PERSONS - index - PERSONEN: June 2015

11/06/2015

Furuyama Moromasa

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Furuyama Moromasa 古山師政

Ukiyoe-Master of the Edo period, dates unknown.

- quote
古山師重の子。姓は古山、名は新七郎（一説には新九郎とも）。
月々堂、文志、文翅と号す。はじめは菱川昌則と称した。江戸両国の江市長屋に住んでいたと伝わる。『浮世絵類考』の一本には師政について「画法を師宣に学ぶ」と記されているが、「此の人に至りて菱川の画風を失ふ」ともあり、残されている作品を見てもその画風は菱川派ではなく、同じ時代に活躍した奥村政信や石川豊信、上方の西川祐信といった絵師たちの影響を受けているといわれる。従来作画期は宝永から延享の頃にかけてとされていたが、「浮世絵屏風」（今治市河野美術館蔵）の発見により、師政は元禄10年（1697年）前後には菱川派の画風で絵を制作し父師重の代筆をしており、更に元禄14年（1701年）頃には菱川一門を離れたことが判明した。

現在までに大判漆絵、浮絵、墨摺絵、紅絵（柱絵2点、浮絵3点を含む）の他に、多くの肉筆画が確認されている。木版画では特に大判墨摺絵の「吉田街道」、紅絵の「新吉原座舗けんすもふ」はよく知られている。肉筆画の代表作としては「梅下美人図」、「踊りの稽古図」、「巳屋店先図」などがある。
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Rare Japanese painting by Furuyama Moromasa
discovered in Edinburgh's Central Library collections

Undated photo of a section of a rare Japanese painting by Furuyama Moromasa, made available by City of Edinburgh Council, Scotland Friday Jan. 4, 2013, depicting early 18th century street life which has been discovered in a library's special collections. The 44ft scroll was donated in the 1940s but its significance has only just been realised by experts in Edinburgh. It is believed to be the largest of his works anywhere in the world. Two other examples of his work are held by the British Museum.
The scroll depicts a street scene from Edo, which became Tokyo, showing shops, theatres and domestic life. A funding application has been made to the Japan-based Sumitomo Foundation for conservation funding, with a result expected in March.

The scroll, by Japanese painter Furuyama Moromasa, is over 44ft in length and depicts an extended street scene in C18th Edo, or Tokyo, showing the shops and theatres and domestic detail of life at that time.

Two of Furuyama Moromasa's paintings are currently held by the British Museum, but this is thought to be the largest of his works discovered anywhere in the world.

AP Photo/ City of Edinburgh Council.

- source : artdaily.com/news - June 2015

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- Reference - English -

. Welcome to Edo 江戸 ! .

- - - #furuyamamoromasa #moromasa- - -
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05/06/2015

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi

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the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, thus making him the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

He is known for instituting animal protection laws, particularly for dogs. This earned him the nickname of "the dog shogun."
- snip -
In 1691, Engelbert Kaempfer visited Edo as part of the annual Dutch embassy from Dejima in Nagasaki. He journeyed from Nagasaki to Osaka, to Kyoto, and there to Edo. Kaempfer gives us information on Japan during the early reign of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. As the Dutch embassy entered Edo in 1692, they asked to have an audience with Shogun Tsunayoshi. While they were waiting for approval, a fire destroyed six hundred houses in Edo, and the audience was postponed. Tsunayoshi and several of the ladies of the court sat behind reed screens, while the Dutch embassy sat in front of them. Tsunayoshi took an interest in Western matters, and apparently asked them to talk and sing with one another for him to see how Westerners behaved. Tsunayoshi later put on a Noh drama for them.
- snip -
Owing to religious fundamentalism, Tsunayoshi sought protection for living beings in the later parts of his rule. In the 1690s and first decade of the 18th century, Tsunayoshi, who was born in the Year of the Dog, thought he should take several measures concerning dogs. A collection of edicts released daily, known as the Edicts on Compassion for Living Things (生類憐みの令 Shōruiawareminorei, Shorui Awaremi no Rei) told the populace, inter alia, to protect dogs, since in Edo there were many stray and diseased dogs walking around the city.
Therefore, he earned the pejorative title Inu-Kubō (犬公方:Inu=Dog, Kubō=formal title of Shogun).
In 1695, there were so many dogs that Edo began to smell horribly.
- snip -
For the latter part of Tsunayoshi's reign, he was advised by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu. It was a golden era of classic Japanese art, known as the Genroku era.
...
In 1695, there were so many dogs that Edo began to smell horribly.
An apprentice was even executed because he wounded a dog. Finally, the trouble was taken to a distance, as over 50,000 dogs were deported to kennels in the suburbs of the city where they would be housed.
They were apparently fed rice and fish which were at the expense of the taxpaying citizens of Edo.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

