Noriyuki Akamatsu

Japanese: 赤松則祐 - あかまつ・そくゆう

Year of death: 4th year of Oan/2nd year of Kentoku (1372.1.5)
Year of birth: 1311
A military commander during the Nanboku-cho period. The third son of Norimura. Shugo of Harima, Settsu, and Bizen. Known as Nakatsugawadono. He served Prince Morinaga closely at Mt. Hiei, and when the Genkō Rebellion broke out, sparked by Emperor Godaigo's plan to overthrow the shogunate, he moved to Yoshino with the prince. He then returned to Harima, raised an army with his father and older brothers Norisuke and Sadanori, and captured Rokuhara together with Ashikaga Takauji (Takauji). In 1335 (Kenmu 2), when Takauji rebelled against the Kenmu government, he sided with him, and the following spring, he went to Takauji, who had fled to Kyushu, and urged him to return to Kyoto. After his father died in 1350 (Kan'ō 1) and his brother Norisuke died the following year, he became the head of the Akamatsu clan and was appointed Shugo of Harima. At that time, the Kan'o Disturbance was in full swing, and at one point, he approached the Southern Court by supporting Miya Akamatsu, but soon defected, and once again followed Takauji and Yoshiakira and fought against the Southern Court in Sanin, led by Yamana Tokiuji, who supported Ashikaga Tadafuyu. In Kōan 1 (Shohei 16), when the Southern Court took control of Kyoto, he protected Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who was four years old at the time, in Shirahata Castle in Harima, and earned Yoshimitsu's trust for a long time thereafter. At that time, the rustic dance performed by his retainers for the young Yoshimitsu later became a regular event known as "Akamatsubayashi." In Sōji 1 (Shohei 17), he was appointed Shugo of Settsu, and in Sōji 4 (Shohei 20), he was also Shugo of Bizen, and in Ōan 3 (Kentoku 1) (1370), he was appointed as the head of the Zen Ritsu-hō. He also built Shiroyama Castle in Ibo-gun, Harima, and placed a Shugo-kan in Echibe at the foot of the mountain. From then on, this became the base of the Akamatsu clan. It can be said that Norisuke established the foundation for the Akamatsu clan's rule over Harima. He was also devoted to Zen, and like his father, he was a great believer in Sesson Yubai, and built Horin-ji Temple in Shinden-sho, Bizen, with Sesson as its founder (it was later moved to Akamatsu Village, Harima). He died of an illness at his residence in Nishinotoin Nijo, Kyoto.

(Masaharu Enohara)

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

Japanese:

没年：応安4/建徳2.11.29(1372.1.5)
生年：応長1(1311)
南北朝時代の武将。則村の3男。播磨・摂津・備前守護。中津河殿と呼ばれる。叡山で護良親王に近仕し,後醍醐天皇の討幕計画に端を発する元弘の乱が起こると親王と共に吉野に移る。その後播磨に戻って父や兄範資・貞範と挙兵,足利高氏(尊氏)と共に六波羅を攻め落とした。建武2(1335)年,尊氏が建武政権に反するとこれに同調し,翌年春,九州に走った尊氏のもとに赴いて再上洛を促している。観応1/正平5(1350)年に父,翌年に兄範資が相次いで死去すると,赤松氏の惣領となり播磨守護に任じられた。当時は観応の擾乱の最中に当たり,一時は赤松宮を奉じて南朝に近づいたがまもなく離反,再び尊氏・義詮父子に従って足利直冬を担ぐ山名時氏ら山陰の南朝方と戦った。また康安1/正平16年,南朝方が京都を制圧すると,当時4歳だった足利義満を播磨白旗城で保護し,以後長く義満の信頼を得た。このとき,幼い義満のために家臣によって演じられた田舎風流は,のち「赤松囃子」として恒例化した。貞治1/正平17年に摂津守護,貞治4/正平20年,備前守護を兼帯,さらに応安3/建徳1(1370)年には禅律方頭人に任じられている。また播磨揖保郡に城山城を築き,山麓の越部に守護館を置いた。以降ここが赤松氏の本拠となる。赤松氏の播磨支配は則祐によって基礎が固められたといってよい。また禅にも傾倒し,特に父と同様雪村友梅に深く帰依,彼を開山として備前新田荘に宝林寺を建てた(のち播磨赤松村に移建)。京都西洞院二条の邸で病死した。<参考文献>高坂好『赤松円心・則村』

(榎原雅治)

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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