Ichijō Kaneyoshi

Ichijō Kaneyoshi ( Japanese 一條 兼 良 , or in respectful reading Ichijō Kaneyoshi ; * June 7, 1402 ( traditionally Ōei 9/5/7); † April 30, 1481 (Bunmei 13/4/2)) is considered one of the last Japanese noblemen who combined the classic combination of statesmanship and extensive education, thus representing the traditional aristocratic culture.

Life path

Ichijō Kaneyoshi was the son of Ichijō Tsunetsugu (1358-1418), the third son of Nijō Yoshimoto . His father was three times kampaku and adviser to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu . His mother († 1421) was a daughter of Higashibōjō Hidenaga (1333-1411). Although she was not the first, she was obviously the main wife of Tsunetsugu.

As is usual for members of his class, he was given court ranks and associated offices as a child , and he was promoted quickly. The first appointment of the eleven year old took place in 1412/12/24 (following real fifth place) - with 15 (1416/01/06) he had already reached the real second place. After his father's death in 1418, his extensive knowledge of the classics was helpful in asserting himself against competitors from other high-ranking families, such as Konoe Fusatsugu .

In the fourth month of 1424 he was appointed " Chancellor on the right ." On the following New Year, he was raised to the following first rank. Soon after Ashikaga Yoshinori's ascent to Shogun in 1429, Kaneyoshi assumed the office of “Chancellor on the Left.” However, closer ties to the ruler only developed from 1431 onwards. Only then was his appointment as regent (1432/8/13) possible. Kaneyoshi was pushed out of office 74 days later to let Nijō Mochimoto take over the reign again.

In the following years he appeared as a juror in poetry competitions and participated in the compilation of the imperial anthology Shinzokukokinshū (completed in 1439), whose foreword he wrote. Otherwise, he devoted himself to his literary efforts and organized a 1443 uta - hard. His absence from court initially slowed the rise of his son Norifusa .

After the death of the 10-year-old Shogun Ashikaga Yoshikatsu (1445), who followed his father Yoshinori (1441/6/23) into office after his murder, Kaneyoshi became more politically active again. With the support of Hino Shigeko , mother of Yoshikatsu , who worked in the background , he succeeded in being appointed Grand Chancellor on New Year 1446. By further maneuvering he succeeded in pushing Konoe Fusatsugu out of the regent position and to be called again himself (1447/6/15). He gave up the chancellery in 1450. His second term of office as regent ended in the fourth month of 1453, in the summer he was put on a protocol basis with the empresses ( jusangū ).

Kaneyoshi spent the next few years, who by then had already reached an advanced age, with studies and literary work. The catastrophes of 1460–62, which fell during his son's reign, also left him unaffected. When Hino Katsumitsu , who lived in a house on the grounds of Ichijō residence, managed to achieve office and court rank that he was not entitled to from birth, he was supported by Kaneyoshi. To prevent Nijō Mochimichi from being able to pass the regent office directly to his son, Kaneyoshi first tried to get Norifusa reappointed. He failed because of the resistance of the other court aristocrats, and in the fifth month of 1467 he himself was appointed for the third time. The situation in the capital had deteriorated rapidly, various factions of the sword nobility faced each other.

With the final outbreak of the Ōnin War ( Ōnin no ran ; 1467/5/26), he sent his family members to safety, he himself fled with Masafusa, after large parts of Kyoto had already burned down in the following month, initially to the Zuishin-in. Soon afterwards, the Ichijo residence was destroyed by flames and the important library looted. In 1468 he fled to Nara , this was the first time that a reigning regent left the capital.

His son Jinson - abbot there - initially brought him to the luxurious Jōju-in . As income was not to be expected, Kaneyoshi sent Norifusa and his followers to a family estate in Tosa . From this developed the sideline of the "Tosa Ichijō." As far as possible, he continued to exercise his regent office from a distance, but most of the time he spent with poetry and dealing with other fled courtiers. Since he remained absent from the capital, he was urged to give up the office of regent, which he did in 1470/7/21.

He spent the next few years with his studies after briefly going to the capital in 1470. In the fifth month of 1473 he decided, accompanied by his son Gembō , to travel to Mino , where his main wife Higashi no Onkata stayed at the Saitō Myōchins estate for several years . After only a week, the bad news of Hosokawa Matsumoto's death forced him to return to Nara. The following month (1472/6/25) he was ordained as a lay monk Kakukei . Ten days later his wife fell ill in Mino and died in 1472/11/12 - not without having also entered the clergy a week beforehand.

Immediately after the end of the hostilities in the capital, he went there shortly before the New Year of 1478 at the invitation of Hino Tomiko. Since the family residence was completely destroyed, he sought refuge in Myōkan-in. One of his vassals provided the family with a "house" (size: 7 × 3 ken , around 68 m²). He financed his living through lectures. It was still possible for him to promote Fuyuyoshi's career at court. In order to be able to finance the appropriate inauguration of his son, the now 78-year-old Kaneyoshi traveled to Asakura in Echizen . His attempt to collect debts there failed, however.

Kaneyoshi died at the age of 80 in 1481/4/2, he had asked to build a tomb in Tōfuku-ji , for which sufficient funds were only available in 1492.

Works

His treatises on politics Bummei-ittōki and Shōdan-chiyō are important. About half of his surviving writings deal with court ceremonies, ancient customs and traditions (so-called yūsoku kojitsu ) and the like. Ä. He also commented on the Genji or Ise monogatari and the Kokinshu. However, unusual for his time and class, he also wrote manuals e.g. B. via Go . Such literary production had become necessary for his maintenance after 1470.

