Taira no Munemori - Taira no Munemori

Japanese: 平宗盛 - たいらのむねもり

Year of death: 21 June 1185 (19 July 1185)
Year of birth: 1147
A military commander in the late Heian period. He was the third son of Kiyomori, and his mother was Taira Tokiko. With his younger sister Tokuko becoming the Empress of Emperor Takakura, he rose to prominence after Shigemori, becoming a noble in 1167, and in 1177 he became the Right General alongside Shigemori's Left General, boasting the glory of the Taira clan throughout the country. After Shigemori's death in 1179, he became the head of the Taira clan and took a central role. When Prince Mochihito's rebellion broke out in 1180, followed by the Genji rebellion in the eastern provinces, he persuaded his father, Kiyomori, to move the capital back from Fukuhara, and in January of the following year he established the Sokanshiki, a military organization for the Kinai region and nearby provinces, and became Sokan, defeating the eastern army in the Battle of Sunomata. After the death of Kiyomori, Munemori accepted the restoration of Emperor Goshirakawa and responded to the rebels, but was plagued by a famine and was unable to collect military rice from the Kinai and neighboring provinces. In 1182, he became the Minister of the Interior, but was unable to present a concrete political policy. In April of the following year, he sent an army to Hokuriku to pursue Minamoto no Yoshinaka, but it was defeated. In July, he fled the capital and fled to the Western Sea with Emperor Antoku. Later, due to internal conflicts within the Genji clan, he regained his power, but in 1184, he was defeated in succession at Ichinotani in Settsu, Yashima in Sanuki, and Dannoura in Nagato, and threw himself into the sea. However, he was captured and sent back to Kamakura, and was beheaded on the way back to Kyoto. The Tale of the Heike gives a harsh assessment of Munemori, describing him as incompetent and without talent. The Genpei Seisuiki even includes a different theory that he was not Tokiko's real son. In contrast to his elder brother Shigemori and younger brother Tomomori, he was given such a role, and many aspects of his true character remain unclear.

(Fumihiko Gomi)

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

Japanese:

没年：文治1.6.21(1185.7.19)
生年：久安3(1147)
平安末期の武将。清盛の3男で,母は平時子。同腹の妹徳子が高倉天皇の中宮となったこともあって,重盛に次ぐ昇進をして仁安2(1167)年には公卿となり,治承1(1177)年には重盛の左大将と並んで右大将となり,平氏の栄華を天下に誇った。3年の重盛の死後は平氏の長者としてその中心に位置し,4年に以仁王の反乱が,続いて東国で源氏の反乱が起きると,父清盛を説得して都を福原から戻し,翌年1月には畿内近国の軍事組織である惣官職を設置して惣官となり,墨俣の戦において東国軍を破った。清盛の死後は後白河法皇の復活を認めつつ反乱軍に対応したが,折からの飢饉に悩まされて畿内近国からの兵糧米の徴収もままならず,寿永1(1182)年に内大臣になるも具体的な政治的な方針を示すことがないまま,翌年4月に北陸に送った源義仲追討軍が惨敗し,ついに7月に都落ちとなって安徳天皇を擁し西海に逃れた。その後,源氏の内紛もあって,勢力を盛り返したが,元暦1(1184)年の摂津一の谷の戦に続き,讃岐の屋島,長門の壇の浦と次々と敗れて身を海に投じた。しかし捕らえられて鎌倉に送還されたのち,京都に送り返される途中で斬首された。『平家物語』は宗盛について厳しい人物評価を与え,無能で器量なしとしている。また『源平盛衰記』は時子の実子ではないとの異説さえ載せている。兄重盛や弟知盛との対照から,そうした役割を与えられた面が濃く,実像は不明な部分が多い。<参考文献>上横手雅敬『平家物語の虚構と真実』

(五味文彦)

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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