Fujiwara no Uchimaro

Japanese: 藤原内麻呂 - ふじわらのうちまろ

Year of death: October 6, 3rd year of the Kōnin period (November 13, 812)
Year of birth: Tenpyo Shoho 8 (756)
A nobleman in the early Heian period. Son of Dainagon Shindate and Abe no Obi Maro's daughter. Called Go-Nagaoka Daijin. He served as Uegaji no Kami and Konoe Taisho before becoming Chunagon. After the death of Wake no Kiyomaro in 799, he also served as Zokyu Daifu, a position he held until the construction of Heian-kyo was halted in December of the 24th year of the same year. In 806, he was appointed Udaijin and became the head of the government. When Crown Prince Tato (later deposed) put Uchimaro on a raging horse and tried to shake him off, the horse simply bowed its head and turned around, and people who saw this praised it as "an extraordinary man" (Nihon Koki). It is said that even when questioned by the Emperor, he did not give any answers that particularly pleased him, and did not show any displeasure when his answers were not accepted, and he was known to have been a man of great magnanimity. Incidentally, the statues of the Acalanatha Bodhisattva and the Four Heavenly Kings enshrined at Kofuku-ji Temple were commissioned by him.

(Takinami Sadako)

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

Japanese:

没年：弘仁3.10.6(812.11.13)
生年：天平勝宝8(756)
平安前期の公卿。大納言真楯と阿倍帯麻呂の娘の子。後長岡大臣と号す。右衛士督,近衛大将などを歴任して中納言となり,延暦18(799)年和気清麻呂の没後,造宮大夫を兼任し,同24年12月平安京の造営が停止されるまでその任にあった。大同1(806)年右大臣に任じられ首班となる。皇太子他戸親王(のち廃太子)が暴れ馬に内麻呂を乗せ,これを振り落とさせようとしたところ,馬はただ頭をたれて回るだけでこれを見た人々に「非常の器」と評されたという(『日本後紀』)。また天皇から下問されてもことさら気に入るような返答はせず,といって受け入れられなくても不快感を表すこともなかったといい,度量の大きな人物であったことが知られる。なお興福寺に安置される不空羂索観音,四天王像は彼の発願。

(瀧浪貞子)

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

<<: Fujiwara Ugo - Fujiwara no Umakai

>>: Fujiwara no Ujimune