Biographies XCI: Fujiwara-no-Morokata, Fujiwara-no-Takasuke, Fujiwara-no-Takatoshi, and Fujiwara-no-Saneyo

Fujiwara-no-Morokata

¶Fujiwara-no-Morokata was a son of Morenobu, Naidaijin, Inner Minister. His family was called the Kazan'in house (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). He served Emperor Hanazono and became a Sangi, Counsellor, concurrently holding the post of Sadaiben, Senior Controller of the Left; he was then promoted over the heads of others to Gon-Chūnagon, Provisional Middle Counsellor, and was granted the privilege of bearing a sword at court. When Emperor Go-Daigo came to the throne, Morokata concurrently served as Chūgū Gon-no-daibu, Provisional Master of the Empress's Household, Uemon-no-kami, Commander of the Right Gate Guards, and Danjō-no-in, Governor of the Board of Censors, and rose to Senior Second Rank and Dainagon, Major Counsellor (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). When the emperor plotted the overthrow of Hōjō Takatoki, Morokata was the first to join in it. Before long the plan leaked out, and Hōjō Takatoki seized Fujiwara-no-Suketomo, Gon-Chūnagon, and others (Note: following the Taiheiki). Morokata had been living in seclusion on Kitayama, but when Takatoki sent men to arrest the monk Enkan and Fujiwara-no-Toshimoto, Ukyō-no-chūben, Middle Controller of the Right, and others, the court trembled with fear, and Morokata therefore returned to court service (Note: following the Shin'yō Wakashū and the Taiheiki). When Takatoki sent troops to remove the emperor from the palace, Morokata and Fujiwara-no-Fujifusa, Gon-Chūnagon, escorted the emperor out of the imperial precinct by night. On reaching the Sanjō riverbed, they had Morokata put on the Kon'ryū-i (the emperor's ceremonial robe, embroidered with dragons) and seated him in the imperial palanquin as a decoy for the emperor. Fujiwara-no-Takasuke, Gon-Chūnagon, Fujiwara-no-Tameaki, Sakonoe-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards, and Minamoto-no-Sadahira attended him on the left and right and made for the Enryaku-ji, hoping to draw the rebel army there. The monks received him, guarded him with the greatest reverence, and lodged him in the Saitō, the Western Pagoda precinct. The rebel army attacked, but the monks defended against it and broke it. Soon a proposal arose to make the main temple the temporary palace (an anguu, a provisional residence), and the people all gathered and urged him to come forth. At that moment the wind blew up the blind of the palanquin, and they saw Morokata seated there in the imperial robe; everyone was astonished and stunned (Note: according to the Masukagami, when they heard that the emperor was in fact at Kasagi, they realized they had been deceived, and gradually dispersed). The people left together. Morokata fled with Takasuke and the others and made for Kasagi (Note: following the Taiheiki). When Kasagi fell, he escaped together with Fujifusa and Minamoto-no-Tomoyuki, helping the emperor, but on the way they became separated and he was taken prisoner (Note: following the Masukagami). He shaved his head and took the name Sotei (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin. The Taiheiki says that Morokata shaved his head at his place of exile, but this is probably a mistake). In the summer of the following year Takatoki exiled Morokata to Shimōsa and confined him in the house of Chiba Sadatane (Note: following the Masukagami and the Taiheiki). From his youth Morokata had loved learning and was indifferent to honor and disgrace. In exile, whenever he thought of his sovereign, he never failed to sob and shed tears. He is said to have recited to himself: "When the lord is distressed, the minister is disgraced; when the lord is disgraced, the minister dies. At this very moment, even if I were salted and my flesh cut to pieces, there would be nothing to grieve over." (Note: following the Taiheiki.) From time to time he composed waka poems to console himself (Note: following the Shin'yō Wakashū). In the winter of that year he died of illness (Note: following the Jōrakki and the Taiheiki). He was thirty-two years old (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). He was posthumously granted the office of Dajō-daijin, Chancellor, and the posthumous name Buntei (Note: following the Shin'yō Wakashū).

