Encyclopedia of Shinto

Main Menu:   
Links:   

詳細表示 (Complete Article)

カテゴリー1： 8. Schools, Groups, and Personalities
カテゴリー2： Personalities
Title
Hagiwara Kaneyori
Text (1588-166)
(The characters of his given name can also be read Kanetsugu.)
A proponent of Yoshida Shintō in the early Edo period. Born in 1588 as the eldest son of Yoshida Kaneharu, then Superintendant of Divinities (jingi kanrei, the highest ranking priest in Yoshida Shintō). At the age of nine Kaneyori relinquished his inheritance to his younger brother Kanehide and became the adopted son of his paternal grandfather Yoshida Kanemi, in this way being established as a branch family with the name Hagiwara.
Yoshida Kanemi advanced Kaneyori into the priesthood of the shrine Toyokunisha (now revived as Toyokuni Jinja), which was dedicated to the veneration of warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This position was to be an inherited post passed down through the Hagiwara clan, thus promoting the expansion of Yoshida Shintō. Kaneyori thereafter advanced to the Junior Lower Fifth court rank, but with the eradication of the Toyotomi clan by Tokugawa forces at the beginning of the Edo period, the shrine Toyokunisha was also destroyed, and Kaneyori not only lost his position but faced the threat of banishment. He escaped the danger with assistance from his brother-in-law Hosokawa Tadaoki, and was subsequently appointed a guardian of the Yoshida clan, in which capacity he rendered his services in the interest of fostering Yoshida Shintō.
Even within the scholarly Yoshida household, Kaneyori was highly praised for his learning. He was called upon to instruct the Buddhist priest and fellow Yoshida clan member Shinryūin Bonshun, and to lecture on Shinto to Emperor Goyōsei and Mito domainal lord Tokugawa Yorifusa.
When Kaneyori was in his final years, the leaders of the Yoshida clan passed away one after another in rapid succession, leaving only five-year-old Kanetsura (later Kaneyuki) as inheritor of the clan tradition and leadership. Fearing for the survival of the teachings of Yoshida Shintō, Kaneyori took Yoshikawa Koretari as his disciple, training him on the condition that he serve as an instructor to Kanetsura when the future Yoshida leader was of age.
Kaneyori died on the tenth day of the eleventh month of 1660 at the age of seventy-three. After his death, the memorial shrine Kōmi Reisha was established at his gravesite to honor his spirit.

- Yazaki Hiroyuki

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

No movie/映像なし