Minamoto no Takakuni -

Japanese: 源隆国 - みなもとのたかくに

Year of death: 1077.7.31
Year of birth: Kanko 1 (1004)
A nobleman in the mid-Heian period. He was called Uji Dainagon. When he came of age, he was named Munekuni. He was the son of Gon Dainagon Toshikata and the daughter of Uhyoe no Kami Fujiwara Tadatane. At the age of 18, he served as a chamberlain for Emperor Goichijo, and eight years later he became the head chamberlain. In 1034, he was appointed as a councilor. In 1067, he became Gon Dainagon. His older brother, Akimoto, was the adopted son of the regent Fujiwara no Yorimichi, and so he was highly valued, and was appointed as the Empress's Chamberlain when Yorimichi's daughter, Kanshi, became Empress. In his later years, he would often escape the summer at Nansenbo, a section of Byodo-in Temple in Uji, where he held a Buddhist scripture study group for lay and religious people, similar to the Kangakake Society of Yoshishige Yasutane, and compiled the An'yoshu. This book was also introduced to China, where it gained a good reputation. It is said that he would also stop passersby and listen to their unusual stories while fanning them with a large round fan; the collection of tales compiled by Takakuni was called "Uji Dainagon Monogatari" (no longer extant), and the one based on this was called "Uji Shui Monogatari," which influenced subsequent tales such as "Konjaku Monogatarishu" and "Kokin Chomonshu." He was known to have a wealth of anecdotes, and to have had an eccentric personality and a habit of exposing things. He was also a good poet, with over 20 of his poems included in imperial anthologies. His sister was the author of "Shojin Ajari Boshu."

(Oboriya Hisashi)

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

Japanese:

没年：承暦1.7.9(1077.7.31)
生年：寛弘1(1004)
平安中期の公卿。宇治大納言と称す。元服当初は宗国を名乗った。権大納言俊賢と右兵衛督藤原忠尹の娘の子。18歳のとき後一条天皇の蔵人を務め8年後に蔵人頭となり,長元7(1034)年参議に任じられた。治暦3(1067)年権大納言。兄の顕基が関白藤原頼通の養子であった関係から重用され,頼通の娘寛子の立后に際し皇后宮大夫に任じられた。晩年は宇治平等院の一郭の南泉坊で避暑するのを常とし,ここで,かつての慶滋保胤の勧学会と同様,道俗の者だけで仏典研究の会を持ち,『安養集』を編んでいる。この書は中国にも伝えられ評判となった。また道ゆく人を呼びとめては大きな団扇であおがせながら珍しい話を聞いたといい,これを編集した隆国の説話集が『宇治大納言物語』(現存しない)で,これをもとに作られたものが『宇治拾遺物語』といわれ,『今昔物語集』や『古今著聞集』など後続の説話に影響を与えた。豊富な逸話の持ち主で奇行,暴露癖があったことが知られる。20首余が勅撰集にとられるなど和歌をよくした。姉妹に『成尋阿闍梨母集』の作者がいる。

(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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