Tag: Awa Province

(No longer) Lords of the Four Provinces

Last time, we looked at how the Chosokabe rose from barely holding a single castle to becoming effective masters of the whole of Shikoku. In 1582, it had looked like they were about to be invaded and (probably) conquered by Oda Nobunaga, but his sudden death at the Honnoji Incident in June 1582 granted the Chosokabe a brief reprieve.

The mon of the Chosokabe Clan.
_{^{百楽兎 – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC 表示-継承 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9987939による}}

Between 1582 and 1585, they completed their conquest of Shikoku, although exactly how much control they really exerted is still debated by historians, with some suggesting that Shikoku was conquered and pacified, but others making the case that Chosokabe control outside of Tosa Province was tenuous.

Regardless of the nature of Chosokabe’s control of Shikoku, it would prove to be brief. In the spring of 1585, Hashiba Hideyoshi, fresh from defeating the last of his rivals to the mantle of Nobunaga’s successor, turned his attention to Shikoku. Hideyoshi ordered the Chosokabe to hand over Iyo and Sanuki Provinces, effectively ceding the northern half of Shikoku to him.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who would eventually become master of Japan.

The Lord of the Chosokabe, Motochika, tried to negotiate, offering just Iyo Province. Hideyoshi was not a man to be bargained with, however, and in response to what he saw as Chosokabe’s defiance, he dispatched an army of some 100,000 men under the overall command of his brother, Hidenaga.

Shikoku was attacked from three sides: Sanuki and Awa by Hidenaga’s army, and Iyo by the Mori who had recently submitted to Hideyoshi and were keen for a chance to prove their loyalty. Attacked on multiple fronts and facing overwhelming numbers, the Chosokabe did not resist for long. At the end of July, after already having lost Awa Province, Motochika surrendered.

The terms were harsh, but not as bad as they might have been. Hideyoshi allowed the Chosokabe to keep control of Tosa Province, but the other three were divided amongst Hideyoshi’s vassals. In 1586, the Chosokabe would join Hideyoshi’s invasion of Kyushu, and though the campaign itself would be successful, Motochika’s heir, Nobuchika, was killed in battle.

Overcome with grief, Motochika is supposed to have tried to kill himself, only being dissuaded at the last minute by his vassals. Not long after this, he relocated the base of the clan to what is now Kochi Castle, and in 1588, he named his fourth son, Morichika, as the new heir.

Kochi Castle as it appears today.
^{_{By Taisyo – photo taken by Taisyo, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2157936}}

In 1590, the Chosokabe again went to war in the service of Hideyoshi, this time dispatching naval forces to attack the Hojo Castle at Shimoda with 10,000 men. The garrison of 500 held out for nearly two months, but it was eventually taken, and with it, the Chosokabe contribution to the wider Odawara Campaign came to an end.

In 1591, Motochika moved his base from Kochi Castle to a position at Urado (still within the modern city of Kochi). Some sources say this was because of the unfavourable location of the first castle (it was prone to flooding), whilst others suggest it was a strategic move, with Urado serving as the main base of the Chosokabe Navy, which took part in Hideyoshi’s long and ultimately unsuccessful invasions of Korea from 1592-1598.

In 1596, the San Felipe Incident occurred when a Spanish Galleon (the San Felipe, hence the name) was shipwrecked off the coast of Tosa and brought into the harbour at Urado. We’ll focus on this incident specifically in a later post, but the short version is that Motochika confiscated the remaining cargo of the Galleon, and when officials from Hideyoshi arrived in Kochi to take possession of the goods, the captain of the Galleon heavily implied that the presence of Christians in Japan was the precursor to a Spanish Invasion, explaining that that was how the Spanish had managed to conquer such a large part of the globe.

Hideyoshi had initially issued orders expelling Christian priests from Japan in 1586, but it had been unenforced before now. When news of the supposed Spanish invasion reached him, Hideyoshi was horrified, and in 1597, he had 26 Christians (including one passenger from the San Felipe) marched from Kyoto to Nagasaki (the centre of Christianity in Japan) and had all 26 crucified on a hill overlooking the city.

A 19th Century depiction of the executions. The Japanese are wrongly portrayed with Chinese clothing and weapons.

