Biographies · Vol. 110
Biographies XXXVII: Katsuragi, Heguri, Soga, Mononobe and Their Followers
Machine-assisted draft translation, checked for readability. For the classical Chinese text and the modern Japanese translation, see this volume in Japanese.
Katsuragi-no-Tsubura
¶Katsuragi-no-Tsubura-no-Ōomi (Katsuragi-no-Tsubura) was a son of Tamada-no-Sukune (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the reign of Emperor Richū he took part in the conduct of court government together with Heguri-no-Tsuku, Soga-no-Machi, and Mononobe-no-Ikofutsu. When Emperor Ankō was assassinated by Prince Mayowa, Tsubura was Ōomi, Chief Minister, at the time. Prince Sakai-no-Kurohiko fled together with Prince Mayowa and was sheltered in Tsubura's residence. Emperor Yūryaku ordered Tsubura to hand the two over. Tsubura replied, "I have heard before now of a prince taking refuge in the house of a subject who was in some difficulty, but I have never heard of a prince being sheltered in a subject's house. Now a prince and a king have come and entrusted themselves to me. How could I bear to hand them over?" The emperor then sent soldiers to surround the residence. Tsubura came out of the gate, intending to submit and accept punishment, and asked for his leg bindings. His wife brought them to him and, overcome with grief, composed a poem. When Tsubura had finished dressing, he went outside, knelt, and said, "Though I may be killed, I will not obey the command. It is said that even a common man's will cannot be taken from him. Has the Great King not heard this? I beg to offer my daughter Karahime and seven plots of my Katsuragi estates to atone for my offense." The emperor would not permit it and ordered the residence set on fire. Tsubura and the others all burned to death. (Note: following the Nihon Shoki)
Heguri-no-Matori
¶Heguri-no-Matori was a son of Tsuku (Note: following the Ki Clan Genealogy and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). At the accession of Emperor Yūryaku he became Ōomi, Chief Minister. He served successively through the three reigns of Seinei, Kenzō, and Ninken. When Emperor Ninken died, the Crown Prince had not yet ascended the throne. Matori exercised power as he pleased and secretly plotted rebellion. Pretending to build a palace for the Crown Prince, he installed himself in it. Day by day he grew more arrogant and lost the propriety proper to a subject. At that time the Crown Prince had secretly set his heart on Kagehime, daughter of Mononobe-no-Arakahi, and sent a messenger to arrange a meeting. Kagehime had long been intimate with Matori's son Shibi, but, fearing to oppose the Prince's wishes, she answered, "I shall respectfully await you in the crossroads of Tsubaichi." As the Prince was about to set out, he sent a toneri, attendant, to ask Matori for an official horse. Matori mocked the request, saying, "For whom are the official horses kept? It depends on whose command it is," and for a long time he did not produce a horse. The Prince was angered by this, and in the end went to the appointed place and tried to take Kagehime by the sleeve at the singing ground. Shibi suddenly appeared, thrust himself in, and stood between the two. The Prince, taken aback, addressed a poem to Shibi. Shibi answered it with a poem of his own and walked away. The Prince then sent a poem to Kagehime, and Shibi answered it in her place. At this point the Prince first learned that there was a secret liaison between the two, and he was furious at the disrespectful conduct of Matori and his son. That very night he went to the residence of Ōtomo-no-Kanamura and planned their destruction. Kanamura led several thousand soldiers, lay in wait for Shibi on the road, captured him, and killed him at Sasayama. (Note: a note in this work says that according to one account Shibi was lodging at Kagehime's house and was killed there that same night.) Kagehime hurried after him, and in shock and grief she wept, then gathered up his corpse and buried it. (Note: examining the Kojiki, it places this affair in the reign of Emperor Ninken and names Kagehime as Ōuo, daughter of the Uda no Obito. It also says that the two emperors Kenzō and Ninken consulted together, raised troops, and put Shibi to death, and does not record the name of Kanamura. This account is not adopted here.) Soon afterwards Kanamura, on receiving an order, led troops, surrounded Matori's residence, and burned it. Matori's forces collapsed. Realizing that he could not escape, Matori, together with all those about him, cursed the sea salt of Tsunuga, and was at last put to death, and his whole house was exterminated. The Crown Prince then ascended the throne. This was Emperor Buretsu. When Matori cursed the salt, he happened to forget the sea salt of Tsunuga. It is said that from then on only the sea salt of Tsunuga was served at the imperial table and no other salt was used. (Note: following the Nihon Shoki)
