Chris Perry, Author

Tag: Ashigaru

  • The Ikko-ikki

    The Ikko-ikki

    History often focuses on the rich and powerful doing rich and powerful things. Kings, Emperors, Shoguns, and Daimyo ride around on magnificent horses, hacking each other to bits with their swords, while hundreds of thousands of anonymous lower-class types charge into certain death for the honour and glory of whoever paid for the records to be written.

    Just look at all that honour and glory.

    While this particular version of history is suitably exciting and dramatic, it does tend to overlook those anonymous lower-class types. Sometimes, however, those same lower-class types take matters into their own hands, pick up whatever weapons are to hand, and do some hacking of their own.

    As Japan collapsed into the chaotic violence of the Sengoku Jidai, peasants, priests, and clergymen found themselves at the mercy of local Samurai lords who sought to exploit their labour, or burn their homes, and sometimes both. Many peasants found themselves (willingly or otherwise) in the service of one such lord or another, forming the Ashigaru who would eventually go on to form the backbone of most armies in the later Sengoku Period.

    Some, however, weren’t keen on dying for some rapacious shugo or in the service of a Shogun who was so far removed he might as well have been on the moon. These peasants formed what would become known as Ikko-shu, which is often translated as “Single Minded Schools”. Often inspired by religious teachings and based at fortified temples, the ikko-shu were quite diverse in their objectives, but were often motivated by local defence and what we might now think of as social justice.

    The religious component of the ikko-shu is debated even today. The progenitor of the movement was a monk called Rennyo, who became the abbot of the Honganji Temple, espousing the Jodo Shinshu sect. Rennyo was a charismatic guy, perhaps best highlighted by the fact he ended up with five wives and 27 children, three of whom were born when he was already in his 80s, which suggests he was more than a little compelling.

    Profound reproduction aside, Rennyo preached a doctrine that was incredibly radical for its time. It would take far too long to explore the complete details of his preaching, but for the purposes of this post, the key idea is that faith, not social class, defines a person’s worth.

    A contemporary portrait of Rennyo, which doesn’t do much to capture his apparent charisma.

    This was an explosive idea in a society that was as rigidly stratified as medieval Japan. Rennyo would go on to preach the ideas of spiritual equality, communal support, and collective morality, a powerful combination of ideas that found many willing followers amongst the peasantry, who were often victimised by a warrior and noble class who justified their oppression in spiritual and religious terms (the Emperor was a literal son of heaven, after all.)

    Rennyo himself was no revolutionary, even by the standards of the time. Though his ideas were radical, he preached order and obedience in accordance with the beliefs of Jodo Shinshu, emphasising the importance of peace and harmony, even at a time when the country was already tearing itself apart. His followers initially followed these teachings quite closely. The growing communities of ikko-shu were self-reliant, but largely peaceful.

    Unfortunately, peaceful intentions don’t necessarily result in peaceful outcomes. The autonomy of the ikko-shu inevitably attracted the ire of the powerful Daimyo, who would not tolerate any group of peasants defying their will. Peasant uprisings in and of themselves were nothing new; Japan, much like most medieval states, had a long history of often violent tension between ruler and ruled.

    What made the ikko-shu different was their belief that everyone, regardless of education or social class, had the potential for divine salvation. This upset just about everybody in the upper classes, and opposition to the ikko-shu became one of the few things that rival factions could agree on.

    One aspect of the early Sengoku Period, especially around Kyoto, was the presence of rival temples, which would often have cadres of warrior monks at their disposal. Honganji would become the target of the Enryakuji Temple in 1465, when the monks there declared that Rennyo and his followers were enemies of Buddhism.

    A later recreation of how warrior monks might have dressed.

    It might seem slightly strange to think of Buddhist monks being so militant, but it is important to remember that the temples of this period were political players in their own right; some would even go on to have power rivalling later Daimyo. In this context, then, it isn’t so unusual for one of them to have decided to destroy Honganji and remove the threat of the ikko-shu.

    The attack was largely successful, and Rennyo and his followers were forced to flee. This actually turned out to be good for them in the long term, as Rennyo was able to find supporters amongst the enemies of Enryakuji, leading to the establishment of several new temples loyal to Rennyo and his teachings.