Motochika’s role in the persecution that followed is not clear, though Christianity had never been particularly strong on Shikoku, as the Chosokabe were largely opposed to foreigners in Japan, so it’s not hard to imagine he would have had no qualms about expelling them from his territory, even if he was not actively involved in the wider campaign.

Hideyoshi’s death in 1598 would threaten the fragile peace he had forged, as his son and heir was just a boy, and a council of five regents was appointed to rule in his stead. Though Motochika was not a member of the council, he was still a man of influence, and in 1599, he was in Kyoto for an audience with Toyotomi Hideyori (Hideyoshi’s son) when he fell seriously ill.

When it became clear that he wasn’t going to get better, he made his will, leaving control of the Chosokabe to his son Morichika, before he passed away in May that year. Morichika’s accession was far from smooth; he was unpopular amongst some of the Chosokabe’s retainers (apparently due to his arrogance and short temper), and the Toyotomi, de facto masters of Japan, didn’t recognise him as the new head of the clan.

An early 20th century depiction of Chosokabe Morichika.

Morichika would try to make good on his appointment by joining the Western Army (the pro-Toyotomi side) at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. This would prove to be an unwise choice in the end, as the Western Army was defeated by the Eastern Army under Tokugawa Ieyasu. Although the Chosokabe had not actually been involved in the final battle, they had chosen a side and would not escape the consequences.

Morichika was punished by having Tosa taken from him. Though there would be some protest, the decision proved to be final, and the Chosokabe’s time as feudal lords was over. Motochika would campaign to have his territory restored until around 1605. In 1610, he supposedly became a monk, and although his movements around this time are unclear, by 1612, he was under direct surveillance from the new Tokugawa Shogunate.

The new Shogun was right to suspect him, as, during the Osaka Campaign in 1615, he sided with the Toyotomi, hoping to secure the restoration of Chosokabe lands in Tosa. In the event, the Tokugawa would be victorious in that campaign, snuffing out the last of the Toyotomi Clan, and securing their rule.

A contemporary kawaraban, a kind of early newspaper, depicting the fall of Osaka Castle.

Morichika is reported to have fought bravely, leading an attack on the Tokugawa’s main camp that was ultimately unsuccessful, but which managed to inflict serious casualties on the Tokugawa army before being forced to withdraw. With Osaka Castle eventually falling to the Tokugawa, Morichika initially fled, but he was discovered and then humiliated by being paraded around Kyoto before being beheaded.

Morichika’s death brought an end to the Chosokabe. Some sources state he had as many as five sons, all of whom died premature and violent deaths. Some other sources, however, suggest that he had just two children, a girl and a boy, one who married a local retainer, and the other who was whisked away after the Siege of Osaka and raised elsewhere. Unfortunately, in both cases, reliable sources are hard to come by, and the truth appears to be that the Chosokabe died with Morichika.

The Chosokabe name would be revived in later years by descendants of Motochika’s brother, Chikafusa, who had been adopted into the Shima Clan years earlier and thus survived the end of the Chosokabe. The family survived in this form until March 2025, when the last head of the family, Chosokabe Tomochika, passed away childless, aged 82.

「今は個人の時代。家を背負う時代ではありません。逆にこれからの世代が、自分の思いで新しい歴史を作っていくのも立派なことじゃないかと思いますね」

“We are now in the age of the individual. It is no longer the age to shoulder the burden of a family. On the contrary, I think it is admirable for future generations to create a new history based on their own ideas.” – Chosokabe Tomochika

Sources
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%B7%E5%AE%97%E6%88%91%E9%83%A8%E7%9B%9B%E8%A6%AA
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%AD%E6%9D%A1%E6%B2%B3%E5%8E%9F
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%B7%E5%AE%97%E6%88%91%E9%83%A8%E5%85%83%E8%A6%AA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%8Dsokabe_Morichika
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%EF%BC%9D%E3%83%95%E3%82%A7%E3%83%AA%E3%83%9A%E5%8F%B7%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8B%E7%94%B0%E5%9F%8E_(%E4%BC%8A%E8%B1%86%E5%9B%BD)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Felipe_incident_(1596)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%B7%E5%AE%97%E6%88%91%E9%83%A8%E6%B0%8F
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%B7%E5%AE%97%E6%88%91%E9%83%A8%E5%8F%8B%E8%A6%AA
https://croissant-online.jp/life/54209/

November 27, 2025
On and on it goes…

As we mentioned previously, the word Nanbokucho literally means Southern and Northern Court, and it was this division that was the defining factor during the early years of the Ashikaga Shogunate (hence the name, I suppose).