¶He had two sons, Iekata and Nobukata (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Iekata served Emperor Go-Daigo as Jijū, Chamberlain. Before long he served the Retired Emperor Kōmyō and became a Sangi (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the sixth year of Shōhei (1351) he presented himself at the emperor's temporary residence (Note: following the Taiheiki). Before long he again served the Retired Emperors Sukō and Go-Kōgon and became Gon-Chūnagon (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the twenty-first year (1366) he again presented himself at the temporary residence and became Dainagon, and he went on to hold the offices of Naidaijin and Ukonoe-no-taishō, Commander of the Right Palace Guards. In this year he died, and he was given the Buddhist name Myōkōji. He had three sons, Nagachika, Nagakata, and the monk Gen'yō (Note: following the Shin'yō Wakashū). Nagachika was gifted in learning and served his parents with filial devotion. When he was around twenty he lost his father; he observed the three years of mourning and wasted away with grief beyond what ritual required. Before the mourning was over, Emperor Murakami died (Note: the source reads "Murakami"; this should be Go-Murakami), and mourning dress was bestowed on him; he poured his feelings into a waka poem, and its words were so sorrowful that people of the time repeated and recited it (Note: following the Kōun Kuden and the Shin'yō Wakashū). Later he was appointed Chūnagon, concurrently Monjō-hakase, Doctor of Letters, and rose to Dainagon and Ukonoe-no-taishō (Note: following the Shin'yō Wakashū). He shaved his head, took the Buddhist name Myōgi, and called himself Kōun Sanjin, the Man of the Mountain of Cultivated Clouds (Note: following the postscript to the Kohon Sengenshō). He lived at the Zenseiin of the Nanzen-ji. He studied waka under Prince Muneyoshi, deeply grasped his master's methods, and took part in the compilation of the Shin'yō Wakashū. His writings include the Kōun Kuden (Note: following the Kōun Kuden). He was also versed in musical pitch and in the study of rhymes, and wrote the Katakana Hansetsu Gikai (Note: following the author's preface to that work). Nagakata became Gon-Chūnagon. Gen'yō crossed to Ming China in search of the Buddhist Law (Note: following the Shin'yō Wakashū). Nobukata attained the office of Naidaijin (Note: following the Jōrakki). He had one daughter, who was skilled at waka (Note: following the Shin'yō Wakashū).

Fujiwara-no-Takasuke

¶Fujiwara-no-Takasuke was a son of Takazane, Sakonoe-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards. His family was called the Shijō house (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Takazane died young, so his grandfather Takaaki, Gon-Dainagon, Provisional Major Counsellor, raised him as his own son. Takasuke was appointed Gon-Chūnagon and became Kebiishi no Bettō, Chief of the Imperial Police (Note: consulting the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). When Hōjō Takatoki plotted rebellion, the emperor secretly left the palace to avoid him. Takasuke hurried and caught up with him at the Sanjō riverbed (Note: following the Masukagami; the account of the Sanjō riverbed follows the Taiheiki). He accompanied Fujiwara-no-Morokata, Dainagon, to the Enryaku-ji, and when the affair collapsed he made for Kasagi (Note: following the Taiheiki). When Kasagi fell, he disguised himself as a monk and went into hiding. When the disturbance was quelled, he returned to the capital. By imperial edict he was permitted to let his hair grow again and was restored to office (Note: consulting the Masukagami and the Kugyō Bunin). In the first year of Engen (1336), Ashikaga Takauji again invaded the capital. Takasuke accompanied the imperial progress to the Enryaku-ji, led troops out to Otokoyama, and agreed with Nitta Yoshisada and others to fix a day and strike Takauji from both sides, with the lighting of fires as the signal. Just then a fire broke out among the houses of the common people at Shirakawa; Takasuke saw the smoke from afar and, thinking the imperial army had already entered the capital, advanced on Tō-ji with more than three thousand men and fought Kō-no-Moronao and defeated him. His soldiers pressed forward with great spirit and set fire to the towers and turrets, but the enemy troops defended with all their strength, and Takasuke was defeated and withdrew. Yoshisada arrived soon after, and he too was heavily defeated. The emperor accepted Takauji's request and returned to the capital. Takasuke fled to Kii and later presented himself at Yoshino. When the emperor died, he and Fujiwara-no-Saneyo, Gon-Dainagon, assisted the young sovereign and decided practically all affairs of government on their own.