. 犬御用屋敷跡　inu yashiki 犬小屋 remains of the dog kennel .
Yotsuya, Edo

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. Nerima daikon 練馬大根 radish from Nerima .
- - - has been introduced by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, 5th shogun, to help feed the growing population of Edo.

. The Temple Bell at Asakusa, Senso-Ji .
- - - was cast at the orders of the shogun Tsunayoshi.

. Nezu Jinja 根津神社　Nezu Shrine .
The shrine pavilions we see today were constructed under the orders of Tsunayoshi Tokugawa (1646-1709), the fifth Shogun, in 1706.

. Yuuten, Yūten 祐天 Yuten Shami .
Yuten came to be patronized by Keisho-in, the mother of the fifth Tokugawa shogun Tsunayoshi, who is said to have called on him in his hermit's hut on the outskirts of Edo.

. 柳澤吉保 Yanagizawa Yoshiyasu . ［1658 -1714］
special retainer of Tsunayoshi.

- - - - - 生類憐みの令 shōrui awaremi no rei
This law encompasses all living things, humans at first.
Tsunayoshi cared about the people, he was the first to promote Terakoya schools. When the first foreigners came to Japan in the Meiji period, they were surprized at the high level of literacy in this "backward" country.
He also abolished the law of "kirisute gomen", where samurai could kill normal people without any problem.
He also introduced the idea of being gratetful to the ancestors, installing family graves for the first time, gosenzo daidai　御先祖代々. mostly at temple graveyards.
Until then, individuals had individual graves.

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The Dog Shogun:
The Personality and Policies of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
Author: Beatrice Bodart-Bailey

Tsunayoshi (1646–1709), the fifth Tokugawa shogun, is one of the most notorious figures in Japanese history. Viewed by many as a tyrant, his policies were deemed eccentric, extreme, and unorthodox. His Laws of Compassion, which made the maltreatment of dogs an offense punishable by death, earned him the nickname Dog Shogun, by which he is still popularly known today. However, Tsunayoshi’s rule coincides with the famed Genroku era, a period of unprecedented cultural growth and prosperity that Japan would not experience again until the mid-twentieth century. It was under Tsunayoshi that for the first time in Japanese history considerable numbers of ordinary townspeople were in a financial position to acquire an education and enjoy many of the amusements previously reserved for the ruling elite.

Based on a masterful re-examination of primary sources, this exciting new work by a senior scholar of the Tokugawa period maintains that Tsunayoshi’s notoriety stems largely from the work of samurai historians and officials who saw their privileges challenged by a ruler sympathetic to commoners. Beatrice Bodart-Bailey’s insightful analysis of Tsunayoshi’s background sheds new light on his personality and the policies associated with his shogunate. Tsunayoshi was the fourth son of Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604–1651) and left largely in the care of his mother, the daughter of a greengrocer. Under her influence, Bodart-Bailey argues, the future ruler rebelled against the values of his class. As evidence she cites the fact that, as shogun, Tsunayoshi not only decreed the registration of dogs, which were kept in large numbers by samurai and posed a threat to the populace, but also the registration of pregnant women and young children to prevent infanticide. He decreed, moreover, that officials take on the onerous tasks of finding homes for abandoned children and caring for sick travelers.

In the eyes of his detractors, Tsunayoshi’s interest in Confucian and Buddhist studies and his other intellectual pursuits were merely distractions for a dilettante. Bodart-Bailey counters that view by pointing out that one of Japan’s most important political philosophers, Ogyû Sorai, learned his craft under the fifth shogun. Sorai not only praised Tsunayoshi’s government, but his writings constitute the theoretical framework for many of the ruler’s controversial policies. Another salutary aspect of Tsunayoshi’s leadership that Bodart-Bailey brings to light is his role in preventing the famines and riots that would have undoubtedly taken place following the worst earthquake and tsunami as well as the most violent eruption of Mount Fuji in history—all of which occurred during the final years of Tsunayoshi's shogunate.

