蒲生氏郷

安土桃山期の武将。幼名鶴千代，のち忠三郎。実名は教秀，賦秀（やすひで）のち氏郷。従三位参議。近江蒲生郡日野城主蒲生賢秀の子。はじめ織田信長に仕え，その妹を妻とした。本能寺の変に際し，信長夫人生駒氏を日野城に迎え，功により秀吉から明智光秀欠所地の一部を，ついで伊勢亀山城を与えられた。1584年小牧・長久手の戦などの功により伊勢松ヶ島12万石を賜り，85年賦秀を氏郷と改めた。86年従四位下侍従，87年羽柴姓を許され，88年正四位下左近衛少将に進み，伊勢松坂城に移った。90年小田原従軍の功により会津黒川城主となり，翌年の加増で会津73万石（文禄の高は92万石）を領し，徳川，毛利につぐ大大名となった。92年（文禄1）黒川を若松と改め，居城と城下町の整備を進めた。95年2月7日死去，大徳寺昌林院に葬られた。秀吉による毒殺説もあるが確証はない。利休七哲の筆頭とされ，和歌にもすぐれており，〈日本一，二の大名〉と評された。
［小林 清治］

Christian name, Leão. Daimyō of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568−1600); son of Gamō Katahide (1534−84), lord of Hino Castle in Ōmi (now Shiga Prefecture). The Gamō sided with Oda Nobunaga when he marched on Kyōto in 1568; Ujisato was married to Nobunaga's daughter and served Nobunaga in various campaigns. After Nobunaga's assassination in 1582, Ujisato served Toyotomi Hideyoshi and distinguished himself in several campaigns, including the sweep through northernmost Honshū in 1591 that completed Hideyoshi's unification of Japan. Ujisato was ultimately awarded fiefs that totaled an assessed yield of 919,320 koku (see kokudaka). He thereby became one of Japan's five greatest daimyō. Ujisato fell ill while in Nagoya (now in Saga Prefecture), the Kyūshū headquarters for Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea, and died in Kyōto on his way home; the story that he was poisoned is unfounded. He converted to Christianity in 1585 but lost his zeal after Hideyoshi's anti-Christian edicts in 1587.