¶Earlier, Wakiya Yoshisuke had been engaged in the campaign in the Hokkoku, the northern provinces. He was defeated in battle and made his way to Yoshino by a byroad, where the emperor consoled and encouraged him and showed him exceptional favor. Saneyo said at a gathering of the court: "Yoshisuke was defeated in battle and should have nowhere to stand. Yet after fleeing to the court he has received generous rewards. How is this any different from the time when Taira-no-Koremori returned in defeat and was instead advanced in rank?" Takasuke replied: "That he was defeated may indeed be because Heaven has not yet aided the royal house, but it also stems from the court's lack of proper judgment in its measures. The blame cannot be laid on him alone. In ancient times, when a general was appointed, the ceremonies were treated with the greatest gravity. While a general was with the army, the army was not made to submit to control from the court; responsibility was entrusted to him alone and results were demanded of him. Because the soldiers of the whole army were made to heed only the general's orders, they were able to defeat the enemy and pacify the realm. In the earlier campaign in the north, however, the soldiers kept appealing, 'There is no need to wait for the general's direction; let us seek the court's decision directly.' And the attendants at the temporary residence would invariably reward anyone who pressed a claim for merit, fearing only that they might fail to do so. Thus, when it was reported that supplies to the army had run short, they no longer had any attention to spare. In the worst cases, courtiers would name places where the northern army had won victories and ask for rewards for themselves, and since whatever was asked was simply granted, the general's authority was belittled day by day and the soldiers' hearts grew more arrogant day by day. All of this was a path to obtaining rewards, and it was no fault of the fighting itself. Heaven's will has clearly seen through these past errors and has, for the sake of that very court, consoled Yoshisuke. Long ago, Mengmingshi, Xiqishu, and Baiyibing of Qin attacked Zheng but were defeated by Jin. Duke Mu of Qin took the blame upon himself and did not blame the three generals. Seen in this light, the court's treatment of Yoshisuke was indeed timely and appropriate. How can it be placed on a par with the affair of Koremori?" Saneyo fell silent.

¶In the third year of Shōhei (1348), Kusunoki Masatsura held off Kō-no-Moronao at Shijōnawate. Takasuke led three thousand troops (Note: the figure of three thousand follows the Hōjō-ke-bon, Nanto-bon, and Tenshō-bon texts of the Taiheiki) and encamped on Iimoriyama to pin down the enemy force. Before long Masatsura was killed in battle, and Moronao attacked the emperor's temporary residence. Takasuke escorted the emperor to take refuge at Anō. He was raised to Junior First Rank and appointed Dainagon (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the seventh year (1352) he accompanied the imperial progress to Otokoyama, but the imperial army's fortunes were poor. The emperor rode a horse southward back through the night, and since the enemy pursuit was hard on his heels, Takasuke turned back and fought, and was killed there in battle (Note: following the Taiheiki). He was posthumously granted the office of Sadaijin, Minister of the Left (Note: following the Shin'yō Wakashū and the Rikashū). He had six sons: Takakazu, Takaakira, Takatō, Takatoshi, Takayasu (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku), and Arisuke (Note: following the Taiheiki). Takakazu was Sashōshō, Lesser Captain of the Left Palace Guards, and was killed in the Genkō disturbance. Takaakira was Sashōshō and fell in battle as a follower of Prince Moriyoshi (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Arisuke was appointed Konoe-no-shōshō, Lesser Captain of the Palace Guards, and as Governor of Iyo province he joined Ōdate Ujiakira in bringing Shikoku under control, and the imperial army greatly flourished. The enemy commanders throughout the province all abandoned their castles and fled (Note: following the Taiheiki. Later in this work it is recorded that Ōdate Ujiakira was killed and his castle fell. Arisuke probably died as well, but this has not yet been confirmed).