Soga-no-Inume
¶Soga-no-Inume-no-Sukune was a great-great-grandson of Ishikawa-no-Sukune (Note: following the Shōjiroku). His grandfather was Karako and his father was Koma (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). Inume became Ōomi in the first year of Emperor Senka. In the reign of Emperor Kinmei, King Seimei of Paekche presented a gilt-bronze image of Shakyamuni, and the emperor, wishing to worship it, consulted his ministers one after another. Inume said, "All the countries of the west worship it. Can our country alone fail to do so?" The emperor therefore ordered Inume to worship it. Inume was greatly pleased, knelt and received the image, enshrined it in his house at Owarida, and made offerings to it with great zeal. In the end he gave up his house at Mukuhara and made it a temple, which he named Mukuharadera. This was the beginning of Buddhist temples. King Seimei of Paekche was killed by Silla, and his son Yoshō sent his younger brother E to report the matter. The emperor heard it and was grieved. He sent Kose-no-Omi to question E, asking, "Do you wish to remain in this land?" E answered, "I beg that you grant me many weapons, that I may avenge my late father." Inume further asked, "King Seimei understood the principles of heaven and earth, and his name filled the four quarters, yet he met with disaster all at once. To what is that fault owed? And by what plan should the state now be made secure?" E answered, "By nature I am foolish and do not understand great designs, still less the causes of fortune and misfortune or the survival and fall of a state." Inume said, "Long ago, in the reign of Emperor Ōhatsuse, your country was pressed by an attack from Koguryŏ and its peril was like a stack of eggs. The emperor had your country worship the god that our country had established, and by this the altars of your state were made secure. Of late I hear that your country has neglected its rites. If you now repent your former error and perform the rites richly and purely, your country will be at peace. See that you never forget this." In the twenty-third year, Ōtomo-no-Sadehiko returned from Koguryŏ and presented Inume with some of the beautiful women, armor, swords, bells, banners, and other things he had obtained there. Inume took two of the women as wives and had them live in the Karu-no-Magaridono. In the thirty-first year Inume died. (Note: following the Nihon Shoki) His sons were Umako and Sakaibe-no-Marise. (Note: following the Shōjiroku. There is also a person named Koso-no-Omi who is said to be a son of Inume; this is added for reference.) Umako is recorded in the Biographies of Rebellious Ministers.
Soga-Sakaibe-no-Marise
¶Soga-no-Sakaibe-no-Marise. When Empress Suiko died without a successor, Marise's nephew Emishi was Ōomi, and he secretly consulted Marise about the succession. Marise had long been close to Crown Prince Toyotomimi (Prince Shōtoku) and insisted that Prince Yamashiro-no-Ōe should be installed. Emishi wished to install Prince Tamura in accordance with the Empress's last testament, and he repeatedly sent Abe-no-Maro and Nakatomi-no-Mike to question Marise. Marise was greatly angered and said, "We settled this face to face with the Ōomi earlier; why does he send men again to say this?" At that time the whole clan had built mourning huts beside Umako's tomb and were observing mourning there, but Marise tore down his hut, went home, and would not come out. Emishi was displeased, and sent Musa-no-Katsuushi and Nishigori-no-Akai to say to him: "If the people condemn you and you are in the right, I shall surely turn against the people and follow you. If the people are in the right and you are in the wrong, I shall turn against you and follow the people. I have long known that what you say is not correct, but out of the bond between brothers I could not bear to harm you. If you persist and will not change your mind, a rift will open between you and me, and the state too will fall into disorder. Then men of later ages will say, 'It