    The profile of the ikko-shu would continue to rise, and they were often viewed as a potent counterweight to other Buddhist sects, which had already proved themselves willing and able to meddle in the ongoing political chaos. In 1474, the guardian of Kaga Province, Togashi Masachika, called on Rennyo to support him in a conflict within the wider Togashi clan. Rennyo agreed when he learned that a rival sect had taken the side of Masachika’s opponents.

    The intervention of the ikko-shu was decisive, and Masachika was able to overcome his foes. However, he began to sour on the support of Rennyo and his followers as he began to worry that their egalitarian message would spread amongst the peasants of Kaga Province.

    He was right to worry, although Rennyo himself departed the area shortly after the fighting, and would go on to establish several other temples, his followers remained in Kaga, and their teachings indeed proved popular with the locals, swelling their numbers and establishing several fortified temples in the province.

    The wider ikko-shu movement would continue to grow under Rennyo’s leadership, but we’re going to focus on Kaga Province in particular. As we’ve mentioned, although previously happy to make use of the military strength of the ikko-shu, Togashi Masachika grew increasingly alarmed about the spread of the movement.

    In 1475, he drove the ikko-shu out of Kaga, forcing them to seek refuge in neighbouring Etchu Province. Just like Masachika before him, the shugo (governor) of Etchu, Ishiguro Mitsuyoshi, was alarmed by the presence of the ikko-shu and sought to suppress them. However, when he launched an attack in 1481, he was defeated, and the ikko-shu, basing themselves at the Zuisenji Temple, took control of large parts of the province.

    Back in Kaga, events elsewhere in Japan led Masachika to impose increasingly burdensome taxes on the population, and in 1488, a similar revolt broke out amongst the peasantry, willingly aided by the ikko-shu crossing back from Etchu. Although the events in Etchu resulted in the first widely recognised independent action of the ikko-shu, the revolt in Kaga is typically considered to be the first example of Ikko-Ikki, that is, “Single Minded Uprising”, and a catch-all name that would eventually refer to the movement as a whole.

    Rennyo himself actually spoke out against the rebellion and attempted to persuade his followers not to support it, but the die had been cast, and although the initial uprising would not lead to complete Ikko control of Kaga by 1506, Kaga Province was being referred to as “ruled by peasants” in contemporary sources.

    Rennyo died in 1499, and with his passing, the Ikko-Ikki movement transitioned from simple self-defence to full participation in the Sengoku Period’s many wars. As early as 1494, there had been attempts to provoke similar uprisings in neighbouring provinces, with limited success; even when the uprisings had been triggered, they were often badly organised and swiftly put down.

    In 1506, the Kaga Ikko-Ikki decided on a more direct approach and invaded neighbouring Echizen Province, home of the Asakura Clan. Some sources estimate the Ikko Army had as many as 300,000 peasant warriors, and although this is certainly an exaggeration, it goes some way towards highlighting the anxiety shown towards the popularity and relative success of the movement.

    The invasion was stopped by the Asakura Clan, and the defeat of the Ikko-Ikki is supposed to have cost them 100,000 casualties (perhaps interpretable as a third of their army). Regardless of the actual numbers, the victory gave the Asakura the momentum to issue an edict banning the Ikko-shu ideology in their lands.

    Edicts alone didn’t do much to stop the popularity of the movement, though there was another serious uprising near Kyoto in 1531 (the Tenbun Disturbance) and a supporting uprising in Nara the next year.

    Other parts of Japan would also suffer serious outbreaks of Ikko-Ikki, most significantly in 1563-4, when a major uprising in Mikawa Province would sorely test Tokugawa Ieyasu (then using the clan name Matsudaira), who was able to achieve a military victory but would be forced to deal with the political fallout of the uprising for nearly 30 years after the event.

    A later illustration of the Mikawa Uprising.

    Probably the most famous of the Ikko-Ikki conflicts would be the one against Oda Nobunaga. Actually several conflicts the ongoing feud between Nobunaga and the Ikko-Ikki, would lead to some of the bloodiest episodes in an already bloody period.

    In 1568, Nobunaga arrived in Kyoto, nominally to support the last of the Ashikaga Shoguns but in reality to rule himself. In response, the Ikko-shu leaders at Ishiyama (in modern Osaka) issued a 1570 decree stating that Nobunaga was an enemy of the movement and should be opposed.

    Nobunaga was naturally taken aback by that and responded by laying siege to Ishiyama. He simultaneously launched attacks against other Ikko establishments, notably at Nagashima (near modern Nagoya) in a siege that lasted until 1574, and cost the lives of 20,000 or more Ikko-shu adherents.