The Dog Shogun is a thoroughly revisionist work of Japanese political history that touches on many social, intellectual, and economic developments as well. As such it promises to become a standard text on late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth-century Japan.
- source : www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/ -

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Keishooin 桂昌院 Keisho-In, Keishoin

- quote -
Keisho-in - Biography (1627-1705).
The birth mother of the fifth shogun Tsunayoshi Tokugawa. The second daughter of Nizaemon, a green grocer of Horikawa, Kyoto.
Keisho-in entered into service at the inner palace as the adopted daughter of Munemasa Honjo, the Keishi (an officer responsible for running the household) of Nijo Kampaku (Imperial Regent). She was chosen by Kasuganotsubone (the nurse of the shogun Iemitsu), became the concubine of the third shogun Iemitsu, and gave birth to Tsunayoshi. She was called Otamanokata (O-Tama no Kata), became a nun after the death of Iemitsu, and called herself Keisho-in. She rose to Juichii, the highest position for women, and became the power behind Tsunayoshi’s policies. She was also very religious and contributed to building Gokoku-Ji Temple and restoring many temples and shrines.
- snip -
When Otamanokata was a small girl, a priest was said to have predicted that she would rise to greatness.
Just as in the prediction, from being a daughter of a green grocer, Keisho-in rose to the highest possible position a woman could attain. It is a widely accepted theory that her name is the pronoun of Tamanokoshi (Japanese expression for marrying into money) because of her name and how she advanced in the world. In 1680, when Tsunayoshi assumed the role of shogun, she moved into Sannomaru in Edo Castle and intervened in politics.
It is generally believed that the famous law against the harming of animals was drawn up by Keisho-in pressuring Tsunayoshi following the suggestion made by her favorite high priest, Takamitsu. The Matsu no Roka Jiken (the incidence in the Matsu hallway) caused by Asano Takuminokami Naganori at Edo Castle happened during a visit by the Imperial envoy to announce Keisho-in’s new position as Juichii. In Zojo Temple in Shibakoen, where Keisho-in is buried, there are tombs of six shoguns, including the second shogun, Hidetada, and the sixth shogun, Ienobu, as well as the wives and concubines of each shogun.
The Inukimon Gate of the Tokugawa tomb is registered as the City’s tangible cultural property and was originally in front of Ienobu’s tomb. It is a Chinese-style bronze gate decorated with castings of ascending and descending dragons on either side of the gate. The 10 hollyhock crests on the door were added after World War II.
- source : lib.city.minato.tokyo.jp/yukari -

. Otowa Gokokuji 音羽護国寺 Otowa Gokoku-Ji .
This temple was founded in 1681 by 亮賢僧正 high priest Ryoken (1611 - 1687)
on behalf of Shogun Tsunayoshi for his mother, 桂昌院 Lady Keisho-In (徳川綱吉生母).

. Yanagimori Jinja 柳森神社 Yanagimori Shrine .
The shrine was built in the late 17th century by a woman named Keisho-in 桂昌院, the daughter of a lowly greengrocer. As a teenager she was 'scouted' by representatives of Edo castle to join the O-oku -- the harem of women who serviced the Shogun.

. Keisho-In and her retainer Otowa 音羽 .
Otowachoo　音羽町 Otowa district in Edo

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- Reference - Japanese -
- Reference - English -

- - - #tokugawatsunayoshi #tsunayoshi - - -
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02/06/2015

Tanuma Okitsugu

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a rōjū (senior counselor) of the Tokugawa shogunate who introduced monetary reform. He was also a daimyo, and ruled the Sagara han. He used the title Tonomo-no-kami.

His regime is often identified with rampant corruption and huge inflation of currency. In Tenmei 4 (1784), Okitsugu's son, the wakadoshiyori (junior counselor) Tanuma Okitomo, was assassinated inside Edo Castle. Okitomo was killed in front of his father as both were returning to their norimono after a meeting of the Counselors of State had broken up. Okitomo was killed by Sano Masakoto, a hatamoto. The involvement of senior figures in the bakufu was suspected, but only the assassin himself was punished. The result was that the Tanuma-initiated, liberalizing reforms within the bakufu and the relaxation of the strictures of sakoku were blocked.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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- quote -
Tanuma Okitsugu
Tairô (1767/7-1786/8/27)
Tanuma Okitsugu served as Tairô from 1767 to 1786.
Though Tanuma is generally remembered as a terribly corrupt official, John Whitney Hall emphasizes his contributions to the expansion of trade through expansion of government control over it, going so far as to suggest that his programs might have led Japan towards industrializing earlier.
Hall places the blame for Japan's economic and military weakness in the 19th century on the conservative policies of Tanuma's successor, Matsudaira Sadanobu.