Fujiwara-no-Takatoshi

¶Fujiwara-no-Takatoshi was appointed Konoe-no-shōshō, Lesser Captain of the Palace Guards (Note: following the Taiheiki. Whether of the Left or the Right Guards is unknown). In the Shōhei era he became Chūnagon (Note: following the Enta Ryaku). Before long he was appointed Dainagon (Note: following the Enta Ryaku and the Taiheiki). In the eighth year (1353) he raised troops in Kii, and the Eight Local Lords of Kumano all followed him. He attacked and defeated a certain shugo, the provincial military governor. He then took command of the troops of the various commanders. Just then Yamana Tokiuji retook the capital, and Ashikaga Yoshiakira fled east escorting the Retired Emperor Go-Kōgon, but soon gathered a great army and counterattacked. Tokiuji withdrew to Hōki, and Takatoshi likewise withdrew with the other forces (Note: following the Enta Ryaku and the Taiheiki). In the tenth year (1355) he again led the commanders together with Tokiuji and attacked Yoshiakira at Kōnan, but the fighting went badly and he withdrew. In the fifteenth year (1360), Yoshiakira attacked with the troops of Hatakeyama Kunikiyo, and Takatoshi led three thousand men to encamp at Saishogamine, where he and Kusunoki Masanori supported each other by mutual response. Hatakeyama Yoshifuka came attacking with over thirty thousand men, and the commander leading the army was a certain Shioya, Governor of Ise (Note: the Hōjō-ke-bon and Nanto-bon give "Governor of Iga," and the Saigen'in-bon gives "Nakatsukasa"). Takatoshi's side drew back its troops in a feigned retreat and encamped on Ryūmonzan; the enemy pursued with their whole force as far as a steep, narrow pass, where the soldiers were packed together like bundles. Shioya had his soldiers climb to high ground and shoot at random, and personally led the way, urging the army on. The enemy army broke and fled for more than thirty chō, with weapons and equipment scattered along the road. Shioya, riding the momentum, pressed the pursuit in one rush, but his horse was wounded and fell down a cliff, and he was killed by the enemy. Hatakeyama Yoshihiro then came with a further seven thousand men to attack from the flank, and just then a certain Yukawa no Shōji, the Yukawa estate steward, and a certain Ochi, Governor of Yamato (Note: "Governor of Yamato" follows the Mōri-ke-bon), both turned traitor and surrendered. Takatoshi fled and held out in Asegawa Castle. In the sixteenth year (1361), together with Hosokawa Kiyouji, he attacked Yoshiakira and won, but soon withdrew his troops and returned (Note: following the Taiheiki). Later he became Naidaijin (Note: following the Shin'yō Wakashū). When the enemy pressed upon the temporary palace at Amano, he joined forces with Wada Masatake and others to defend against them (Note: following the Kutsuki Monjo). In the second year of Bunchū (1373), he led troops in a night attack on the enemy camp, but did not win and was killed in battle. The emperor at last returned to Yoshino (Note: consulting the Sandaiki, the Gofukakin'in Kanpaku-ki, and the Kyūrei Zōjiki).

¶Takatoshi had meritorious service in support of the imperial house, and always kept the restoration of the court in his heart. Once, when a poetry gathering was held at the temporary residence at Sumiyoshi, Takatoshi was among those drawing lots for the topic (the lots decided the subject of the poem), and he drew the topic "Expressing one's feelings in connection with a bow." The poem he composed says, in sense, that just as the catalpa bow he has taken up for his lord's sake, so surely will he restore his lord to the old capital. (Note: following the Shin'yō Wakashū.)

