Toki Yoriyasu - Time and Ease

Japanese: 土岐頼康 - とき・よりやす

Year of death: 1st year of Jiaqing/4th year of the Genchū period (1388.2.3)
Year of birth: Bunpo 2 (1318)
A military commander during the Nanboku-cho period. Shugo of three provinces: Mino (Gifu Prefecture), Owari (Aichi Prefecture), and Ise (Mie Prefecture). Son of Yorikiyo (Yorimune). Uma-no-kami, Gyobu-shoyu, and Daizen-no-taifu. After his uncle Yorito was executed in 1342, he succeeded the position of Mino Shugo, a position he held for the next 45 years. From an early stage, he fought alongside Ashikaga Takauji and Yoshiakira, and during the Kan'o Disturbance of 1350, when Takauji and Tadayoshi fought each other, he fought on Takauji and Yoshiakira's side, and the following year, he also held the position of Owari Shugo. During the Sadaharu era (1362-68), he also held the position of Ise Shugo, but lost it in 1361 when Shiba Takatsune was ousted and Hosokawa Yoriyuki became kanrei. However, in 1379 (Kōryaku 1/Tenju 5), he allied with Shiba Yoshimasa and became the ringleader in the drive to expel Yoriyuki, and although he was on the verge of being pursued at one point, he regained control of the position of Ise Shugo when Yoriyuki was overthrown (the Kōryaku Coup). Around the time of the Kan'ō era, he built Kawate Castle in Atsumi County as the new Shugosho, and placed his younger brother Naouji in the previous Shugosho, Nagamori Castle in Atsumi County, and built Ibi Castle in Ono County and placed his younger brother (or older brother) Yorikazu there. Furthermore, in 1379 (Shōhei 8), when Yoshiakira escaped from Kyoto bearing Emperor Go-Kogon, he built a temporary palace for the Emperor in Kojima, Ikeda County, Mino. As Yoriyasu had no biological children, he adopted Yorikasa's son Yasuyuki, but the brothers Yoriyasu, Yorikasa, Naoji, and Yorise (Yoritada) had a strong bond, and they rallied the other branches of the family around this, forming a family uprising called the Kikyo Ikki, named after the family crest of the bellflower, which became the linchpin of their military power. As well as excelling in political and military strategy, he also practiced the arts of elegance, holding poetry gatherings at his residence in Kyoto and frequently visiting the residence of Nijo Yoshimoto, and many of his works were included in imperial anthologies.

(Taniguchi Ken's words)

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

Japanese:

没年：嘉慶1/元中4.12.25(1388.2.3)
生年：文保2(1318)
南北朝時代の武将。美濃(岐阜県)・尾張(愛知県)・伊勢(三重県)3カ国守護。頼清(頼宗)の子。右馬頭,刑部少輔,大膳大夫。康永1/興国3(1342)年叔父頼遠の刑死後,美濃守護を継承,以後45年間在職する。早くから足利尊氏・義詮父子に従って歴戦し,尊氏・直義兄弟が争った観応1/正平5(1350)年の観応の擾乱では尊氏・義詮側で活躍,翌年,尾張守護を兼帯した。貞治年間(1362～68)に伊勢守護も兼帯するが,貞治5/正平21年,斯波高経が失脚し細川頼之が管領になったとき,これを失う。しかし康暦1/天授5(1379)年,斯波義将と結んで頼之排斥の首謀者となり,一時追討を受けそうになったものの,頼之の失脚(康暦の政変)により伊勢守護職を再度手中にした。観応のころ,厚見郡革手城を築いて新守護所とし,それまでの守護所厚見郡長森城には弟直氏を入れ,大野郡揖斐城を築いて弟(兄ともいう)頼雄を入れたという。また,文和2/正平8年,義詮が後光厳天皇を奉じて京都を脱出した際には,美濃池田郡小島に天皇の頓宮を営んだ。頼康には実子がなかったため,頼雄の子康行を養嗣子にしていたが,頼康と頼雄,直氏,頼世(頼忠)ら兄弟の結束は固く,これを中心に一族庶流を結集し,家紋の桔梗を冠して桔梗一揆と呼ばれる一族一揆を軍事力の要とした。政略,武略に秀でるとともに,京都の邸では歌会を催し,二条良基邸をたびたび訪れるなど,風雅の道もよくし,勅撰集にも多く入集している。

(谷口研語)

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