Imagawa Norikuni

A military commander during the Nanboku-cho period. He built the foundation for the emergence of the Imagawa clan, a feudal lord during the Sengoku period. He was the father of Imagawa Ryoshun, famous as the Kyushu tandai. His posthumous name was Shinsho, and he was called Jokoujidono. From an early age, he was familiar with the waka poetry of the Reizei and Kyogoku schools, and was also well versed in the customs of the samurai. He was appointed as the shugo of Totomi (Shizuoka Prefecture) and Suruga (Shizuoka Prefecture), and in particular, after Norikuni, he did not transfer the position of shugo of Suruga to another clan, and also held national affairs. As the shugo of both provinces, he organized and controlled the clan and local samurai militarily, and after the death of Ashikaga Tadayoshi in February 1352 (Shohei 7, Bunwa 1), which caused political upheaval in the shogunate, he was appointed as Hikitsuke Tounin, a central political institution of the shogunate that handled lawsuits related to landholdings. Norikuni's attitude towards learning, including the composition of waka poetry, was one of humility and a desire to seek knowledge, as shown by the anecdote that he called kikigaki, wrote large sketches on the backs of old cloth, asked anyone he did not know about something, and wrote down their explanations.

[Junichi Ueda]

"Imagawa Ryoshun" by Shoji Kawazoe (1964, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

南北朝時代の武将。戦国大名今川氏出現のための基礎を築いた。九州探題として著名な今川了俊(りょうしゅん)の父。法名心省、定光寺殿と号した。幼少より冷泉(れいぜい)、京極(きょうごく)派の和歌に親しみ、また武家故実にも通じていた。遠江(とおとうみ)（静岡県）守護、駿河(するが)（静岡県）守護などに任ぜられ、とくに駿河守護は範国以後、他氏に移らず国務も兼帯、両国守護として一族、在地武士たちを軍事的に組織統轄する一方、1352年（正平7・文和1）2月、足利直義(あしかがただよし)の死去に伴う幕府政界変動のあと、幕府の中央政治機関で所領関係の訴訟を取り扱う引付頭人(ひきつけとうにん)に任ぜられた。範国の和歌習作をはじめとする学習態度は、聞書(ききがき)と称し、古反故(ふるほご)の裏を大草子にこしらえ、知らないことはだれにでも尋ね、その説々を書き付けたという逸話の示すとおり、謙虚でかつ知識探求欲に富むものであった。

［上田純一］

『川添昭二著『今川了俊』（1964・吉川弘文館）』

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