There had been an abortive attempt at reconciliation during the so-called Shohei Reunification, when Ashikaga Takauji (the Shogun) had made a deal with the Southern Court in order to gain their support against his rebellious brother, Tadayoshi.

As we discussed last week, the Reunification fell apart almost as soon as Tadayoshi had been dealt with, as neither side could tolerate the other gaining power. No sooner was Tadayoshi dead than the Northern and Southern Courts went at it all over again.

In the immediate aftermath, Southern forces attacked Kyoto, taking the city, only to be driven out a month later by a Shogunate counterattack, and this didn’t just happen once either. In the period of 1352 to 1361, there were actually four Battles of Kyoto (though they also have other names in Japanese).

A modern view of Kyoto. A beautiful city today, a battleground in the 1360s
_{^{Sorasak boontohhgraphy – https://unsplash.com/photos/_UIN-pFfJ7cアーカイブされたコピー at the Wayback MachineImage at the Wayback Machine, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61767016による}}

Each time, Southern forces would attack, usually taking the city, only to be driven out again shortly afterwards by armies loyal to the Shogun. During this period, with Takauji’s health apparently failing, his son Yoshiakira began to take on more responsibility.

When Takauji died in 1358, Yoshiakira became the second Ashikaga Shogun, and almost immediately set about launching a major military campaign against the Southern Court, seeking to crush it once and for all. Yoshiakira’s forces were able to take Akasaka Castle, home of the powerful Kusunoki Clan (whom we’ve mentioned previously).

Despite this success, the Southern Court, led by the Kusunoki, resorted to guerrilla warfare in the mountainous terrain, and the conflict dragged on to the point that several Shogunate generals defected, or else just went home.

In 1361, buoyed by another defection, the Southern Court once again attacked Kyoto, but once again, they couldn’t hold it, and within a month, the Shogun was back in control of the capital.

This back-and-forth warfare did little but exhaust the resources of all involved, but generally, the Shogun had the advantage. This was further emphasised in 1363, when the powerful Yamana and Ouchi clans (previously supporters of Tadayoshi, and then the Southern Court) submitted to the Shogun.

Meanwhile, everywhere else…

Whilst the Nanbokucho period was violent and chaotic, the direct confrontations between the Northern and Southern courts actually only happened in a relatively small area of central Japan. So what was going on elsewhere in the country?

Well, it wasn’t good. During the Kamakura Shogunate, most of the warrior clans had paid at least lip service to the idea of loyalty to the Shogun, and things had been relatively peaceful. The Ashikaga Shogunate, in contrast, had practically no control outside of the areas of central Japan.

This meant that powerful local warlords in places like the Kanto or Kyushu (Eastern and Southern Japan, respectively) were more or less left to their own devices, though some would side openly with either the Shogunate or the Southern Court.

In Kyushu, for example, local forces, supplemented by warriors sent by both courts, fought a series of increasingly bloody battles, culminating in the Battle of Chikugo River in the summer of 1359. It is said that this battle had over 100,000 combatants, with more men killed (46,000) than during the entire Mongol Invasion. Victory for the Southern Court secured control of Kyushu for more than a decade.

The Battle of Chikugo River in 1359 was one of the largest ever fought in Japan, and gave control of Kyushu to the Southern Court for more than a decade.
_{^{Musuketeer.3 – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC 表示-継承 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27263125による}}

Elsewhere in Japan, strong central government was replaced by strongman local government, as Shugo, military governors that had once been appointed by the Shogun, now took on the role of hereditary lords, passing their titles on to their heirs and creating a powerful military aristocracy that was capable of enforcing local law and order themselves and saw no need to seek support from a Shogun that might be too distracted to help anyway.

