(1536 – June 7, 1612), son of regent Taneie, was a court noble of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. His life spanned the Sengoku, Azuchi–Momoyama, and early

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

s. He served as kampaku-

sadaijin The ''Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary'', Kenkyusha Limited, was a government position in Japan during the Asuka to Meiji era. The Asuka Kiyomihara Code of 689 marks the initial appearance of the ''Sadaijin'' in the context of a cent ...

and '' daijō-daijin'', rising to the junior first rank. He was kampaku during the reign of

Emperor Go-Nara was the 105th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned from June 9, 1526, until his death in 1557, during the Sengoku period of the Muromachi period, Muromachi Bakufu. His personal name was Tomohito (知仁) ...

. Konoe Nobutada was his son. Sakihisa was active in political and military circles. He was a member of the Konoe family, a prominent branch of the

Fujiwara clan The was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since ancient times and dominated the imperial court until th ...

. His younger sister was the wife of the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' Asakura Yoshikage. Sakihisa found favor with

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

, and accompanied him to Kōshū on his campaign against the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

. His daughter Sakiko was adopted by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

and became a consort to

Emperor Go-Yōzei was the 107th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Go-Yōzei's reign spanned the years 1586 through to his abdication in 1611, corresponding to the transition between the Azuchi–Momoyama period and the Edo period ...

, giving birth to his son

Emperor Go-Mizunoo , posthumously honored as , was the 108th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. Go-Mizunoo's reign spanned the years from 1611 through 1629, and he was the first emperor to reign entirely d ...

. In 1582, Sakihisa received the appointment to the post of Daijō Daijin. He resigned the post later that year. In 1585, he adopted Hashiba (later Toyotomi) Hideyoshi. This gave Hideyoshi the Fujiwara legitimacy, clearing the way for his appointment as kampaku.

Family

Parents *Father: Konoe Taneie (近衛稙家, 1503 – 1566) *Mother: Kuga Keiko (久我慶子),Kuga Tsugen's daughter (久我通言) Consorts and issue *Wife: Kita no Mandoroko (北政所) *Concubine: Court lady (家女房), Hatano Sōshichi's daughter (波多野惣七) **Son: Konoe Nobutada (近衛信尹; 1565-1614) *Concubine: Wakanabe Takeda's daughter (若狹武田氏) **Daughter: Konoe Sakiko (近衛前子)(1575 – August 11, 1630) also known as Chūwamon’in (中和門院) – consort of Emperor Go –Yozei *Concubine: Unknown **Son: Mikotozei (尊勢;d.1616), a priest at Kōfuku-ji **Daughter: Lady Koshoin (光照院) **Daughter: Unknown

References

* Kengo Taniguchi, "Rurō no Sengoku Kizoku Konoe Sakihisa Tenga Ittō ni Honsō Sareta Shōgai" (Chūkō Shinsho, 1994) * Masanobu Hashimoto, "Kinsei Kuge Shakai no Kenkyū" (Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 2002) {{DEFAULTSORT:Konoe, Sakihisa 1536 births 1612 deaths Fujiwara clan Konoe family Kuge People of the Muromachi period People of the Azuchi–Momoyama period People of the Edo period 17th-century Japanese calligraphers 16th-century Japanese calligraphers