Yoshinaga Niki

Japanese: 仁木義長 - にき・よしなが

Year of death: Eiwa 2/Tenju 2.9.10 (1376.10.23)
Year of birth: Year of birth unknown. Military commander during the Northern and Southern Court period. Son of Yoshikatsu. Commonly known as Jiro-Shirou. Uma Gonsuke, Echigo no Kami, Uma no Kami, Ukyo no Daifu. His older brother was Niki Yoriaki, a steward of the Muromachi Shogunate. When Emperor Godaigo's Kenmu government was established, he served in Kamakura as a vassal of Ashikaga Tadayoshi, and in January 1334, he was appointed as the Kanto Shoban and was given the fief of Musashi Tomioka. In February 1334, when Ashikaga Takauji retreated to Kyushu, he followed him and fought in various parts of Chinzei. When the Muromachi Shogunate was established, he was made Shugo of Ise and Shima, and then Shugo of Iga, and in April 1344, he was appointed as the head of the Samurai-dokoro. During the Kan'o Disturbance, in which the brothers Takauji and Tadayoshi fought, he sided with Takauji, and in 1350, he was again made head of the Samurai-dokoro. In October of the following year, when his elder brother Yoriaki became shogunate steward, he became a great daimyo with six provinces, including Mikawa, Totomi, and Bingo, and together with Yoriaki, he formed an unprecedented territory of eight divided provinces. However, when Takauji died in 13th year of the Shohei era, the Niki clan's fortunes began to decline, and Yoshinaga's political opponents, Hosokawa Kiyouji, Toki Yoriyasu, and Sasaki Ujiyori, who hated his tyranny, rose up in rebellion and plotted to expel him. He had previously fought with Kiyouji and Ujiyori over land and territories in Kyoto, and Yoriyasu had earned his hatred for him in an argument they had had in the year of Takauji's death. In July of 15th year of the Shohei era, Kiyouji used the pretext of attacking the southern forces in Kawachi to join forces with the Toki and Sasaki clans in an attempt to kill Yoshinaga. Shocked, Yoshinaga attempted to resist by kidnapping Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiakira, but Yoshiakira escaped, and Yoshinaga was forced to retreat to his separate province of Ise, and the following year surrendered to the Southern Court. Later, following the downfall of the Shiba clan in a political upheaval in August of the 21st year of Shohei, Yoshinaga temporarily returned to the position of Ise Shugo, but the death of Yoshiakira and the rise of Hosokawa Yoriyuki sealed the clan's decline. <References> Hiroshi Koyo, "Memorandum on the Expulsion of Niki Yoshiakira Incident" (Japanese History No. 356)

(Akira Imaya)

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

Japanese:

没年：永和2/天授2.9.10(1376.10.23)
生年：生年不詳
南北朝時代の武将。義勝の子。通称二郎四郎。右馬権助,越後守,右馬頭,右京大夫。室町幕府執事仁木頼章は兄。後醍醐天皇の建武政府が成立すると足利直義の家臣として鎌倉に出仕し,建武1(1334)年1月に関東廂番に任ぜられ武蔵富岡を領した。建武3/延元1年2月,足利尊氏が九州へ落ちるとこれに従い,鎮西各地に転戦した。室町幕府が成立すると伊勢,志摩の守護,次いで伊賀守護をあわせ,康永3/興国5(1344)年4月には侍所頭人に就任。尊氏・直義兄弟が争った観応の擾乱では尊氏方に属し,観応1/正平5(1350)年には再び侍所頭人となった。翌年10月兄頼章が幕府執事となるや,三河,遠江,備後と先の守護をあわせ6カ国国持ちの大大名となり,頼章とあわせて分国8カ国という空前の版図を形成した。しかし延文3/正平13年に尊氏が没すると仁木氏は衰運に向かい,義長の専横を憎む政敵細川清氏,土岐頼康,佐々木氏頼らは一揆してその排斥を企てるに至る。清氏,氏頼とはかつて京都の敷地や所領を巡って争い,頼康には尊氏死去の年に口論がもとで憎悪を買っていた。延文5/正平15年7月,清氏は河内の南軍討伐に名を借りて,土岐・佐々木氏と結んで義長を討とうとした。驚いた義長は将軍足利義詮の身柄を拉致して抵抗しようとしたが,義詮に逃脱され,やむなく分国伊勢へ没落し,翌年南朝に下った。のち貞治5/正平21年8月の政変による斯波氏没落に伴って一時伊勢守護に復帰するが,義詮の死,細川頼之の台頭は同氏の衰退を決定的にした。<参考文献>小要博「仁木義長排斥事件覚書」(『日本歴史』356号)

(今谷明)

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