As Tairô
Tanuma's time as Tairô is generally associated with political corruption, especially in the form of bribes, and with rampant inflation, and widespread moral decay.
In the 1770s,
Tanuma provided Tsushima han with sizable monetary loans and grants on a number of occasions, eventually putting into place an annual grant of 12,000 ryô which helped the domain accommodate for the decline in the Korea trade caused by continued debasement of silver coinage and expansion of domestic production of ginseng and other goods which drove down the demand for imports; the domain would continue to be paid this grant every year until 1862.

In 1785, he established clearinghouses in Hakodate, Edo, Osaka, and Shimonoseki which oversaw the collection and transportation of marine products to Nagasaki for export; as with similar steps taken in other industries where the shogunate established or reorganized za trade associations, this did not push private merchants out of the business, but rather made them into something akin to government contractors, placing the operations of that business under more direct government oversight, in the hopes of stemming fluctuations, smuggling, and other problems.

The 1783 eruption of Mt. Asama, combined with the nearly ten-year-long Great Tenmei Famine, were widely seen as symbols that the country was in need of serious change and a return to virtuous leadership. Tanuma was ousted from power in 1786, and replaced as Tairô by Matsudaira Sadanobu the following year.

He is buried at the Zen temple Mannen-zan Shôrin-ji in the Komagome neighborhood of Tokyo.
- source : samurai archives -

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Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719-1788, forerunner of modern Japan
John Whitney Hall

This is a study of Tanuma Okitsugu, the most powerful political figure in Japan during the quarter century between 1760-1786. The book also provides a descriptive history of mid-eighteenth-century Japan.
- source : books.google.co.jp -

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Once
Tanuma looked at the pond in his garden and mumbled:
"It would be nice to have some fish swim here!"
And when he came back in the afternoon, the pond was full of the most beautiful koi goldfish - gifts (bribes) from people who depended on his support.

Once
Tanuma got a large gift parcel with the inscription :
"A Doll from Kyoto". When he opened it, it was a living Maiko girl with splendid robed and . . .

. shimonya 四文屋 "Four Mon Shop" .
They begun sprouting up everywhere during the period of Tanuma.
Small shops in Edo where everything cost just one coin, the "Four Mon Coin".
That was the beginning of our 100 Yen Shop, the One Dollar Shop, the One Euro Shop.
Other cheap items in Edo were multiplied with four.

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He supported the trade with foreign countries through the port of Nagasaki, especially
tawaramono　俵物 "goods packed in straw bags"
Nagasaki tawaramono yakusho　長崎俵物役所

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In the era of Edo, export goods from Nagasaki were such as dried sea cucumbers, dried abalones, dried fins of sharks that were all packed with straw rice bags, or tawara.
Foreign trade payment had been dealt with gold, silver and cotton at that time.
An outflow of these metals from Japan was so immense that a part of its trade payment was replaced with stuffs packed with straw rice bags called tawaramono.
The club was established to gather tawaramono for the convenience of those who were concerned in the first year of Enkyo (1744), but it often moved until being settled at this site in the 6th year of Anei (1777).
Later it was run exclusively by the shogunate but it didn't work well.
The club remained until the end of the shogunate.
Osaka, 2-15, 2-chome, Kitahama, Chuo-ku
- source : www.city.osaka.lg.jp -

- tawaramono sanpin 俵物三品: The three best were
iri namako 煎海鼠（いりなまこ/いりこ）- dried sea cucumbers
hoshi awabi 乾鮑（干鮑（ほしあわび））- dried abalones
fukahire 鱶鰭（ふかひれ）- dried sharks fins

- quote -
Sino-Japanese Interaction via Chinese Junks in the Edo Period
Matsuura Akira
In Japan as well, increased production of these three products — dried sea cucumber, dried abalone, and shark’s fin, collectively called tawaramono or hyōmotsu (俵物 goods in straw bags) — was actively promoted. At the beginning of the Guangxu years (1875–1908), He Ruzhang, appointed as plenipotentiary to Japan, wrote in his Shidong zaji (Miscellany of an Envoy to Japan),
“Many Chinese merchants take raw cotton and white sugar, and return with various marine products such as sea cucumbers and dried abalone.”
He Ruzhang’s note clearly underscores the importance of these products in China even after the Edo era . . .
- Read the full article PDF file, 14 pages :
- source : Matsuura Akira -

Through the tawawamono and payment in 銅　bronze instead of gold he managed to deal with the huge trade deficit of his times.
He founded the "Bronze Bank" dooza 銅座 in Osaka to deal with trade payments.

