Ota Dokan - Ota Dokan

A military commander in the mid-Muromachi period. Head steward of the Ogigayatsu Uesugi clan. His father was Sukekiyo. Dokan was his Buddhist name. The family tree says that his given name was originally Mochisuke, and later changed to Sukenaga, but there is no confirmation of either. The famous construction of Edo Castle is said to have begun in 1456 (Kōshō 2) and completed in April of the following year. It is also said that in the same year, under his father's guidance, he also began construction of Iwatsuki and Kawagoe castles. He is said to have traveled to Kyoto in March of 65 (Kanshō 6), but this is uncertain. In the early years of the Bunmei era (1469-87), Dokan and his son were powerful men who effectively ruled the Sobu region in place of the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi clan, but their activities became particularly prominent after Sadamasa succeeded the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi clan after the Battle of Ikatsuko in 1473 (5th year of Bunmei), in which Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Masazane was defeated and killed in a battle with the Koga kubo Ashikaga Shigeuji. In 1476, at Sadamasa's command, he intervened in a civil war with the Imagawa clan, the guardian of Suruga, and when Nagao Kageharu rebelled while he was there, he settled the civil war and returned to Edo, and from then until 1480, he assisted Sadamasa and Yamanouchi Uesugi Akisada, fighting more than 30 times against Kageharu's side. Dokan was also famous as a poet and had a background in classical Chinese poetry and prose, but many of the books said to be written by him are forgeries. Not only was he a man of culture, he was also an excellent military strategist, fortress builder, and prominent politician, and is said to have been the military law instructor who invented the "Ashigaru no Gunpo". However, at the end of his life, he was invited to his lord Sadamasa's Kasuya mansion (Isehara City, Kanagawa Prefecture) where he was assassinated on July 26, 1845. He died saying, "Our side (the Ogigayatsu Uesugi clan) is destroyed." His posthumous name was Shunen Dokan. His grave is at Doshoin in Kami-Kasuya, and there is also a mound of his head at Daijiji Temple in Shimokasuya.

[Sawaki Eiichi]

"Ota Dokan" by Maejima Yasuhiko (1956, Ota Dokan Official Achievements Commemoration Society)" ▽ "Ota Dokan" by Katsumori Sumi (1966, Jinbutsu Oraisha)" ▽ "Study of the Ota Family" edited by Maejima Yasuhiko (1975, Meishu Publishing)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

室町中期の武将。扇谷(おうぎがやつ)上杉氏の家宰。父は資清(すけきよ)。道灌は入道名。諱(いみな)について、系図は初め持資(もちすけ)、のち資長(すけなが)と改めたと伝えるが、いずれも確証はない。有名な江戸築城は1456年（康正2）に開始、翌年4月に完成と伝えられる。また、この年に父の指導で岩槻(いわつき)、河越(かわごえ)両城の築城にも着手したといわれる。65年（寛正6）3月に上洛(じょうらく)したといわれるが定かでない。文明(ぶんめい)（1469～87）初年ごろには、道灌父子は実力者として扇谷上杉氏にかわって相武の事実上の支配を行っていたが、その活躍がとくに顕著になるのは、73年（文明5）扇谷上杉政真(まさざね)が古河公方(こがくぼう)足利成氏(あしかがしげうじ)との戦いで敗死した五十子(いかつこ)合戦ののち、扇谷上杉氏を定正(さだまさ)が継いでからである。76年には定正の命を受けて駿河(するが)守護今川氏の内紛に介入、その在陣中に長尾景春(かげはる)の反乱が起こると、内紛を収拾し江戸に帰り、これより80年にかけて定正、山内(やまのうち)上杉顕定(あきさだ)を助けて、景春方と三十余度も戦いを交えた。道灌は歌人としても名高く、漢詩文の素養もあったが、道灌作といわれる書籍には偽書が多い。文化人としてのみならず、「足軽之軍法」を編み出した軍法師範とされるなど、優れた兵術家、築城家、傑出した政治家でもあった。しかしその終末は、主君定正の糟谷(かすや)の館(やかた)（神奈川県伊勢原(いせはら)市）に招かれ、文明18年7月26日ここで謀殺された。彼は「当方（扇谷上杉家）滅亡」といって絶命したという。法名春苑道灌。墓は上糟谷の洞昌院に、また下糟谷の大慈寺(だいじじ)には首塚といわれるものがある。

［佐脇栄智］

『前島康彦著『太田道灌』（1956・太田道灌公事蹟顕彰会）』▽『勝守すみ著『太田道灌』（1966・人物往来社）』▽『前島康彦編著『太田氏の研究』（1975・名著出版）』

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