This didn’t happen overnight, of course, the transition towards warrior rule was often gradual, and highly inconsistent across different provinces. The Samurai, who were often little better than thugs in their treatment of peasants, were not popular, and the Shugo quickly learned to lean on the (increasingly obsolete) legitimacy that came from being a “governor” instead of a “lord.”

Technically, each Shugo derived his authority from the Shogun, and by extension, the Emperor. Yes, it was the Shugo’s men who collected the taxes and enforced the law, but he did so in the name of the Shogun. Whether or not anyone actually believed this legal fiction is besides the point; by the 1360s, centralised control of the provinces was breaking down, and it would be centuries before it would be recovered.

Back at home

In 1361, Doyo (remember him?) pops up again, orchestrating the downfall of his rival Hosokawa Kyouji. Kyouji, however, wasn’t the type to go quietly, and as a member of the powerful Hosokawa Clan, based in Awa Province (where he fled), he was able to raise a significant army against the Shogun.

Awa Province, on Shikoku, the home province of the powerful Hosokawa Clan.
_{^{By Ash_Crow – Own work, based on Image:Provinces of Japan.svg, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1652119}}

Like many of those who opposed the Shogun, Kyouji and the Hosokawa sought support from the Southern Court, and together they took Kyoto in December, but within a few weeks, they were driven out. Not long after, Kyouji was forced back to Shikoku, where he would be killed battling forces led by his own cousin.

Despite another victory for the Shogun and the Northern Court, this latest Battle of Kyoto had reinforced the belief that military power alone was not going to be able to settle the issue. Both Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiakira and Emperor Go-Murakami appointed officials who were in favour of peace, and tentative negotiations began shortly afterwards.

This wasn’t a smooth process, mind you. In 1366, the Shiba Clan, former loyalists of the Shogun and strong proponents of peace, were accused of plotting against the Northern Court and exiled. Instead of joining the Southern Court as others had done, the Shiba retreated to their stronghold in Echizen Province (in modern Fukui Prefecture), where they were pursued by Shogunate forces and eventually defeated in July 1367.

As a side note, the Shogun actually ordered several clans to send forces to deal with the Shiba, which they did. While this showed that the Shogun was able to call on considerable support when needed, it also laid the groundwork for later trouble, as it became increasingly clear that the Shogun, and by extension, the Ashikaga Clan, did not have the military strength to enforce policy on its own.

Echizen Province, stronghold of the Shiba Clan.
_{^{By Ash_Crow – Own work, based on Image:Provinces of Japan.svg, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1655318}}

The path to peace was also complicated in 1367 by the Southern Court’s insistence that the Northern Court abide by the terms of the (failed) Shohei Unification, which the Shogunate unsurprisingly refused to do. This breakdown in negotiations almost led to a resumption of war, but cooler heads prevailed, and it seemed like things might work out.

Fate has a way of being uncooperative, however. Ashikaga Yoshiakira died suddenly in December 1367, followed in March 1368 by Emperor Go-Murakami. The third Shogun was Yoshiakira’s son, Yoshimitsu, who was still a minor and was thus aided by Hosokawa Yoriyuki (the cousin who had defeated Kyouji back in 1361).

At the Southern Court, Emperor Chokei took the throne. A hardliner, Chokei refused to continue negotiations with the Shogunate that weren’t predicated on the Northern Court submitting completely. This inflexible approach actually worked against the Southern Court’s interests, as several powerful figures who had been in support of peace (including some members of the influential Kusunoki Clan) defected to the Shogun’s side.

And so the war would go on. Hosokawa Yoriyuki would actually prove to be an effective administrator and did much to improve the position of the Shogunate before eventually falling foul of internal politics, but more on that next time.

Sources
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%97%E5%8C%97%E6%9C%9D%E6%99%82%E4%BB%A3_(%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B2%9E%E6%B2%BB%E3%81%AE%E5%A4%89
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B4%B0%E5%B7%9D%E6%B8%85%E6%B0%8F
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B1%B1%E5%90%8D%E6%99%82%E6%B0%8F
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E5%88%A9%E7%BE%A9%E8%A9%AE#%E5%B0%86%E8%BB%8D%E5%B0%B1%E4%BB%BB%E5%BE%8C
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashikaga_Yoshiakira
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanboku-ch%C5%8D_period

August 5, 2025