Yamana Tokiuji

Japanese: 山名時氏 - やまな・ときうじ

Year of death: 4th year of Oan/2nd year of Kentoku (1371.3.15)
Year of birth: 1299
A military commander during the Northern and Southern Courts period. His father was Masauji and his mother was the daughter of Uesugi Shigefusa. He was commonly known as Kojiro, Izu no Kami, Danjo Shosuke, and Sakyo no Daifu. His Buddhist name was Dosei. When the Genkō Rebellion broke out (1331), he accompanied the shogun in Kamakura. The year after that, he attacked Kusunoki Masashige at Chihayaakasaka, but soon after joined Ashikaga Takauji, who had defected to Emperor Godaigo's side, and attacked Rokuhara, capturing him. When the Nakasendai Rebellion (1335) broke out, he traveled east to help put it down, and in January of the following year, he was defeated by Wakiya Yoshisuke and others of the Southern Court at Teshima in Settsu, and fled west with Takauji, but in May he killed Masashige at Minatogawa and made his way to Kyoto. As a meritorious vassal in the founding of the Muromachi Shogunate, he was the guardian of Hoki, Izumo, Oki, and Tanba, wielding hidden power in the San'in road, and in 1345, he was appointed head of the Samurai Department. During the Kan'o Disturbance, he sided with Ashikaga Tadayoshi, and after Tadayoshi's death, he submitted to the Southern Court in opposition to Kyogoku Takauji, the guardian of Izumo. In 1353, under the auspices of Ashikaga Tadafuyu, he acted as the leader of the Southern Court army in San'in, and thereafter often achieved success in occupying Kyoto. Around 1356, he occupied the vast Chugoku region from Harima to Iwami. Ashikaga Yoshiakira, who saw Tokiuji's submission as essential to unification, offered him good bait to surrender, and in September 1358, he finally returned to the Northern Court army on the condition that the five provinces of Tanba, Tango, Mimasaka, Inaba, and Hoki were assured. Tokiuji himself held the title of Shugo of the Tanba, Inaba and Hoki provinces, and participated in the Shogunate government as a councilor and head of the Injutsu Bureau. Despite opposition from the Fudai Shugo, the Shogunate favored the Yamana clan, and in his later years, he added Tajima and Oki to his clan's domains. His sons, Muneyoshi, Yoshimune, Ujifuyu, Ujikiyo, Tokiyoshi and Ujishige, all became Shugo, and the family headship was passed down from Muneyoshi to Tokiyoshi. Tokiuji's submission played a decisive role in the dominance of the Northern Court, and he can be said to have been a man who held the fate of the turmoil of the Northern and Southern Courts in his hands.

(Akira Imaya)

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

Japanese:

没年：応安4/建徳2.2.28(1371.3.15)
生年：正安1(1299)
南北朝時代の武将。父は政氏,母は上杉重房の娘。通称小二郎,伊豆守,弾正少弼,左京大夫。法名道静。元弘の乱勃発時(1331)には鎌倉で将軍に供奉。翌々年千早赤坂に楠木正成を攻めたが,まもなく後醍醐天皇方に帰順した足利尊氏に従って六波羅を攻撃し,これを陥れた。中先代の乱(1335)が起こると東下して鎮圧に従事,翌年1月には摂津豊島で南朝方脇屋義助らに敗れて尊氏と共に西走したが,5月の湊川で正成を討って上洛した。室町幕府創立の功臣として伯耆,出雲,隠岐,丹波の守護となり山陰道に隠然たる力を振るうとともに,貞和1/興国6(1345)年には侍所頭人に就任。観応の擾乱では(足利)直義方につき,直義死後は出雲守護京極高氏との対抗上南朝に帰順した。文和2/正平8(1353)年には足利直冬を戴いて山陰南朝軍の巨魁として活動,以後しばしば京都占拠に功を上げた。康安1/正平16年ごろには播磨から石見に至る広大な中国地域を占拠した。時氏の帰順が統一に不可欠とみた足利義詮は好餌をもって誘降し,貞治2/正平18年9月,ついに丹波,丹後,美作,因幡,伯耆の5カ国安堵を条件に北朝軍に帰参した。時氏自身はうち丹波,因幡,伯耆の守護を領し,評定衆,引付頭人として幕政にも参与。譜代守護の反発はあったが幕府は山名氏を優遇し,晩年にはさらに但馬と隠岐を一族の分国に加えている。子息師義,義理,氏冬,氏清,時義,氏重らはみな守護となり,家督は師義から時義へと継承された。時氏の帰服が北朝優位に決定的役割を果たしたという意味で,南北朝の動乱の帰趨を握っていた人物といえよう。

(今谷明)

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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