- Shunkan
Shunkan (俊寛)(c. 1143-1179) was a Japanese monk who, after taking part in the Shishigatani plot to overthrow
Taira no Kiyomori , was exiled along with two others toKikai-ga-shima . His story is featured in the "Heike monogatari ", and in a number of traditional derivative works, including theNoh play "Shunkan" and "jōruri" play "Heike Nyogo-ga-shima ". Twentieth century authorsKan Kikuchi andRyūnosuke Akutagawa also produced works entitled "Shunkan".Biography
Shunkan was a member of the
Murakami Genji branch of the Minamoto samurai clan, and the son of Hōin Kanga, a priest of the Buddhist templeNinna-ji . He servedEmperor Go-Shirakawa as a close aide and was associated with theHōsshō-ji .In 1177, he met with a number of others in secret in his mountain villa in Shishigatani (some sources, such as the "
Gukanshō ", say the villa belonged to someone else), and plotted to overthrow "Daijō Daijin " Taira no Kiyomori who, along with other members of theTaira clan , dominated and controlled the Imperial government. The plot was discovered before any actual action was taken, and Shunkan was exiled, along withFujiwara no Narichika , Narichika's sonFujiwara no Naritsune , andTaira no Yasunori , to an island called Kikai-ga-shima, south ofKyūshū 'sSatsuma province . There is debate as to whether or not this was the same place as the island bearing the name Kikai today.Later that year, according to the "Heike monogatari", when the Imperial consort
Taira no Tokuko was pregnant with the futureEmperor Antoku and was having difficulties, Kiyomori, her father, granted amnesty to Yasuyori and Naritsune, in order to appease their angry spirits, in the hopes of easing his daughter's pain. Shunkan was thus left alone on the island, the fourth exile Narichika having been executed by the Taira some time before.He was found two years later, in 1179, by a monk from his temple by the name of
Ariō , who brought a letter from his (Ariō's) daughter. Having already sunk into deep despair during his time alone on the island, Shunkan read the letter and made the decision to commit suicide. He refused food, and died of starvation. Ariō then brought the monk's ashes and bones back to the capital.References
*Brazell, Karen. ed. (1998). "Traditional Japanese Theater". New York: Columbia University Press.
*McCullough, Helen Craig. (1988). "The Tale of the Heike". Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-1803-2
*Sansom, George (1958). "A History of Japan to 1334". Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp267-9.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
