Mongaku

Mongaku Shonin

Mongaku ( Japanese 文 覚 ; 1139-1203; also Mongaku Shōnin) was a politically active monk at the end of the Heian and the beginning of the Kamakura period .

Live and act

Mongaku was born as Endō Moritō ( 遠藤 盛 遠 ). He lost his father Shigeto ( 茂 遠 ) when he was a child and was raised by Haruki Miyoshi. At the age of 18 he fell in love with his cousin Kesa Gozen ( 袈裟 御前 ), who was married to Minamoto no Wataru ( 源 渡 ). After much resistance and hesitation, she pretended to go along with his wishes on the condition that he had to kill Wataru first. Moritō agreed and snuck into his cousin's house the following night. But Kesa Gozen had taken her husband's place and received the fatal blow in his place. Moritō then became a monk and called himself Mongaku and tried to atone for his act.

Some time later he planned to rebuild the temple Shingo-ji ( 神 護 寺 ) on Mount Takao ( 高 尾 山 ) northeast of Heian-kyō (Kyōto) in memory of Kūkai and began to beg for it. He took up contact with Emperor Go-Shirakawa , resided in the temple Hosshō-ji ( 法 性 寺 ), but he did not behave appropriately towards the emperor and was exiled to Izu in 1179. There he met Minamoto no Yoritomo and urged him to start a war against the Taira . Through the friendly mediation of Fujiwara no Mitsuyoshi, Mongaku succeeded in receiving a letter from the emperor to Yoritomo, in which he was asked to raise an army and free the court from the tyranny of the Taira. Now Yoritomo didn't wait any longer and took up arms. After the victory, Yoritomo had the Shingo-ji temple rebuilt and continued to treat Mongaku with great kindness.

The now ruling emperor Go-Toba showed more interest in pleasure and entertainment than in administration. Mongaku therefore suggested to Yoritomo to replace the emperor with his brother, Prince Morisada. But the shogun could not make up his mind to take such a step.

After Yoritomo died in 1199, Mongaku believed the time was right to carry out his old plan. The project was discovered, however, and Mongaku was exiled to the island of Sado and then on to Tsushima . There he died in great poverty.

Mongaku's life found its way into Heike Monogatari and was later adapted as a play in Bunraku and Kabuki . Mongaku has inspired Ukiyoe artists to create portraits, often with the theme "Mongaku under the Nachi waterfall ".

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Remarks

1. ↑ Shōnin ( 上人 ), actually Hokkyō Shōnin ( 法 橋上 人 ), was a high Buddhist rank.

literature

Commons : Mongaku  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Suzuki, Toshihiko (ed.): Nihon daihyakka zensho (Denshibukku-han) , Shogakukan, 1996.
• Papinot, Edmond: Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan. Reprinted by Tuttle, 1972 edition of 1910 edition. ISBN 0-8048-0996-8 .