Since silver was rare in Japan and not enough to print silver coins for trade, he started the import of silver from China and then Holland. This silver also helped to grease the trade within Japan.
Gold was used as payment in Edo (Eastern Japan, whith more gold mines) whereas silver was used as payment in Osaka (Western Japan, with more silver mines). And the poor people used the bronze coins to make their payments.

- - - - - Monetary reform of 1772
nanryoonishugin なんりょうにしゅぎん　南鐐二朱銀　Nanryo Nishu Gin
silver coins introduced by Tanuma

nishububan 貮朱之歩判
nishuban 貮朱判
meiwa nanryoonishugin 明和南鐐二朱銀

- quote -
In the latter half of the 18th century, the demand for small-denomination currency increased due to expanded production of commercial crops in local villages. The Tokugawa Shogunate government issued silver coins (Meiwa Nanryo Nishu-gin <2-shu-gin>) with denominations based on gold coin units. Thus, the silver coins eventually became supplementary currencies of gold coins.
Toward the end of the Edo period, recoinages (Bunsei and Tenpo recoinages) were often carried out to finance the budget deficits of the Shogunate government, which led to chronic inflation. After the re-opening of international trade at the end of the Edo period, Japan experienced a huge outflow of gold coins overseas, and the Man’en recoinage, which was carried out to stop this outflow, caused further inflation, resulting in confusion of the nation’s monetary system toward the Meiji Restoration.
- source : BOJ Currency Museum -

. Coins (zeni, kozeni (銭、小銭) and Japanese money .

. kabunakama, kabu nakama 株仲間 merchant guild, merchant coalition
za 座 trade guilds, industrial guilds, artisan guilds .
Tanuma encouraged the kabunakama system in Edo.
Roju Tanuma 老中田沼意次 - 株仲間の奨励

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. satoo 砂糖 Sato - History of Japanese sugar .
Tanuma
encouraged the trade of white European sugar via the merchants of Nagasaki.
He also introduced the plant satokibi , first grown at his request at a Nichiren temple, the Ikegami Honmon-Ji 池上本門寺 in the South of Edo. From there its growth spread to other suitable areas of Japan.

. koorai ninjin 高麗人参 Panax ginseng .
Tanuma
around 1760 encouraged their planting in Japan. He offered positions as "ministers" (bakushin 幕臣) to the scholars of kanpo 漢方 Chinese medicine plants.
Japanese ginseng 東洋参 (Panax japonicus)

With his great interest in these things, Tanuma was most probably influenced by the great

. Hiraga Gennai　平賀源内　 (1728 - 80) .

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A 狂歌 Kyoka parody poem about Tanuma

白河の清き流れに住みかねてもとの田沼のにごり恋しき
Shirakawa no kiyoki nagare ni sumikanete moto no tanuma no nigori koishiki

River Shirakawa is shorthand for Matsudaira Sadanobu.
tanuma, lit. fields and swamps.
.
古河の清き流れに住みかねてもとの田沼ぞ今は恋しき

We can't get used to the clean flow of Shirakawa -
We rather long for the dirty puddles of fields and swamps.

- quote -
Matsudaira Sadanobu 松平定信 (1759 - 1829)
Japanese daimyo of the mid-Edo period, famous for his financial reforms which saved the Shirakawa Domain, and the similar reforms he undertook during his tenure as chief senior councilor (rōjū shuza; 老中首座) of the Tokugawa Shogunate, from 1787 to 1793.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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増補版　通史　田沼意次 - 2013

東日本大震災で破壊してしまった田沼家墓所
The grave of the Tanuma family has been destroyed by the Great Tohoku Earthquake in 2011.

- reference : TBS - Edo no Susume -

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. senryuu, senryū 川柳　Senryu in Edo .

- - - - - The most famous senryu in the times of Tanuma :

役人の子はにぎにぎをよく覚え
yakunin no ko wa niginigi o yoku oboe

the son of an official
learns quite easily
to grab anything

Taking bribes became the rule of the day in the time of Tanuma.

