Adachi Nagakage (安達長景)

Nagakage ADACHI was a gokenin (an immediate vassal) of the Kamakura Shogunate in the middle of the Kamakura period. He was of the Adachi clan, and his father was Yoshikage ADACHI. He was a half brother of Yasumori ADACHI.

He joined Hikitsukeshu (Coadjustor of the High Court) and was appointed as Mino no kuni no kokushi (Governor of Mino Province). When Rokuhara Tandai (an administrative and judicial agency in Rokuhara, Kyoto) failed to properly handle the intrusion into the Imperial Palace by the monk-soldiers of Enryaku-ji Temple, Nagakage was sent to Kyoto together with Yukitada NIKAIDO as a Toshi (messenger from the Kamakura Shogunate to the Imperial Court in Kyoto) to deal with the failure, met with Kanto Moshitsugi (court-appointed liaison with the Kamakura Shogunate) and requested remission of Kamakura samurai for the reason that they were fully occupied with handling of the Yuan Dynasty. In 1284, he entered priesthood upon the death of the regent Tokimune HOJO. As he was on friendly terms with Prince Munetaka, Shogun of Kamakura, he made a poem lamenting the shogun's death. He was killed in the Shimotsuki Disturbance (internal strife among Kamakura shogunate retainers) in November 1285.

He was known as a waka poet, and his works include "Nagakage Shu" (a compilation of poems made by Nagakage). He practiced Zen meditation under Mugaku Sogen. Nagakage is shown in "Moko Shurai Ekotoba (picture scrolls of Mongol invasion attempts against Japan)" drawn by Suenaga TAKEZAKI attending Yasumori's awarding a horse to Suenaga at Yasumori's residence.

[Original Japanese]