Economy

The economic situation of the family, which received income from 53 estates at the end of the Kamakura period, like that of all court nobles, had deteriorated considerably, especially after the Ōnin war. A list made by Kaneyoshi for his son lists 12 items. In addition, there was rental income of around 40 chō ( 町 ) in the capital. The income from court offices was negligible. In 1470, the Renga poet Sōgi (Hōshi) mediated financial support from warlords in the provinces. Kaneyoshi also earned income teaching swordsmen and copying rare books. One method to improve family finances was to give birth to children in temples under the control of the family ( kanryō ), where they rose to senior positions due to their high birth, which enabled them to support their families from the temple ownership . Jinson (1430-1508) as Abbot of Daijō-in supported his entire family during their exile in Nara.

family

The following direct relatives are known:

siblings

• Yoshitada , later called Tsunesuke ( 一條 經 輔 ), his older brother who gave up his office due to illness. 1416 monk.
• Yūgen Abbot of Zuishin-in † 1452
• Unshō Ikkei (1386–1463), Zen monk, head of various temples
• Tōgaku Chōkin, older brother of a concubine. Zen monk. Toured China.
• Ryōzai monk, also daisōzu

• at least two sisters, one became the abbess of Umezu Zenshin-in

Women

1. Higashi no Onkata (1404-73, posthumously: Shōrinji-dono). Daughter of Nakamikado Nobutoshi. Principal wife, mother of 15 children. Accompanied Kaneyoshi to Nara, but then went to Mino, where she died shortly after his visit in 1473.
2. Ie no Nyōbō, housekeeper who rose to become maitresse; 3 children.
3. Dainagon no Tsubone, daughter of Minamoto Yasutoshi ; 4 children. Entered the clergy immediately after Kaneyoshi's grandson Masafusa was killed in Settsu in the fall of 1469 .
4. Gon-Chūnagon no tsubone (1442–90; = Sanjō no Tsubone), daughter of a client, Machi Akisato († 1479;) mother of the four youngest children.

children

At least 26:

from Higashi no Onkata:

1. Norifusa (一條 教 房 ; 1423–1480). Main inheritance.
2. Sonshū Ni Abbess of Ichijō-in in Yawata
3. Kyōken († 1449, around 25 years old) abbot of the Hōchi-in , also sōjō
4. Boy, died early
5. Jinson (1430–1508) abbot of the Daijō-in , also daisōjō , head of the Kōfuku-ji
6. Girl in the Umezu Zenshin-in given
7. Gembō , protected by Yūgen , his successor as Abbot of Zuishin-in . High priest in Tōji and Tōdai-ji , also daisōjō. Probably Kaneyoshi's favorite son, died shortly after him in 1481.
8. Boy given to tofuku-ji , but died young
9. Boy, died early
10. Boy, died early
11. Shūkō Ni nun in the Keirinji saga
12. Ryōchin Abbot of Manshu-in , also daisōjō.
13. Kanchō (1441–71) abbot of Jitsujō-in , also gonsōjō . Died in Nara when his father there in Daijo-in lived
14. Jiyō Abbot of Chokushi-in
15. Ryōkō Ni successor of Kaneyoshi's sister as abbess of Umezu Zenshin-in. Accompanied her mother to Mino

from Ie no Nyōbō:

1. Kōchi Ni nun in the Kōdaiji of Nara.
2. Girl, died early
3. Keijo (1450-77). Adopted by the Imperial Prince Fushimiyinomiya Sadafusa, father of Tennō Hikohito (posthumously: Go-Hanazono ). Monk in Sōō Monastery in Yamazaki. Killed in the Ōnin War in Shibayama-dera ( Kaga Province ).

from Dainagon no Tsubone:

1. Shūken Ni Abbess of Hokkeji (Nara)
2. Tsuneko fled to Nara, where she married Takatsukasa Masahira .
3. Sonkō Ni (* 1459) nun in the Jūshin-in
4. Sōhō Ni (= Keirinji-dono), nun

from Gon-Chūnagon no tsubone:

1. Fuyuyoshi (一條 冬 良 ; 1464-1514). Second youngest son of Kaneyoshi, adopted as Norifusa's heir after his son had died, but raised by Kaneyoshi in Nara. Kampaku (1488–93 and 1497–1501) also Dajo-daijin . Known as a scholar. Adopted Fusamichi to maintain the Tosa line.
2. Seison († 1481, shortly after his father) monk in Enman-in later abbot of a Todaiji secondary temple.
3. Girl (* 1472 in Nara, Kaneyoshi was 70 years old), given to Umezu Zenshin-in
4. Girl (* 1476), foster child of Hino Tomiko , wife of Ashikaga Yoshimasa . Nun in the honko -in of the Hōkyōji

literature

• Steven D. Carter: Regent Redux - A life of the Statesman-Scholar Ichijō Kaneyoshi. Ann Arbor 1996, ISBN 0-939512-75-0 (with English excerpts Fude no susabi )
• Fukui Kyūzō: 一條 兼 良 . Tokyo 1943
• Klaus-Albrecht Pretzell: The Bunmei-ittō-ki and the Shōdan-chiyō: 2 textbooks d. Ichijō Kanera. Hamburg 1966 (Hamburg, Phil. F., dissertation of June 14, 1966)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Japanese yūsokuyomi ( 有 職 読 み ). The Japanese name reading was replaced by a Sino-Japanese on reading .
2. ↑ engl. Exercise in: Carter (1996), p. 59
3. ↑ Travel report: Fujikawa no ki (printed: Tokyo 1983)
4. ↑ Ise monogatari gukenshō completed in 1474 (printed in: Katagiri Yōichi; Ise monogatari no kenkyū; Tokyo 1968-9)
5. ↑ cf. Carter (1996), pp. 254f.
6. ↑ whole section after Carter (1996), appendix

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Ichijō is the family name, Kaneyoshi the first name.