役人の骨っぽいのは猪牙に乗せ
yakunin no honeppoi no wa choki ni nose

a serious official
is best invited
to take a choki boat trip

. choki 猪牙 / chokibune 猪牙舟 water taxi, river taxi .
to the Yoshiware pleasure quarters.
Once an official has learned to enjoy (and spent his money) at the pleasure quarters, he can be kept with more bribes to indulge more and so on . . .

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- Reference - Japanese -

- Reference - English -

- #tanumaokitsugu -
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01/06/2015

Dokyo and Koken

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Dōkyō (700 – May 13, 772)
was a Japanese monk of the Hossō sect of Buddhism; and he was a political figure in the Nara period.
When Dōkyō cured the illness of Empress Kōken in 761, his place in her court was made secure and influential. When she returned to the throne as Empress Shōtoku following the Fujiwara no Nakamaro Rebellion, Dokyo was given authority over religious and civil matters.

In 766, an oracle from the Usa Shrine in Buzen Province was reported to predict peace in Japan if Dōkyō were named emperor. Soon after, a second oracle was brought to Kyoto by Wake no Kiyomaro. It stated:

Since the establishment of our state, the distinction between lord and subject has been fixed. Never has there been an occasion when a subject was made lord. The throne of the Heavenly Sun Succession shall be given to one of the imperial lineage; wicked persons should immediately be swept away.

In response to the second oracle, Dōkyō had Wake no Kiyomaro sent into exile in Ōsumi Province.

When the empress died, Dōkyō was banished from Nara.

- - - - - Timeline
752 (Tenpyō-shōhō 4): Dōkyō was called to the court of Empress Kōken
761 (Tenpyō-hōji 5): Dōkyō cured empress of a serious illness
763 (Tenpyō-hōji 7): He was appointed Shōsōzu in the Buddhist hierarchy
765 (Tenpyō-jingo 1, 2nd month): Empress Shōtoku gave Dōkyō the newly created title of daijō-daijin zenji (Meditation Master who ranks as Chancellor)
766 (Tenpyō-jingo 2): Dokyo claimed that an Usa Hachiman oracle said that he should become Hō-ō (法王, literally, king of the dharma).He was given the title.
770 (Jingo-keiun 4): In the 5th year of Empress Shōtoku's reign, she died; and Dōkyō was exiled to Shimotsuke Province.

- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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- quote
もう一つの神託「道鏡」事件の真相を探る　　　　　
昔々、
奈良に都があった頃、道鏡（どうきょう）と言う、とても偉いお坊さんが居ました。このお坊さんは中国語は勿論、梵語（サンスクリット語）もペラペラの有数の知識人であったばかりでなく、気功術も会得した「超能力」をも兼ね備えていた超人だったので、天皇さまの病気も得意の呪法で、あっという間に治すことが出来ました。元気を取り戻された天皇さまは、この天才超人・道鏡を大変御気に召し、最初は少僧都に、次は大臣禅師に、また次には太政大臣禅師に任じられ、天平神護二年七月（７６６）には、ついに法王にまで任じられたのです。
それから１年半が過ぎた神護景雲三年正月三日、九州にある宇佐八幡宮は『道鏡を皇位につけよ』とのお告げがあったと奏上し、偉いお坊さんも、自分から望んで天皇になろうと思いました。と、まあ簡単に言えばそれだけのお話しなのですが、ことが皇位（天皇の位）に関る事であっただけに朝廷内は大騒動になったのです。それでは、事件の主役・道鏡とは、一体どのような人物だったのでしょう。
- source : www.ten-f.com/doukYoujiken -

