Fukuhara Echigo - Fukuhara Echigo

A permanent elder of the Choshu clan in the late Edo period. He was the sixth son of Mori Hiroshige (Takahisa), the lord of the branch Tokuyama clan, and his given name was Mototake. He succeeded Fukuhara Chikatashi, the elder of the main clan whose fief was Ube (11,300 koku). From the Kaei era (1848-1854), he was in a key position in the clan, and he assisted Mori Takachika (Yoshichika) in the Sonno Joi movement, and also reformed the administration of the Ube domain. He was a man of dignified, gentle elegance, and skilled in literature and poetry. After the political upheaval of August 18, 1863, he led his troops to Kyoto the following year to petition for the lord's injustice, and after fighting the Shogunate forces near Hamagurigomon and being defeated (Kinmon Incident), he returned to Ube by sea. During the First Choshu Expedition, he was held responsible for the Kinmon Incident along with two elders, Masuda Uemonnosuke and Kunishi Shinano, and committed suicide at Ryugoji Temple in Iwakuni.

[Kazuo Yoshimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸後期の長州藩の永代家老。支藩徳山藩主毛利広鎮(もうりひろしげ)（就寿(たかひさ)）の六男で、名は元(もとたけ)。宇部(うべ)を采邑(さいゆう)とする宗(そう)藩家老福原親俊(ちかとし)の跡を継ぐ（一万一千三百余石）。嘉永(かえい)年間（1848～54）以降、藩の要路にあり、毛利敬親(たかちか)（慶親(よしちか)）を助けて尊攘(そんじょう)に尽くし、また宇部領内の領政改革を行い、重厚温雅にして文学詩歌をよくした。文久(ぶんきゅう)3年（1863）八月十八日の政変が起こると、翌64年（元治1）藩主の雪冤(せつえん)を陳情するため率兵上京、蛤御門(はまぐりごもん)付近で幕府軍と戦って敗れ（禁門の変）、海路、宇部に帰った。第一次長州征伐にあたり、益田右衛門介(ますだうえもんのすけ)、国司信濃(くにししなの)の両家老とともに禁門の変の責任を問われ、岩国竜護寺で自刃した。

［吉本一雄］

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