Takaaki Minamoto - Takaaki Minamoto

Japanese: 源高明 - みなもとのたかあきら

Year of death: Tengen 5.12.16 (983.1.2)
Year of birth: Enki 14 (914)
A nobleman in the mid-Heian period. He was called Nishinomiya Sadaijin. He was the son of Emperor Daigo, and his mother was the concubine Minamoto no Chikako. In Engi 20 (920), he was given the surname Minamoto and became a commoner. In Tenkei 2 (939), at the age of 26, he became a councilor. In Tenryaku 7 (953), he was promoted to Dainagon, and during his term in office, he became Chugu no Daifu when Fujiwara no Anshi (his wife's sister), who was the consort of his brother-in-law Emperor Murakami, was made empress, and he also held the posts of Kebiishi betto and Sadaisho. After serving as Udaijin, he became Sadaijin in Kōhō 4 (967). Two years later, he was demoted to nominal deputy chief of Dazaifu (Dazaifu City) on the grounds that he had plotted a rebellion out of disappointment that his son-in-law Prince Tamehira (the fourth son of Emperor Murakami) had not been able to become the crown prince of his elder brother Emperor Reizei, and that his younger brother Prince Morihira (later Emperor En'yū) had become the crown prince (the Anwa Incident). The prevailing view is that this was an incident where the Fujiwara clan, feeling threatened by the Genji clan, tried to exclude other clans. There are stories in which this demotion resulted from divination or an encounter with an evil spirit. Four years later, he was pardoned and returned to Kyoto, where he was given a fief of 300 households. The magnificent Nishimiya Palace, located in the Ukyo district of Heian-kyo, was burned down shortly after Takaaki's demotion. Yoshishige Yasutane records this decline of Ukyo in his Iketei-ki. He loved learning and was knowledgeable about court ceremonies, and wrote the Nishimiya-ki, a representative court etiquette book of the early Heian period. He left behind a collection of poems, the Nishimiya Sadaijin Goshu, and nearly 20 of his poems have been included in imperial anthologies. He was a master of the biwa, passed down secret songs, and was once the head of the music hall. He is thought to be one of the models for Hikaru Genji, the protagonist of The Tale of Genji. His daughter, Akiko, was the wife of Fujiwara no Michinaga. Later, he was posthumously awarded the rank of Juichii by oracle. <References> Kazuo Aoki, "Minamoto Takaaki" (edited by Tsuneyuki Kawasaki, "The Fall of the Dynasty"), Hiroshi Yamanaka, "Ancient Records and Aristocratic Culture in the Heian Period"

(Oboriya Hisashi)

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

Japanese:

没年：天元5.12.16(983.1.2)
生年：延喜14(914)
平安中期の公卿。西宮左大臣と称す。醍醐天皇皇子で母は更衣の源周子。延喜20(920)年源姓を賜り,臣籍に降下。天慶2(939)年,26歳で参議となる。天暦7(953)年大納言に進み,在任中,義弟村上天皇の女御であった藤原安子(妻の姉妹)の立后で中宮大夫となったほか検非違使別当,左大将などを兼務した。右大臣を経て康保4(967)年左大臣となる。2年後,女婿の為平親王(村上天皇第4皇子)が兄冷泉天皇の東宮になることができず,弟の守平親王(のち円融天皇)がなった失望から謀反を企てたとの理由で大宰府(太宰府市)の名目上の副長官に左遷された(安和の変)。これについては,賜姓源氏に脅威を感じた藤原氏による他氏排斥事件とする見方が有力。この左遷をめぐり占いで凶相が出たとか悪霊に出あった結果といった話が説話類にみえる。4年後に許されて帰京し封300戸を賜った。平安京右京にあった豪壮な西宮殿は高明の左遷直後に焼失した。慶滋保胤は,『池亭記』でこの右京衰退の様子を記している。学問を好み朝儀に明るく,平安初期の代表的な有職故実書である『西宮記』を著した。歌集『西宮左大臣御集』を残し,勅撰集に20首近い歌がとられている。琵琶の名手であり,秘曲を伝え,楽所別当となったこともある。『源氏物語』の主人公光源氏のモデルのひとりと考えられている。娘の明子は藤原道長の妻。後世,託宣により従一位を追贈された。<参考文献>青木和夫「源高明」(川崎庸之編『王朝の落日』),山中裕『平安時代の古記録と貴族文化』

(朧谷寿)

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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