Usa Hachiman Jinja 宇佐八幡神社
熊本市龍田町にある弓削神宮 Yuge Jinja in Kumamoto

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「道鏡か否か？愛に揺れた女帝」

source :　chachachiako

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Kooken Tennoo 孝謙天皇 Koken Tenno Empress Kōken
- 称徳天皇 Empress Shōtoku. Shotoku
Empress Kōken (孝謙天皇 Kōken-tennō, 718 – August 28, 770),
also known as Empress Shōtoku (称徳天皇 Shōtoku-tennō), was the 46th (with Empress Kōken name) and the 48th monarch of Japan (with Empress Shōtoku name), according to the traditional order of succession.
Empress Kōken first reigned from 749 to 758, then, following the Fujiwara no Nakamaro Rebellion, she reascended the throne as Empress Shōtoku from 765 until her death in 770. Empress Kōken was involved in the Rasputin-like affair with priest Dōkyō and appointed him Grand Minister in 764. In 766 he was promoted to Hōō (priestly emperor) and in 770 had tried to ascend to throne by himself. Death of Empress and resistance of the aristocracy destroyed his plans. This incident was a reason for the later move of the Japanese capital from Nara (Heijō).
In the history of Japan, Kōken/Shōtoku was the sixth of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant.
. . .
Koken's reign was turbulent, and she survived coup attempts by both Tachibana Naramaro and Fujiwara no Nakamaro. Today, she is remembered chiefly for her alleged affair with a Buddhist monk named Dōkyō (道鏡), a man she honored with titles and power. An oracle from Usa Shrine, the shrine of the kami Hachiman (八幡 in Usa, is said to have proclaimed that the monk should be made emperor; but when the empress sent Wake no Kiyomaro (和気清麻呂) to verify the pronouncement, Hachiman decreed that only one of imperial blood should ascend to the throne.

Bender, Ross.
"The Hachiman Cult and the Dōkyō Incident,"
Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 34, No. 2 (1979). pp. 125–153.

- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

- quote -
Yuge no Dookyoo 弓削道鏡 Yuge no Dokyo
道鏡（どうきょう、文武天皇4年（700年）? - 宝亀3年4月7日（772年5月13日））

生地 - 河内国
没地 - 下野国
宗派 - 法相宗
師 - 義淵

奈良時代の法相宗の僧。物部氏の一族の弓削氏の出自で、弓削櫛麻呂の子。俗姓が弓削連であることから、弓削道鏡（ゆげのどうきょう）とも呼ばれる。兄弟に弓削浄人。天智天皇の皇子である志貴皇子の子とする異説もある。祈祷の力をもって皇室に取り入って権力を握り、政治に容喙した。

道鏡塚（下野市の龍興寺）

宇佐神託と左遷
姦通説 / 俗説 / 関連づけられた人物
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- quote
"The Monk who Moved a Capital ”
(from the Nihon Ryōiki )
It begins
"In ancient Japan, there was an unmarried Empress named Kōken . . .one day she fell ill and a handsome young Buddhist monk named Dōkyō went to her bedside to pray for her health.”

The credited author is one “Takeshi Hanamoto,”
Ross Bender

new translation of Nihon Ryōiki by Burton Watson
-- Record of Miraculous Events in Japan (Columbia University Press, 2013).

The Vermilion Bridge: A novel of 8th Century Japan / Shelly Mydans
(Doubleday 1980).

Narachō no Seihen to Dōkyō (Yoshikawa Kōbunkan) / Takinami Sadako

Women in Japanese Religions (New York University Press, 2015). Barbara Ambros
. . .she notes
"Ultimately both Empress Wu Zetian and Shōtoku were reviled as bad rulers by later Confucian historians who resented both their patronage of Buddhism and the fact that they were female rulers." (pp. 50-51).
Wu Zetian of course was the only woman who ruled China as an Empress in her own right.

- quote from June 3, 2015
It is an interesting question whether Buddhist healing monks could actually attend at the bedside of an Empress. The eminent monk Genbō 玄昉 established the Naidōjō within the Nara palace, and apparently served as a healing monk for Miyako, the mother of Shōmu. The Shoku Nihongi entry for Hōki 1.8.17, after the death of Empress Shōtoku on the fourth day of the month, says that “Over one hundred days had passed during which she was unable to attend to the affairs of government. During this time there were no officials who were able to have audience with her. Only the Kura no Suke Jr 3 Kibi no Ason Yuri went in and out of the bedchamber, reporting to her on affairs.” The lady Yuri was a relative of the Udaijin Kibi no Ason Makibi.

Dōkyō’s obituary from Hōki 3.4.7 says that he met the Empress at the Hora Palace and served as a healing monk. 従幸保良。時侍看病稍被寵幸。
Incidentally the term chōkō 寵幸, which some have seen as proof of an untoward relationship between the Empress and the monk, is not gender-specific or evidence of a sexual liason. It is also applied to the relationship between the Emperor Kōnin and the Sangi Ōtomo no Sukune Ojimaro. (Shoku Nihongi, Enryaku 1.2.3)
- Ross Bender

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