    Another later illustration, this time of the Battle at Nagashima

    He would continue his attacks on the movement throughout 1574 and beyond, advancing against them in Echizen as part of his conquest of that province, before finally reducing the great fortress temple at Ishiyama in 1580, after a ten-year siege (the longest in Japanese history), but a fire broke out shortly before peace could be finalised. Sources disagree on the origin of the blaze, but it destroyed Ishiyama and tore the spiritual heart out of the Ikko movement.

    Later, in one of his last campaigns, Nobunaga sent his subordinates to put down the Ikko-Ikki in Kaga, where it was finally crushed in March 1582, and the “Province ruled by peasants” was brought to an end after almost a century of independence.

    Though the political independence of the Ikko movement would not survive the end of the Sengoku Period, the religion itself endured, though not without difficulty. After Nobunaga’s suppression, the movement made a comeback under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, gaining lands and privileges in Kyoto.

    There would be a doctrinal and later physical split in the 17th Century, and an East Honganji and West Honganji (named after their relative locations in Kyoto) would emerge. In the modern period, changes in laws, customs, and further factional splits mean there are now dozens of sects of various sizes, all claiming to be descended from the original Jodo Shinshu, which is now the most widespread Buddhist Sect in Japan, with more than 22,000 temples associated with it in one form or another

    The Nishi-Honganji as it appears today.
    By 663highland, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56357164

    Sources
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikk%C5%8D-ikki
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikk%C5%8D-sh%C5%AB
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%80%E5%90%91%E4%B8%80%E6%8F%86
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%B7%E5%B3%B6%E4%B8%80%E5%90%91%E4%B8%80%E6%8F%86
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%8A%E5%89%8D%E4%B8%80%E5%90%91%E4%B8%80%E6%8F%86
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9F%B3%E5%B1%B1%E5%90%88%E6%88%A6
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E6%B2%B3%E4%B8%80%E5%90%91%E4%B8%80%E6%8F%86
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B9%9D%E9%A0%AD%E7%AB%9C%E5%B7%9D%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8A%A0%E8%B3%80%E4%B8%80%E5%90%91%E4%B8%80%E6%8F%86
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%8A%E4%B8%AD%E4%B8%80%E5%90%91%E4%B8%80%E6%8F%86
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9C%9F%E5%AE%97%E5%A4%A7%E8%B0%B7%E6%B4%BE%E4%BA%95%E6%B3%A2%E5%88%A5%E9%99%A2%E7%91%9E%E6%B3%89%E5%AF%BA
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AF%8C%E6%A8%AB%E6%94%BF%E8%A6%AA
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%AC%E9%A1%98%E5%AF%BA%E3%81%AE%E6%AD%B4%E5%8F%B2
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%80%E5%90%91%E5%AE%97
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%80%E6%8F%86
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%93%AE%E5%A6%82
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hongan-ji

  • The Onin War

    The Onin War

    As we discussed last time, Japan in the 1460s was a chaotic place. Rival clans engaged in bloody feuds with each other, and it wasn’t uncommon for members of the same families to take up arms against each other in disputes over who was really in charge, taking sibling rivalry to a whole new level.

    By this time, endemic warfare was just a part of life in Japan.

    In the centre of this chaos was a Shogun who was so weak he might as well not have existed, and when the violence inevitably reached Kyoto, there was little he could do to stop it.

    The exact origins of the Onin War are disputed, but the main rivals were the Yamana and Hosokawa Clans, arguably the two most powerful clans of their day, with both playing key roles in the government and having control of vast swathes of land, and the wealth, manpower, and allegiances that went along with it.

    Throughout the 1450s and 60s, the Yamana and Hosokawa Clans had been engaged in something of a ‘Cold War’ in which they supported rival factions in numerous proxy wars around Japan, most importantly, the ongoing civil war within the Hatakeyama Clan.

    In January 1467, Yamana supported Hatakeyama forces attacked those of the Hosokawa at the Battle of Goryo Shrine (sometimes just called the Battle of Goryo). Though the battle resulted in a Yamana victory, the intervention of the Shogun brought an end to the immediate hostilities, and both Yamana and Hosokawa partisans remained in the capital.

