Mongaku (文覚) was a Japanesesamurai andShingon Buddhist priest of the lateHeian and earlyKamakura period. He was a close associate ofshogunMinamoto no Yoritomo, having contributed to the declaration of theGenpei War.Myōe was the disciple of his disciple Jōkaku. His secular name, beforeordination, wasEndō Moritō.[1] He is also known asMongaku Shōnin.
Mongaku was born the son of Endō Mochitō, a samurai in theWatanabe faction of theSettsu Genji clan (a branch of theMinamoto clan).[1]
He initially served in the Imperial Palace Guards of the North Side.[2] He fell in love with Kesa, the wife of Minamoto no Wataru, but killed her by accident.[1] Out of repentance,[2] he then ordinated as a priest, visiting sacred places across the country. Mongaku moved to live atJingo-ji temple in 1168, and participated in its restoration work motivated by his reverence towardsKūkai.[1]
In 1173, he requested amanorial temple estate for Jingo-ji from CloisteredEmperor Go-Shirakawa, resulting in Mongaku being exiled toIzu Province. During his exile in Izu, he met the future shogunMinamoto no Yoritomo. In 1178, he was allowed to return toKyoto. His respect for the Cloistered Emperor was never lost even after his exile, and in 1180, he urged Yoritomo to make a call to arms and declarewar against theTaira clan, whom the Cloistered Emperor had ordered to be destroyed.[1]
According toGyokuyō, Yoritomo sent Mongaku toKiso Yoshinaka to accuse him of negligence in the punitive expedition against the Taira clan and of being reckless in Kyoto.[3]
After the destruction of the Taira clan and the establishment of theKamakura Shogunate, Mongaku was a highly trusted associate of Yoritomo.[4] After his successful role in the declaration of war against the Taira clan, Mongaku's request was finally heard, and the Cloistered Emperor gave the Kaseda Manor inKii Province to Jingo-ji in 1183. After this, the temple received further estates from both Yoritomo and the Cloistered Emperor. By 1190, the temple buildings were almost completely restored.[1]
After the restoration of Jingo-ji, he also restoredTō-ji temple, also out of reverence towards Kūkai, and in 1189,Harima Province was designated azōkoku (a province to bear the expenses of a construction of a shrine or temple). In 1197, the restoration was complete.[1]
Mongaku lost his benefactors when the Cloistered Emperor died in 1192 and Yoritomo died in 1199. After the two died, Minister of the InteriorMinamoto no Michichika exiled Mongaku toSado Province[1] forconspiracy against the government[4] for his alleged involvement in theSansaemon incident.[5] He was allowed to return to Kyoto in 1202, but was exiled toTsushima Province the following year byEmperor Emeritus Go-Toba; Mongaku died in exile in Tsushima.[1]
Megumi Sogabe believes that Mongaku was the mastermind ofPrince Morisada's conspiracy, known as the Sansaemon incident. She argues that this is indicated by the facts that: the two exiles were connected based on the description inThe Tale of the Heike stating that the exile to Tsushima was caused by a dispute over the return of the estates of Jingo-ji, which were confiscated by the Emperor Emeritus Go-Toba after the incident; his punishment was heavier than that of his relatives in the court; the estates of Jingo-ji were immediately returned after the death of Emperor Emeritus Go-Toba.[5]
InGukanshō, Mongaku is described as a reckless, uneducated man of action, who spoke ill of others and reveredTengu. It also states that Mongaku and Yoritomo were close friends who spent four years all day together.[6]
According toSeiashō, there were rumors that Mongaku hatedSaigyō, a monk of the same period.[7]
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