was the two of us who ruined the country.' That would leave a bad name lasting a thousand years. I beg you not to hold a different opinion all by yourself." Marise would not obey, and in the end fled to Ikaruga and sought refuge in the house of Prince Hatsuse. Emishi was furious and ordered the ministers to make the following request of Prince Ōe: "Of late Marise has turned against me and is being sheltered in the palace of Prince Hatsuse. I beg that you hand him over, so that I may question him about the matter." Prince Ōe then admonished Marise and urged him to follow the consensus of the court. Weeping, Marise returned home and remained there for more than ten days. When Prince Hatsuse died, Marise lamented, "Upon whom am I to rely from now on?" Emishi sent troops to attack him. Hearing that soldiers were coming, Marise took his second son Aya, sat on a kosho, folding stool, and waited with the gate open. Kume-no-Mononobe-no-Ikuhi strangled him, and his body was buried in a single place. His eldest son Ketsu fled and was hidden in a nunnery, where he had a secret affair with a nun. Another nun, jealous of this, informed against him. Soldiers came and surrounded the temple, and Ketsu entered Mount Unebi and cut off his own head and died. (Note: following the Nihon Shoki)
Mononobe-no-Yuge-no-Moriya
¶Mononobe-no-Yuge-no-Moriya was a son of Okoshi (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). He succeeded his father as Ōmuraji, Great Chieftain. In the reign of Emperor Bidatsu, the Buddhist law gradually spread through the world. Ōomi Soga-no-Umako was the first to embrace it with deep devotion. Moriya inwardly disliked this and often remonstrated. In the fourteenth year, many of the people died of an epidemic. Moriya, together with the Daibu, Counsellor, Nakatomi-no-Katsumi, memorialized: "From the previous reign down to Your Majesty's, pestilence has been raging and the people are on the verge of extinction. Is this not entirely because Soga-no-Omi was the first to advocate the Buddhist law? We beg that it be prohibited and cut off." An edict permitted it. Moriya went to the temple himself and, sitting on a folding stool, had the pagoda and halls torn down and the Buddha images burned, and the remains thrown into the Naniwa canal. On that day rain fell although there was not a cloud in the sky. Moriya put on rain gear and reproached Umako and his fellow believers, and sent Saeki-no-Mimuro (Note: a note in this work says that his other name was Orogai) to seize the three nuns whom Umako had held in deep devotion. Umako handed them over in tears, and the officials stripped them of their vestments and flogged them at Tsubaichi. Umako could not bear this humiliation, and from it a deep grudge arose between the two men. (Note: a note in this work says that according to one account, Mononobe-no-Moriya, Ōmiwa-no-Sakau, and Nakatomi-no-Iware plotted to burn the temple pagoda, throw away the Buddha images, and destroy the Buddhist law, but Umako opposed this and would not go along.) Moriya had long been close to Prince Anahobe, who secretly harbored disloyal intentions and ordered Moriya to lead troops against Miwa-no-Sakau. Moriya went and cut him down. Umako lamented, "The disorder of the realm is not far off." Moriya said, "This is not something a petty man like you can understand." In the second year of Emperor Yōmei, the emperor fell ill and issued an edict saying that he wished to take refuge in Buddhism, and had the ministers deliberate on it. Moriya and Katsumi again memorialized: "To turn against the gods of our own country and to revere a foreign god is something beyond our understanding." Only Umako agreed, and he led the monk Toyokuni into the palace. Moriya was greatly angered and glared at them. Oshisakabe-no-Kekuso secretly informed Moriya: "Now the ministers intend to move against you and mean to lie in wait for you on the road." Moriya then withdrew and settled at his country house at Ato, where he gathered soldiers to defend himself. Katsumi likewise gathered soldiers to answer him, and made images of the two princes Hikohito and Takeda and cursed them. Soon Katsumi, realizing that the affair could not succeed, went to the Mimata Palace and submitted to Prince Hikohito. The toneri Tomi-no-Ichii struck him down and killed him as he came out of the palace. Moriya sent a man to say to Umako, "I have heard in secret that the ministers are plotting against me. That is why I withdrew." Umako summoned