    The marker at Kamigoryo Shrine in Kyoto, showing the spot where the Onin War broke out.

    It has been speculated that both side were willing to let the Shogun mediate because neither of them was ready for all out war, because through early Spring, forces gathered in and around Kyoto, until May of that year, when it is said in some (probably exaggerated) sources that there were more than 270,000 warriors present, with the Hosokawa having a significant advantage in numbers (160,000-110,000).

    Though the Yamana had secured an advantage after Goryo and controlled the Shogun, the Hosokawa did not sit idly by. Their leaders issued orders and summons of their own, and set about raiding Yamana/Shogunate supply lines, and literally burning bridges.

    Due to the location of their relative bases in Kyoto, the Hosokawa and their allies became known as the Eastern Army, and the Yamana and theirs were called the Western Army, and it is by these names that we’ll refer to them going forward.

    Tensions finally boiled over in late May 1467, when forces of the Eastern Army launched a dawn attack against the Western forces around the Shogun’s palace, driving them away, occupying the palace, and bringing the Shogun under their control.

    A scene from later in the war, depicting just how chaotic the battlefield could be.

    Shortly after this victory, Ashikaga Yoshimi (the Shogun’s brother, and still heir) was declared commander in chief, and the Shogun himself handed over an official banner to the Eastern Army, proclaiming them to be the official army of the Shogun, effectively branding the Western army rebels.

    Despite their setback, the Western forces regrouped and attacked Kyoto in August, driving Yoshimi and his supporters out of the city and establishing control for themselves. It is at this point that the Western Army stopped deferring to any Shogunate officials and instead began issuing orders signed by a ‘junta’ of their most senior generals.

    Further attempts by the Western army to press their advantage failed, and several battles throughout September and October ended in bloody stalemate. In December, the Emperor issued a decree stripping all Western generals of their formal Imperial titles in an attempt to further delegitimise their cause; however, it had no practical effect, and as 1467 came to an end, the Western Army was in control of Kyoto, but the war was a stalemate.

    Throughout early 1468, there were sporadic outbursts of fighting in and around Kyoto, leaving large areas of the city in ruins, with the two sides gaining and losing ground in return, until the capital they had been so eagerly fighting over was no longer a prize worth having.

    In the summer of that year, Yoshimi, who had been in hiding away from Kyoto, was persuaded to return to the capital by his brother, the Shogun. This reconciliation was short-lived, however, as it was becoming clear that the Shogun now supported his (still infant) son, Yoshihisa, as heir. The key leaders of the Eastern Army, too, were behind Yoshihisa, and so Yoshimi fled to Mt Hiei, where, in November, messengers arrived from the Western Army, declaring him to be the ‘new Shogun’. From then on, Western Forces began issuing formal declarations from the ‘Shogun’, Yoshimi, although in reality, the generals remained in control, and Yoshimi was effectively isolated on Mt Hiei.

    By early 1469, the conflict had spread to Kyushu and the Kanto as well, where nominally Western and Eastern forces would fight it out in localised episodes of the wider conflict. In reality, however, the complete breakdown in central authority meant that these forces had no loyalty to anyone but themselves, and this fighting is often considered to be the start of the Sengoku Jidai or “Age of the Country at War.”

    As 1469 dragged on, the main forces around Kyoto were exhausted. The capital was a ruin, and the Shogunate’s power, already tenuous, had ceased to exist entirely. There had been many reasons for the outbreak of war, but the main one had been control of the Shogunate; now that there was no real Shogunate to control, neither side had much motivation to continue fighting.

    Rival forces loot Kyoto as the city burns around them. By the end of the Onin War, Kyoto was a ruin.
    Docsubster – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC 表示-継承 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63970510による

    As Machiavelli said, though “Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please,” and the Eastern and Western forces were now discovering how true that was. Although superficially a conflict over the Shogunate, by 1470, factions on both sides had begun working for themselves. There were numerous internal conflicts, feuds, and defections, and by 1471, there were several clans that had switched sides, and some that had done so more than once.

    In 1472, there was a serious effort to make peace, with the leaders of the Yamana and Hosokawa clans (the originators of the feud) agreeing, in principle, to return to the antebellum situation. These terms were unpopular with other factions, however, many of whom had gained significant territories as a result of the war. The head of the Yamana Clan even went so far as to attempt suicide, in a move that historians have suggested shows the extent of his desire to find a settlement, but it did no good, and the fighting dragged on.