Fujiwara-no-Saneyo

¶Fujiwara-no-Saneyo was a son of Kinkata, Dajō-daijin, Chancellor. In the Karyaku and Gentoku eras (1326-1331), after serving as Sangi he rose to Gon-Chūnagon, concurrently held the posts of Saemon-no-kami, Commander of the Left Gate Guards, and Kebiishi no Bettō, and was granted Senior Third Rank (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Enta Ryaku, and the Kugyō Bunin). When the emperor went on progress to Nara, Hōjō Nakatoki and Hōjō Tokimasu seized Saneyo (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Masukagami. The Taiheiki says that Saneyo was seized after the fall of Kasagi, but that is not adopted here) and confined him in the house of Oda Sadatomo (Note: following the Kōmyōji Zōsho Zanpen). The Retired Emperor Kōgon ordered his offices stripped from him (Note: following the Masukagami). Before long he was released and kept at the house of Kinkata (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). When the emperor returned to the capital, Saneyo went as far as Harima to meet him (Note: following the Shoshazan Gyōkōki). His offices were restored (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku), and, by imperial command, he discussed the officers and soldiers who had distinguished themselves in the restoration (Note: following the Taiheiki). This matter is treated in detail in the biography of Fujiwara-no-Fujifusa. In the first year of Kenmu (1334) he concurrently served as Tōgū Gon-no-daibu, Provisional Master of the Crown Prince's Household, and Daigaku-no-kami, Head of the Academy (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the second year (1335), he followed Prince Chūbō of the Daichiin to the east to campaign against Ashikaga Takauji. In the following year, when the army returned, he led more than twenty thousand troops and, together with Minamoto-no-Akiie, Chinjufu Shōgun, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacification Headquarters, and others, attacked Takauji in the capital and put him to flight (Note: following the Taiheiki). For this service he advanced to Senior Second Rank (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku) and soon concurrently served as Owari-no-kami, Governor of Owari (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). When Takauji again invaded the capital, Saneyo accompanied the imperial progress to the Enryaku-ji and again led troops against Takauji together with Fujiwara-no-Moromoto, Gon-Dainagon, but was defeated and returned. Just then the emperor was accepting Takauji's offer of peace and preparing to return to the capital. Saneyo quickly sent a messenger to tell Nitta Yoshisada how matters stood. Yoshisada pleaded earnestly with the emperor, and the emperor consoled and persuaded him by entrusting the Crown Prince to Yoshisada's care (Note: following the Taiheiki), and commanded Saneyo to assist him (Note: following the Jinnō Shōtōki). He accordingly followed to Echizen, stayed at Kanegasaki Castle, and then, together with Yoshisada, held Somayama Castle (Note: following the Taiheiki). Later he arrived at Yoshino (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin), was appointed Gon-Dainagon, and concurrently served as Ukonoe-no-taishō (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin, the Sonpi Bunmyaku, and the Enta Ryaku).

¶When Emperor Go-Murakami took the throne, he was still young, and Saneyo, together with Fujiwara-no-Takasuke, Gon-Chūnagon, took part in and decided the essential affairs of state. When Ashikaga Tadayoshi asked to surrender, the court's ministers were made to discuss it. Saneyo submitted this counsel: "That the emperor has been moved from place to place and the hundred officials have been driven into wandering, down to the present, for more than ten years, is all the work of those vicious petty men. Now, having been schemed against by their own followers, they are in a tight corner and begging for their lives; I suspect they merely wish to borrow the awe of Heaven to settle their private grudges. We should seize this opportunity to put them to death and cut off future trouble." Moromoto, Minister of the Left, and others thought that "if Tadayoshi submits, the time of the unification of the realm has arrived." The emperor finally accepted this view, but Tadayoshi soon rebelled again (Note: following the Taiheiki). Later he was appointed Sadaijin, Minister of the Left (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Enta Ryaku), and rose to Junior First Rank. In the eighth month of the thirteenth year of Shōhei (1358) he died of illness. He was fifty-one years old (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). He had a son, Kinyuki (Note: following the Enta Ryaku).