Yasutane Yoshishige - Yasutane Yoshishige

Japanese: 慶滋保胤 - よししげのやすたね

Year of death: 4th year of the Choho era, October 21, 1002 (November 27, 1002)
Year of birth: Unknown. A lower-ranking government official and man of letters in the mid-Heian period. The second son of the Onmyo scholar Kamo Tadayuki. His pen name was Shigenobu, and his Chinese name was Jotan. He was also known as Uchijido. While his elder brother Yasunori and younger brother Yasuto took over the Onmyo scholar, Yoshishige abandoned the family business and pursued writing, studying under Sugawara Fumitoki and becoming a literary scholar. Yoshishige's real name, Kamo, is written in different characters, and it is likely that the name was changed to suit the tastes of scholars. Later, he served as a samurai reader for Prince Kohira and was promoted to the rank of Daiuchiki, Junior Fifth Rank, but he ended up as a lower-ranking government official. In "Iketei-ki," written in 982 (Tengen 5), he expresses his feelings about his desire to find peace in a life of faith and learning, which he had finally acquired just before turning 50 and had set up a mansion in the area south of Rokujo-bomon and east of Machijiri in Sakyo. This work also had a major influence on Kamo no Chomei's "Hojo-ki" in later years. The first half of "Iketei-ki" is famous for vividly depicting the changing urban conditions of Heian-kyo, such as the desolation of Ukyo and the overpopulation of Sakyo. He was also interested in Amida faith from an early age, and in 964, he formed the Kangakkai with students from the Kitado Hall of the University and monks from Mount Hiei, meeting twice a year in spring and autumn to study nembutsu and Buddhist scriptures, continuing this for about 20 years until he became a monk in 986 (under the Buddhist name Shinkaku, later Jakushin). "Nihon Ojo Gokurakuki" was the first Japanese oracle for the afterlife, and had a strong influence on the subsequent development of Pure Land thought and narrative literature, and was later transmitted to Song China along with Genshin's "Ojo Yoshu." He passed away at Nyoirin-ji Temple (Shishigatani, Sakyo Ward), and it is said that he died in 997 or around 70 years old, but the exact date is unclear. One of his disciples was Oe Sadamoto (Jakusho), whose death Fujiwara no Michinaga also mourned, calling him his "white-robed disciple."

(Takinami Sadako)

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

Japanese:

没年：長保4.10.21(1002.11.27)
生年：生年不詳
平安中期の下級官人,文人。陰陽家賀茂忠行の次男。字は茂能,唐名を定潭。内記入道とも。兄保憲,弟保遠が陰陽家を継いだのに対して家業を捨てて文章道に進み,菅原文時に師事して文章生となる。慶滋は本姓賀茂の訓よみ(よししげ)を別字で表記したもので,文人好みの改姓であろう。その後具平親王の侍読として仕え従五位下大内記にまで昇進するが,結局下級官人で終わっている。天元5(982)年に書いた『池亭記』は,50歳を前にようやく手に入れた左京の六条坊門南,町尻東の地に屋敷を構え,信仰と学問三昧の生活に安らぎを求めるに至った心境を吐露したもので,後年鴨長明の『方丈記』にも大きな影響を与えている。なお『池亭記』の前半部は右京の荒廃,左京の人口稠密化など,推移する平安京の都市的実態を活写したものとして有名。また幼いころから阿弥陀信仰に関心を持ち,康保1(964)年,自身が中心となって大学寮北堂の学生と比叡山の僧侶らで勧学会を結成,春秋2回会合して念仏と仏典研究に当たり,寛和2(986)年に出家(法名は心覚,のち寂心)するまで約20年間続けている。『日本往生極楽記』はわが国最初の往生伝で,その後における浄土思想の発展や説話文学に強い影響をおよぼし,のち源信の『往生要集』とともに宋に伝えられた。如意輪寺(左京区鹿ケ谷)で示寂,長徳3(997)年とも,70歳前後ともいうが詳らかでない。弟子に大江定基(寂照)がおり,藤原道長も「白衣弟子」と称してその死を悼んでいる。

(瀧浪貞子)

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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