Sadayo Imagawa

Japanese: 今川貞世 - いまがわ・さだよ

Year of death: Unknown (Year of death unknown)
Year of birth: 1326
A military commander and poet during the Northern and Southern Courts period. His father was Imagawa Norikuni, the Shugo of Suruga and Totomi. He served as Sakyo no jo and Iyo no Kami. In 1367, he became the head of the Muromachi Shogunate, and served as the head of the Samurai-dokoro and Shugo of Yamashiro. At the end of the same year, upon the death of the second Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshiakira, he became a monk, shaved his head, and took the name Ryoshun. In February 1371, he was appointed Kyushu Tandai by the third Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and began a scheme for Kyushu, where the Southern Court forces, centered around Prince Kanenaga and Kikuchi Takemitsu, were still strong. When he traveled to Kyushu, he was appointed Shugo of Aki, and consolidated his base in the Chugoku region, and increased his military power by adding samurai from the region to those he had organized in Suruga and Totomi. He further invited various warriors from Kyushu, and in August of the following year, he captured the Kyushu base of Dazaifu, and in 1395 (Bunchu 3), he subjugated the Shoni clan, a formidable opponent of the successive Tandai. During this time, despite the defection of Shimazu Ujihisa, he was able to gain control of northern Kyushu. Furthermore, in June of 1381 (Eitoku 1/Kouwa 1), he captured Kumabe Castle, the base of the Kikuchi clan of Higo, and Somedo Castle, the residence of Prince Yoshinari, and after Ujihisa's death, he gained control of southern Kyushu as well. As a result, Ryoshun's control of Kyushu expanded to almost the entire country, and he played a part in the penetration of the Shogun's power into Kyushu. However, in the intercalary July of 1395 (Oei 2), due to changes in the power of the central bureaucrats of the shogunate and slanderous accusations by Ouchi Yoshihiro, who was seeking the position of Kyushu Tandai, he was dismissed from his position, and Yoshimitsu only gave him the position of Shugo of half of Suruga and Totomi Provinces before sending him down to the country. Furthermore, he also had a falling out with his nephew Yasunori over the position of Shugo of Suruga. In despair, when Ouchi Yoshihiro raised an army in 1516 (the Oei War), he persuaded the Kamakura kubo Ashikaga Mitsukane to form an alliance with the Ouchi clan, leading to the pursuit of Yoshimitsu. He was pardoned from the end of 1517 to around October 1518, but this marked the end of Ryoshun's political career. He died around 1525. He was also famous as a poet and a disciple of Reizei Tamehide, and wrote a book of linked verse called "Shimogōsa," a book of poetry treatises called "Nigensho," "Genjinshū," and "Shisetsu Jikkenshū," and a guide to reciting poetry called "Meidai Waka Zenshū." He also wrote travel writings such as "Michiyukiburi" and "Rokuon-inden Itsukushima Pilgrimage Record," historical texts such as "Imagawa Ryoshun Shosatsurei" and "Ryoshun Daisoshi," and "Nan Taiheiki," which explains the Imagawa family's history and his position in the Oei War. <References> Kawazoe Shoji, "Imagawa Ryoshun"

(Hasegawa Hiromichi)

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

Japanese:

没年：没年不詳(没年不詳)
生年：嘉暦1(1326)
南北朝時代の武将,歌人。父は駿河・遠江守護の今川範国。左京亮,伊予守。貞治6/正平22(1367)年室町幕府の引付頭人となり,侍所頭人,山城守護を兼任。同年末,室町幕府2代将軍足利義詮の死去に際し,出家,剃髪して了俊と号す。応安4/建徳2(1371)年2月,3代将軍足利義満により九州探題に任ぜられ,懐良親王,菊池武光を中心とする南朝勢力がなおも強く存在していた九州の計略に着手した。九州下向に際しては,安芸守護に任ぜられて中国地方の地盤を固め,駿河・遠江で組成した武士に同地方の武士を加え軍事力を増強。さらに九州の諸士を招致し,翌年8月,九州の拠点大宰府を陥落させ,応安7/文中3年には,歴代探題の難敵少弐氏を制圧した。その際,島津氏久の離反にあったものの北九州を支配下に収めた。さらに永徳1/弘和1(1381)年6月,肥後菊池氏の本拠地隈部城および良成親王の居所染土城を陥落させ,氏久が死去したことで南九州をも手に入れる。これにより了俊の九州経営はほぼ全土に至り,九州への将軍権力浸透に一翼を担った。しかし応永2(1395)年閏7月,幕府中央官僚間の勢力の変化や,九州探題の職を狙う大内義弘の讒言により解任され,義満から駿河・遠江半国守護職を与えられたのみで下向。さらに,甥泰範とも駿河守護職を巡り不和となる。失意のなか,同6年の大内義弘の挙兵(応永の乱)に際して鎌倉公方足利満兼に大内氏との連合を説き,義満の追討を招いた。同7年末から8年10月ごろ許されたが,このことで了俊は政治生命を失うこととなった。応永19年から25年ごろ没した。冷泉為秀門弟の歌人としても著名で,連歌書の『下草』,歌論書『二言抄』『言塵集』『師説自見集』,詠歌の手引書『明題和歌全集』などがある。また紀行文『道ゆきぶり』『鹿苑院殿厳島詣記』,故実書『今川了俊書札礼』『了俊大草紙』を著し,さらには今川家の所伝や応永の乱の一件における自らの立場を弁明した『難太平記』がある。<参考文献>川添昭二『今川了俊』

(長谷川弘道)

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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