Gen'i Maeda

Japanese: 前田玄以 - まえだ・げんい

Year of death: May 20, 1602 (July 9, 1602)
Year of birth: Tenbun 8 (1539)
A military commander in the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Born in Mino (Gifu Prefecture). His genealogy is unknown. He was originally called Magojuro Motokatsu, but is said to have become a monk on Mount Hiei and served as the head priest of Komatsu-ji Temple in Owari (Aichi Prefecture). He was given the titles Hanmusai and Minbukyo Hoin. In 1579 (Tensho 7), he appears as a retainer of Oda Nobunaga's eldest son, Nobutada. When Nobutada committed suicide in the Honno-ji Incident in the same year, he fled to Gifu and protected Nobutada's son, Sanposhi (Hidenobu), and when Sanposhi became Nobunaga's successor, he became his guardian. The following year, when Hashiba Hideyoshi took power, he was appointed Kyoto Magistrate by Nobutada's younger brother Nobukatsu, and achieved great success in general affairs related to civil administration and temples and shrines in the city. He served in this position for 17 years until the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, and his diligence can be seen from the fact that he issued as many as 70 rulings to the public in less than a year after assuming his position (Gen'i Hoin Gachijo). Described as "deeply wise and without personal misdeeds" (Hideyoshi Jiki), Gen'i was highly trusted by Hideyoshi, and in 1581 he was awarded 50,000 koku of land in Tanba Kameyama (Kameoka City), and in 1586 he was selected as one of the five magistrates. After Hideyoshi's death, when Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari were in conflict, he sided with Mitsunari, and on July 17, 1582 (August 25), he ordered the various daimyo to kill Ieyasu, along with Nagatsuka Masaie, Masuda Nagamori, and others, but he was in Osaka Castle during the Battle of Sekigahara and did not participate in the fighting. After the war, he was confined to Kongo-ji Temple (Kawachinagano City), and on October 16th (November 21st) of the same year, he met with Ieyasu in Osaka, where he was pardoned and given permission to keep his original territory. His wife was the daughter of Murai Sadakatsu, who was Kyoto Shoshidai during the Nobunaga era.

(Akira Kawamura)

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

Japanese:

没年：慶長7.5.20(1602.7.9)
生年：天文8(1539)
安土桃山時代の武将。美濃(岐阜県)に生まれる。系譜は不詳。初め孫十郎基勝と称したが,比叡山で出家し,尾張(愛知県)小松寺の住職を務めたと伝えられる。半夢斎,民部卿法印を号した。天正7(1579)年には織田信長の嫡子信忠の家臣としてみえる。同10年の本能寺の変で信忠が自害したとき,岐阜に逃れて信忠の子三法師(秀信)を保護し,三法師が信長の後嗣にされるとその守り役となった。翌年羽柴秀吉が実権を握ると,信忠の弟信雄から京都奉行に任じられ,市中の民政や寺社に関する庶務をみて大いに実績を上げた。慶長5(1600)年の関ケ原の戦まで17年間も在職し続けたが,その精勤ぶりは,就任後1年足らずの間に市中に出した裁決状が70通におよぶことからも窺える(「玄以法印下知状」)。「智深くして私曲なし」(『秀吉事記』)と評された玄以は秀吉の信任厚く,天正13年丹波亀山(亀岡市)5万石を給され,慶長3年には五奉行のひとりに抜擢されている。秀吉の死後,徳川家康と石田三成の対立に際しては三成方に属し,同5年7月17日(8月25日),家康を討つよう長束正家,増田長盛らと共に諸大名に命じたが,関ケ原の戦の間は大坂城にいて戦闘には参加していない。戦後金剛寺(河内長野市)に謹慎し,同年10月16日(11月21日)大坂で家康に謁して許され,本領を安堵された。妻は信長時代の京都所司代村井貞勝の娘。

(河村昭一)

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