Prince Morinaga

Japanese: 護良親王 - もりよししんのう

Year of death: 23rd July 1335 (12th August 1335)
Year of birth: Enkei 1 (1308)
A member of the imperial family during the late Kamakura and Nanboku-cho periods. Son of Emperor Go-Daigo. His mother was the daughter of Minamoto no Michichika. It is said that he entered Sanzen-in (Kajii Gate) in February 1318. In September 1326, he became a monk and took the name Sonun Hoshinno. The following year, he was appointed head priest of Tendai. In 1329, he repaired the Great Lecture Hall of Enryaku-ji Temple. His appointment as head priest of Tendai was a move to incorporate the power of Enryaku-ji Temple into the anti-shogunate movement. During Emperor Go-Daigo's second anti-shogunate movement (the Genkō Incident), he set up camp in Hachioji with his younger brother, Hoshinno (Prince Muneyoshi), but was defeated in a battle with the Rokuhara army and fled to Akasaka Castle where Kusunoki Masashige was holed up. However, when Akasaka Castle also fell, Prince Morinaga fled to Totsukawa and Kumano, where he called on bandits and local samurai from all over the Kinai region to organize an anti-Shogunate army, hoping to make a comeback. In November 1332 (Shokei 1/Genko 2), he returned to secular life, changed his name to Morinaga, raised an army in Yoshino, and sent an imperial decree to overthrow the Shogunate to anti-Shogunate forces in various regions. In response to this decree, Kusunoki Masashige raised an army at Chihaya Castle, and Akamatsu Norimura raised an army at Kokenawa Castle in Harima (Kamigori Town, Hyogo Prefecture). When Chihaya Castle was besieged by the Kamakura Shogunate forces, Prince Morinaga ordered bandits in Yoshino, Totsukawa, Uta, and Uchi (Uchi) counties to block the roads to prevent military rice from falling into the hands of the besieging army. Later, the prince sent his troops to Shigisan in Kawachi to support Akamatsu Norimura's invasion of Kyoto and his attack on Rokuhara. In June of the second year of the Shokei era (1335)/third year of the Genko era (1336), when Emperor Go-Daigo returned to Kyoto and established a new government, Prince Morinaga came into conflict with Ashikaga Takauji over the appointment of Shogun. In October of the following year, Prince Morinaga was arrested at a waka poetry gathering at Seiryoden by Yuki Chikamitsu, Nawa Nagatoshi and others who, acting on the orders of the Emperor and believing the slanderous accusations of Takauji and Ano Reiko, were ordered to arrest him. The following month, he was escorted to Kamakura and imprisoned by Ashikaga Tadayoshi in Toko-ji Temple in Nikaido, Kamakura. In July of the second year of the Kenmu era (1335), when Hojo Tokiyuki invaded Kamakura (the Nakasendai Rebellion), Prince Morinaga was killed by Tadayoshi's retainer, Fuchibe Yoshihiro. His grave is in Nikaido Richinoji Valley. Kamakura Shrine, which enshrines Prince Morinaga, was built in 1869 (1369). <References> Sato Kazuhiko, Reading the Taiheiki

(Kazuhiko Sato)

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

Japanese:

没年：建武2.7.23(1335.8.12)
生年：延慶1(1308)
鎌倉末・南北朝期の皇族。後醍醐天皇の皇子。母は源師親の娘親子。文保2(1318)年2月,三千院(梶井門跡)に入室したと伝える。嘉暦1(1326)年9月,落飾して尊雲法親王と号した。翌年天台座主に補任された。元徳1(1329)年延暦寺大講堂を修理した。天台座主への就任は,延暦寺の勢力を討幕運動に組み込むための布石であった。後醍醐天皇の第2次討幕運動(元弘の変)に際し,弟尊澄法親王(宗良親王)と共に八王子に布陣したが,六波羅軍との合戦に敗れ,楠木正成の籠もる赤坂城へと逃れた。しかし,赤坂城も落ちたため,十津川,熊野へと逃れ,再起を期して,畿内各地の野伏,地侍に呼びかけ反幕府軍を組織した。正慶1/元弘2(1332)年11月,還俗して護良と改名,吉野で挙兵し討幕の令旨を各地の反幕府勢力に送った。この令旨に応じて,楠木正成が千早城で,赤松則村が播磨苔縄城(兵庫県上郡町)で挙兵した。千早城が鎌倉幕府軍に包囲されたとき,護良親王は吉野,十津川,宇多,内(宇智)郡の野伏に,兵糧米が包囲軍の手に渡らないように,往来の路を塞ぐことを命じている。のち,親王は河内信貴山に兵を進めて,赤松則村による京都侵入,六波羅攻撃を援助した。正慶2/元弘3年6月,後醍醐天皇が帰京して新政府を樹立した際,征夷大将軍の任官をめぐって足利尊氏と対立した。翌年10月,尊氏と阿野廉子の讒言を信じた天皇の命を受けた結城親光,名和長年らによって,清涼殿の和歌の席において捕縛された。翌月,鎌倉に護送され足利直義によって鎌倉二階堂の東光寺に幽閉された。建武2(1335)年7月,北条時行が鎌倉へ侵攻した際(中先代の乱),直義の家人淵辺義博によって殺害された。墓所は二階堂理智光寺谷にある。護良親王を祭る鎌倉宮は明治2(1869)年に創建されたものである。<参考文献>佐藤和彦『太平記を読む』

(佐藤和彦)

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

<<: Yoshinari Mori

>>: Mount Moriyoshi