Maeda Gen'i

Maeda Gen'i

Coat of arms (flower bridge)

Maeda Gen'i ( Japanese 前 田 玄 以 ; * 1539 ; † July 9, 1602 ) was a Japanese Buddhist priest, statesman and daimyo .

Originally called Munihisa ( 宗 向 ), he became a young monk on Hiei-zan and called himself Gen'i ( 玄 似 ), also Gen'i Hōin ( 玄 似 法 印 ), also Mimbukyō Hōin, Tokuzen-in Gen'i. He then followed Oda Nobunaga . When his son Nobutada was attacked by Akechi Mitsuhide in Nijō Castle , he entrusted his son Sambōshi-maru (later Oda Hidenobu) Gen'i, who took him to Gifu Castle and then to Kiyosu Castle.

After Gen'i became governor ( 所 司 代 , shoshidai ) of Kyōto in 1583 , he improved the living conditions in the big city. As much as possible, he restricted his obligation to track down Christians in the city to elderly Jesuits. However, according to the Japanese, a method of tracking down Christians should go back to him: the suspects were ordered to step on a metal plate with the crucifix, which has been passed down as a fummy . Their refusal then betrayed them as devout Christians.

With the appointment of Toyotomi Hideyoshis as regent ( Kampaku ) in 1585, he chose Gen'i as one of his five commissioners ( go-bugyō ) and gave this fiefdom Kameyama in the province of Tamba in 1595 with an income of 50,000 koku .

When Emperor Go-Yōzei and the former Emperor Ōgimachi visited Hideyoshi in his new palace Jūrakudai ( 聚 楽 第 ) in 1588 , Gen'i was commissioned to prepare the reception ceremony. On the occasion he studied the earlier reception of the Emperors Go-Komatsu and Go-Hanazono by de Ashikaga-Shogune , adapted them to the current circumstances and designed the reception to the full satisfaction of those involved.

At the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, he pretended to be sick and did not appear for battle. He did not stand behind Tokugawa Ieyasu's opponent, Ishida Kazushige , and was thus able to maintain his possessions.

Gen'i had two sons who were both baptized in 1595, the elder, Maeda Hidenori ( 前 田秀 以 , 1577–1602), received the name Paul ( パ ウ ロ , Pauro ) and the younger, Shigekatsu ( 茂 勝 ; 1582–1621) baptized in the name of Constantine ( コ ン ス タ ン チ ノ , Konsutanchino ). In 1602 he became lord of the castle of Kameyama, which was exchanged for yakami in the same year. With his dismissal in 1608 because of mental confusion, this line became extinct.

Remarks

1. ↑ This is why he is also called Ghenifoin or Guenifuin in the reports of the missionaries in Japan .
2. ↑ Kiyosu Castle ( 清 洲 城 ) in Owari Province was cleared in 1610.
3. ^ From Portuguese Paulo
4. ↑ Papinot Munetoshi.
5. ^ From Portuguese Constantino

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ikeda, Koichi: Kameyam-jo in: Miura, Masayuki (ed.): Shiro to jinya. Saikoku-hen. Gakken, 2006. ISBN 978-4-05-604379-2 , p. 52
2. ↑ 前 田茂勝 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Retrieved July 13, 2016 (Japanese). 

literature

• Edmond Papinot: Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan. Reprint of the 1910 edition. Tuttle, 1972, ISBN 0-8048-0996-8 .