Konoe Sakihisa

Konoe Sakihisa ( Japanese 近衛 前 久 ; * 1536 ; † June 7, 1612 ; ( Japanese calendar : Keichō 慶 長 17/5/8), outdated transcription: Konoye Sakihisa , was Kampaku (regent) for two Japanese from 1554 to 1568 Emperor during the Sengoku period .

Life path

Konoe Sakihisa , who was originally called Harutsugu ( 晴 嗣 ), was the son of Konoe Tanaie and Noriko ( 慶 子 ). His father was a close confidante of Ashikaga Yoshiteru . Due to his noble birth in the most important family of the high nobility ( kuge ), he became Kampaku (regent) like his father . He had five siblings. From early childhood he was given various offices at court. At the age of five he rose to the real third court rank . His eldest son, Nobutada was later famous as a painter and calligrapher.

He got the office of Naidaijin in 1547, followed in 1553 by the appointment of Udaijin ("Chancellor on the right"). After taking office as Sadaijin ("Chancellor of the Left") in 1554 - he was 18 years old - and at the same time as Kampaku for the Go-Nara -Tennō, he changed his name from Harutsugu to Sakitsugu ( 前 嗣 ) in early 1555 . Later in the same year the surveys followed in the following first court rank. He kept the chancellery until 1557, he exercised the regency, also for the Ōgimachi -Tennō, until 1568.

As early as 1558 he wanted to seek the support of the Ōtomo in order to bring about a change in the disorderly balance of power in the fragmented country. He was closely connected to the regional ruler of Echigo , Uesugi Kenshin (1530–78), since his "visit," accompanied by his army in 1559 in Kyoto. They concluded an agreement, with Sakihisa pledging support in conquering the whole of Kantō . He went to Echigo in 1560 when he was still regent, a unique event in history. The following year he toured the provinces of Ueno and Shimousa . When he returned to the capital in the eighth month of 1562, he had taken the name Sakihisa , by which he is still known today.

After his relations with the victorious Ashikaga Yoshiaki had deteriorated further, Sakihisa fled in 1568 - losing the Kampaku office - first to the Ishiyamahonganji of Osaka . Politically, he was, somewhat narrow-minded, of the opinion that social stability within the traditional system should be preserved. For helping Miyoshi , he was given land worth 3,000 koku. Then he went to Tamba in 1572 after the battle of Wakae ( Kawachi province ), from where he returned to the capital the following year .

Now he allied himself with Oda Nobunaga , whose avowed opponent he had been, and was his most important advisor until the end of 1573. He also took part in Nobunaga's campaign against the Tada clan . When Nobunaga gave away land to all courtiers from 5th rank upwards, Sakihisa received the greatest gift with 300 koku . At the same time he appeared as an arbiter elegantiae and patron of the arts, B. in the construction of Azuchi Castle . However, he fell out with the general, which is why he fled again two years later, this time commuting back and forth between Kagoshima in the province of Satsuma and Higo . After his return - and reconciliation - in the second month of 1576, he was called to court in 1577/17/20. Early the following year he became Grand Chancellor ( dajo daijin ); in the third month he accompanied Nobunaga to the provincial capital of Kai . When Nobunaga committed suicide in the Honnō-ji incident on June 21, 1582 , an inevitable turning point in Sakihisa's life occurred.

He resigned from the office of Grand Chancellor that same month. He entered a Buddhist monastery, then known under the religious name Ryūzan ( 龍山 ). First he went to Nara , then to Saga ( Yamashiro Province ) where he completed the Saga-ki in 1583. The not particularly diplomatic Sakihisa refused to show Hideyoshi a sword that Nobunaga had given him, as he considered Hideyoshi to be unworthy. The dispute was mediated by Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Sakihisa adopted Toyotomi Hideyoshi (then Hashiba Hidetoshi ) in 1584, probably forcibly, after being mediated by Maeda Gen'i , who thereby received the legitimacy necessary to take over the regent. In return, Hideyoshi adopted Sakahisa's daughter Sakiko, who was the wife of Go-Yōzei -Tennō (r. 1586-1611), who later gave birth to Go-Mizunoo -Tennō (r. 1611-29).

From 1585, apart from two short stays in Kyoto, he led a secluded existence in a hermitage of the Jishō-ji .

Sakihisa died in 1612/5/8, and Tokugawa Ieyasu's ban on falconry for nobles, which was issued a month later, is seen as a personal insult to the deceased, an enthusiastic falconer. His grave is in Tofuku-ji .

family

One of his wives was Hōjuin (1532-1630), who, depending on the source, was a servant in the Konoe household or came from the Takeda clan . She is considered the mother of Konoe Nobutada . His sister was married to the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru .

Children:

• Ichijōin Sonsei (1563-1616), since 1576/6/28 monk in the Kōfuku-ji of Nara
• Konoe Nobutada (1565-1614)
• Kōshōin Sonjō-ni (1565-1627)
• Iriedono Shōryū (1574-1615)
• Sakikio became the wife of Go-Yōzei in 1556, shortly before he took office

Literature and works

• Saga-ki
• Ryūzan-hō tako hyakushu ("100 poems about the falcons")
• Bruschke-Johnson, Lee: Dismissed as elegant fossils ... Amsterdam 2004 (Hotei), ISBN 90-7482252-5

Sources and individual references

• Berend Wispelwey (Ed.): Japanese Biographical Archive; Munich 2007, ISBN 3-598-34014-1 , Fiche 167

1. ↑ see: yes: 近衛 前 久 # 年表
2. ^ Butler, Lee: Emperor and Aristocracy in Japan 1467-1680 , Cambridge 2002, ISBN 0-674-00851-0 , p. 108.
3. ↑ Nijō Yasunori nikki Genki 2/11/15
4. ↑ Bruschke-Johnson (2004): Appendix 1, pp. 146-148

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