    Yamana Sozen, head of the Yamana Clan, whose attempted suicide is supposed to have shown how sincere he was about forging peace.
    By Mt0616 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99587678

    At the Shogunate court, a priest commented:

    “The affairs of the nation were being handled, the maids were planning (all the politics of the nation were being planned by Tomiko, a woman), the Shogun (Yoshimasa) was drinking sake, and the feudal lords were wearing dog hats (a reference to a kind of hat worn during mounted archery displays) . It was as if the world was at peace.”

    This quote gives us the impression of a court completely out of touch with the wider world, and indeed, other sources state that Yoshimasa’s drinking was no mere social tipple; he would drink to excess, and it was said that the Emperor got into the habit of joining him, further eroding the respect and prestige of whatever government remained.

    In March and May 1473, first the Yamana, then the Hosokawa Clan heads died, and a new generation took their place. Also in that year, Shogun Yoshimasa retired as Shogun, handing the title over to his nine-year-old son, Yoshihisa, whilst keeping the actual power for himself.

    Peace was finally agreed between the two main protagonists in April 1473, but the war didn’t come to an immediate end; defections and skirmishing continued, and it wasn’t until 1477 that the Western Army was formally disbanded. In November of that year, the Shogunate held a formal celebration, announcing the restoration of peace.

    Despite eleven years of Civil War, very little had actually been achieved. Yoshimasa had remained Shogun and handed the title to his son, Yoshihisa. The rival claimant, Yoshimi, had fled into exile but was formally pardoned in 1478, along with most of those who had supported him.

    Early in the war, the Eastern forces had been granted a banner from the Shogunate, effectively declaring themselves the legitimate party, whilst their Western enemies were branded rebels. In the wake of their victory, then, you might have expected the Eastern leadership to seek ‘justice’ (or more likely, revenge) against the Westerners.

    So why didn’t it happen?

    The answer is fairly simple: the Eastern Army, now just the Shogunate, was too weak. Eleven years of Civil War had resulted in nothing but fatally weakening both sides, and even though they were victorious, no one amongst the Shogun’s supporters had the strength to mete out any kind of justice.

    Ashikaga Yoshihisa, nominally Shogun at this point, but far too weak to actually exercise his power.

    This weakness is best seen in the fact that, despite a formal peace agreement, the fighting didn’t end. Kyoto was a blackened ruin, and the formerly great clans were exhausted, but in the provinces, the war went on, and on, and on.

    Though it would not be called the Sengoku Jidai until much later, the Onin War brought about a period of anarchy that would last for more than 120 years, and the Ashikaga Shoguns would never hold any real authority outside of Kyoto, despite some brief resurgences in the late 15th century.

    It wasn’t just the Shogunate that was weakened; however, many of the shugo, regional lords, had committed considerable resources to the fighting, expending blood and treasure in pursuit of their goals, only to find themselves with little to show for it. In the 1480s, the system of shugo-in, the policy of requiring the lords to remain in Kyoto, formally broke down, and the shugo returned to their provinces, where some were able to restore their wealth and power, but many others became the first victims of gekokujo, (lit. lower rules/overthrows high) in which deputies of nominally lower rank were able to overthrow their masters, a phenomenon that would become common in the century ahead.

    Kyoto itself was also left as a practical ruin by the end of the fighting. The expense of restoring the city and the fact that the Shogun and his wife (Tomiko) were seen as embezzling huge sums of money led to outbreaks of rebellion in the 1480s and only served to further erode what little remained of the Shogun’s authority and prestige.

    The Onin War also foreshadowed several developments of the Sengoku Jidai, especially the end of the reliance on Samurai-only armies. The Samurai as a class had once monopolised war, but they were too few to man the much larger armies required in the 15th Century and later. This led to the rise of the Ashigaru, or Foot Soldiers. Originally peasant levies, the Ashigaru would evolve into something that could be recognised as professional soldiery, and they would play a key role in the wars to come, with one of their number, a man who would eventually be known as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, rising to a position of supreme power a century later.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BF%9C%E4%BB%81%E3%81%AE%E4%B9%B1
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E5%88%A9%E7%BE%A9%E5%B0%9A
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E5%88%A9%E7%BE%A9%E8%A6%96
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashikaga_Yoshimasa
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E5%88%A9%E7%BE%A9%E6%94%BF