekigahara, but the Mori forces camped at Nangusan were intercepted by their kinsman, Kikkawa Hiroie, and fled without fighting, so Ekei also fled the battlefield. He was later captured while hiding in Kyoto, and on October 1, 1602, he was beheaded at Rokujo-gawara along with Ishida Mitsunari and Konishi Yukinaga.

[Ryoichi Okamoto]

"Ankokuji Ekei" by Masaharu Kawai (1989, Yoshikawa Kobunkan) " "Ankokuji Ekei - Chizō, known as the Chief of Staff of the Mori clan" by Kotaro Miyake (PHP Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

安土(あづち)桃山時代の禅僧、政治家。号は瑤甫(ようほ)。安芸(あき)安国寺、備後(びんご)安国寺、京都東福寺住持。安芸国（広島県）銀山(かなやま)城主武田信重(たけだのぶしげ)の子という。永禄(えいろく)（1558～1570）末年から毛利(もうり)氏の外交僧。1573年（天正1）将軍足利義昭(あしかがよしあき)と織田信長の不和調停のため上京し、信長方の木下（豊臣(とよとみ)）秀吉と交渉を重ねたが、このとき早くも10年後の信長の運命と、秀吉の将来性を予言した。1582年、秀吉の備中(びっちゅう)高松城攻めに際し、毛利方として秀吉と折衝、講和を成立させた。この後は毛利方としてよりは秀吉の家臣としての働きが多く、秀吉の四国征伐後は伊予国（愛媛県）和気(わけ)郡で2万3000石をあてがわれて、豊臣大名の一員となった。九州征伐、文禄(ぶんろく)・慶長(けいちょう)の役には目付(めつけ)または奉行(ぶぎょう)として功があり、慶長初年には伊予で6万石を領した。関ヶ原の戦いには主脳として西軍に加わったが、ともに南宮山(なんぐうさん)に陣した毛利勢が、同族の吉川広家(きっかわひろいえ)に遮られて、戦わないまま敗走したので、恵瓊も戦場を逃れた。のち京都に潜伏中を捕らえられ、慶長5年10月1日、石田三成(みつなり)、小西行長(ゆきなが)とともに六条河原で斬(き)られた。

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『河合正治著『安国寺恵瓊』（1989・吉川弘文館）』▽『三宅孝太郎著『安国寺恵瓊――毛利の参謀といわれた智憎』（PHP文庫）』

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