Mononobe no Moriya
Mononobe no Moriya (物部守屋)(died 587) was an Ō-muraji, a high-ranking clan head position of the ancient Japanese Yamato state, having inherited the position from his father Mononobe no Okoshi.
Moriya as described in the Nihon Shoki
According to the Nihon Shoki, Moriya was like his father, a devoted opponent of Buddhism, which had recently been introduced to Japan from the mainland. Alongside Nakatomi no Katsumi, Moriya worked to counteract the efforts of Soga no Umako, another high-ranking noble who supported the adoption of Buddhism. Though Mononobe and Nakatomi saw brief success under the reign of Emperor Bidatsu (572-585), his successor, Emperor Yōmei, became Buddhist and so Mononobe's fortunes turned.
Following the death of Emperor Yōmei in 587, Mononobe's party and Soga's each sought to influence the succession. The dispute quickly erupted into outright battle, in which Mononobe no Moriya is credited with setting fire to the first Buddhist temples in Japan, and tossing the first images of the Buddha, imported from Baekje, into the canals of the city of Naniwa (now Osaka). In 587, the conflict culminated in a battle at Kisuri (present-day Osaka). There, the Soga were victorious, and Mononobe no Moriya was eventually killed at his home, along with Nakatomi no Katsumi and the young prince they sought to place on the throne.[1][2][3]
Recent studies
Despite the common and traditioanl portrayal of Moriya as harsh opponent against the introduction of Buddhism to Japan, series of recent excavations carried out in the 1990s at the Mononobe's homeground in Shibukawa (part of present-day Yao, Osaka) have revealed the existence there of a temple of that time. As such it is pointed in recent studies that the nature of clash between the Soga and the Mononobe were more of a power struggle than a conflict over the acceptance of Buddhism.[4]
References
- ^ Aston, W. G. (2008). Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times. New York: Cosimo, Inc. ISBN 9781605201467.
- ^ Dykstra, Yoshiko Kurata; De Bary, William Theodore (2001). Sources of Japanese tradition. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12138-5.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Isobe, Iwao (磯部巌) (2003). 子どもに光を: 教師の実践で子供の変革を. Bungeisha (文芸社). ISBN 9784835543666.
- ^ 日本史愛好倶楽部 (2009). 日本史年表: 萌えて覚える社会の常識. PHP Kenkyusho (PHP研究所). ISBN 9784569772998.
- Papinot, Edmond (1910). "Moriya." Historical and geographical dictionary of Japan. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha. Vol 1 p402.