and gathered his followers all the more, and kept a close guard day and night. When the emperor died, Moriya, passing over the other princes, wished to install Prince Anahobe as successor, and on the pretext of hunting pretended to go to Awaji, where he conferred with Prince Anahobe. The matter leaked, and Umako sent soldiers to kill Prince Anahobe and Prince Yakabe. Then, together with the princes Kashiwadebe, Takeda, Toyotomimi, Naniwa, and Kasuga, and with Ki-no-Omaro, Kose-no-Hirabu, Kashiwade-no-Katabu, Katsuragi-no-Onara, and others, he led an army to attack Moriya. He sent Ōtomo-no-Kui, Abe-no-Hito, Heguri-no-Kamite, Sakamoto-no-Arate, and Kasuga-no-Omi to advance from Shiki district against Moriya's house at Shibukawa. Moriya himself led his sons, younger kinsmen, and household soldiers, built an inaki, rice-stack barricade, and fought defensively, and his strength was very great. Moriya climbed a tree and shot arrows down like rain, and the armies of the princes were afraid and fell back three times. Toyotomimi (Prince Shōtoku) and Umako re-formed their forces and attacked. Tomi-no-Ichii shot an arrow that brought Moriya down from the tree, and in the end Moriya and his sons were killed. Moriya's army collapsed, and his soldiers, all wearing black clothing like mourning dress, scattered as if on a hunt in the Magarihara of Hirose. Some of Moriya's sons and kinsmen changed their names and fled into hiding. People of the time said, "The wife of the Soga Ōomi is the younger sister of the Mononobe Ōmuraji. The Ōomi foolishly used his wife's scheme and destroyed his wife's own family." (Note: following the Nihon Shoki)
Totoribe-no-Yorozu
¶Totoribe-no-Yorozu was a shijin, retainer, of Moriya. When Umako attacked Moriya, Yorozu was guarding the residence at Naniwa with a hundred soldiers. When he heard of Moriya's death, he slipped away secretly under cover of night. He reached the village of Arima in Chinu, took leave of his wife, and in the end hid in the mountains. The court judged that Yorozu harbored rebellious intent and deliberated on putting his whole clan to death. Just then Yorozu came, dressed in rags and carrying a bow and sword. The officials sent several hundred guards to surround him. Yorozu hid in a bamboo thicket, tied a rope to the bamboo and shook it, so that the men mistook where he was. The guards were perplexed and uncertain. Yorozu shot arrows in quick succession and brought down several men. The guards were afraid and could not approach. Yorozu ran away. The guards pursued him and shot at him, but none could hit him. One soldier spurred his horse swiftly, crouched at the riverside, and shot Yorozu through the knee. Yorozu pulled out the arrow, drew his bow and shot, but fell to the ground and cried out: "Yorozu wished to be a shield for the emperor and to give the full measure of his courage. Why do you press me so hard without even asking the reason? Come, come forward, all of you. Let me hear what my offense is." The pursuing soldiers competed in shooting arrows, but Yorozu cut down the arrows that came one after another and killed more than thirty men. At last he threw his bow and sword into the river and died by stabbing himself in the throat with a small knife. When the provincial governor of Kawachi reported the circumstances, the court issued an order that the corpse be cut into eight pieces and exposed in eight provinces. As the body was being cut, thunder sounded and heavy rain fell. A dog that Yorozu had kept circled the corpse, howling. Then it took the head in its mouth, carried it to an old house and laid it there, lay down beside it, refused food, and died. When the governor reported this, the court issued an order stating, "This event should be taken as a model for later ages. His kinsmen are permitted to gather the remains and bury them." On this basis two tombs were built in the village of Arima, and Yorozu and the dog were buried in them. The governor further reported: "In this campaign those who fell in battle at the Ekano riverbed numbered several hundred, and their bodies and heads were separated, so that it was hard to tell their names and surnames. They were gathered up and recognized only by the color of their clothing. A dog kept by Sakurai-no-Tabe-no-Inui was able to recognize its master well; it joined his body and head together, stayed beside them guarding them, and waited until people came to collect the corpse before it left." (Note: following the Nihon Shoki)