Chris Perry, Author

Tag: Kyoto warfare

  • The Hosokawa Rebellion

    The Hosokawa Rebellion

    As we’ve looked at previously, internal clan conflict wasn’t uncommon during the 15th century; in fact, it had gotten to the point that violent succession struggles were almost a fact of life. One exception to this rule had been the Hosokawa Clan.

    In the mid-15th Century, the Hosokawa were just one of several powerful clans that dominated the area around Kyoto, the centre of political power in the realm. While other clans had risen and fallen throughout the Century, the Hosokawa went from strength to strength, in large part because they managed to maintain a stable succession, leading to one of their number, Hosokawa Masatomo, being strong enough to launch the Meio Coup in 1493, giving him effectively complete control of the government and what was left of its prestige.

    Hosokawa Masatomo, who arguably led his clan to the height of its power, and laid the groundwork for its downfall.

    The relative stability of the Hosokawa Clan came to an end with Masatomo, however. He had succeeded his father largely because he had been the only viable candidate and had earned the support of his clan’s vassals after his father’s death. Masatomo apparently didn’t learn from this, however. Firstly, his spiritual beliefs meant that he swore off contact with women, which rather limited his opportunities to father an heir.

    This was no problem, though; adoption was(and continues to be) a widely accepted custom amongst the rich and powerful in Japan, and all Masatomo had to do was select a candidate who could earn the support of the wider Hosokawa Clan, and their position would be (relatively) secure.

    It must have come as quite a shock then, when Masatomo adopted not one, but three sons. To be fair, he didn’t adopt them all at once, and most contemporary sources speculate that his intentions were to split the Hosokawa lands between his new heirs, but you won’t be surprised to learn that it didn’t work out that way.

    No sooner was the ink dry on the adoption documents than rival factions began to form around the three potential heirs. Masatomo didn’t help matters by clearly favouring one son, Sumitomo, over the other two, but the whole situation would have been precarious even under the best of circumstances, and the Hosokawa certainly didn’t enjoy those.

    Hosokawa Sumitomo, Masatomo’s apparently preferred heir.

    We’ve looked at the wide-ranging political problems the Shogunate faced during the latter half of the 15th century, and when Masatomo seized control of the government, he also inherited those problems. It’s hard to see how even the most focused, capable, and diplomatic leader might have reversed the situation the Shogunate found itself in, and unfortunately for the Hosokawa, Masatomo was an eccentric iconoclast, prone to doing things like attempting to fly, deriding long-standing ceremonies, and generally making political enemies wherever he went.

    It is a strange quirk of human history, though, that factions who seem to have hostile (and often violent) intentions towards each other will exist in a kind of tense equilibrium as long as there is someone, or something, that they can focus their ire on. In the early 16th century, that someone was Masatomo.

    None of the three factions was strong enough to openly oppose him, because if they had, they’d have been attacked and wiped out by the other two, who would need little encouragement to remove a rival, even if that meant supporting Masatomo in the short term.

    It is also true that, eventually, the dam always breaks, and when it comes to court politics, that usually means blood. In June 1507, supporters of one of Masatomo’s adopted sons (Sumiyuki) assassinated him in his bathhouse. The next day, they attempted to do the same thing to another son, Sumitomo, but he managed to escape with the help of his allies in the Miyoshi Clan.

    Just a moment ago, I mentioned that one faction couldn’t make a move without antagonising the other three, and that’s exactly what happened. Sumiyuki’s supporters had tried to remove Sumitomo and failed. Now, Sumitomo fled Kyoto and sought the aid of the third brother, Takakuni, who was only too happy to oblige.

    The stylised end of Hosokawa Sumiyuki.
    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=24893374による

    The combined forces of Takakuni and Sumitomo were indeed too much for Sumiyuki, and by August, he had been defeated and forced to commit suicide. The question then was who would actually succeed Masatomo. Both Takakuni and Sumitomo could arguably claim to have avenged their adopted father’s death, and both had significant support from the remaining Hosokawa retainers.

    As we mentioned last time, it is at this point that the previously deposed Shogun, Yoshitane, returned to the scene. Given that Masatomo had overthrown him in a coup and installed a puppet, it wasn’t difficult to convince Shogunate loyalists to side with Yoshitane. Suddenly, becoming heir to the Hosokawa Clan wasn’t quite the prize it had been. Though Sumitomo was in the stronger position, he now faced a resurgent Yoshitane, and his brother, Takakuni, saw the way the wind was blowing and threw in his lot with the returning Shogun as well.

    Just as Sumiyuki had been unable to oppose the combined forces of his brothers, Sumitomo did not have the strength to challenge the Shogun and Takakuni. Sumitomo also lost considerable support due to the actions of his supporters in the Miyoshi Clan, who had become overbearing in the short period after their victory.

    So, in April 1508, when Yoshitane and Takakuni marched on Kyoto, Sumitomo and the Miyoshi had little choice but to flee with their puppet Shogun, Yoshizumi. Shortly after this, Yoshitane was reinstated as Shogun, and Takakuni was named the new head of the Hosokawa Clan.

    The once and future Shogun, Yoshitane, picked the right moment to return to the political scene.

    In June the following year, Sumitomo and the Miyoshi attempted to retake the city but were defeated and driven back; however, a counterattack led by Yoshitane was similarly defeated. The back-and-forth nature of the conflict continued until the Battle of Ashiyagawara (sometimes called the Siege of Takao Castle), in the summer of 1511, after which Sumitomo’s victorious forces were able to briefly reoccupy Kyoto.

    ‘Briefly’ is the operative word here, because in September of the same year, Takakuni and Yoshitane’s forces counterattacked, retook Kyoto, and drove Sumitomo and the Miyoshi back to their strongholds in Awa Province, across the Inland Sea on Shikoku.

    Awa Province.
    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

    Around this time, Yoshizumi died of illness, and Sumitomo suffered a serious loss of support. Many of his allies had supported Yoshizumi as Shogun, and Sumitomo as his champion, but now Yoshizumi was gone, Yoshitane, who was now firmly entrenched in Kyoto, was the only remaining claimant to the title, and many Shogunate loyalists deserted to him, weakening Sumitomo and strengthening Takakuni.

    Ashikaga Yoshizumi, whose death proved that a puppet shogun is better than no Shogun at all.

    This stalemate did not mean peace, however, and constant, low-level fighting would continue throughout the region and the wider realm; what would later be called the Sengoku Jidai was already well underway, even if the area immediately around Kyoto was relatively quiet.

    In 1517, the stalemate was broken when Miyoshi forces in support of Sumitomo invaded Awaji and used it as a springboard to threaten the mainland. Around this time, the Ouchi Clan, who had supported Takakuni and Yoshitane for the better part of 10 years, left the capital to deal with unrest in their home provinces, caused by the apparent resurgence of Sumitomo and the Miyoshi’s faction.

    The departure of the Ouchi was a major blow to Takakuni, and over the next two years, he saw his position gradually chipped away, as forces defected to Sumitomo or simply abandoned the fight to deal with their own affairs. Finally, in early 1520, Shogun Yoshitane himself switched sides, throwing his support behind Sumitomo and forcing Takakuni to flee Kyoto.

    Ouchi Yoshioki, the head of the Ouchi Clan, whose decision to leave Kyoto seriously weakened Takakuni.

    Takakuni fled to Omi Province, but he wasn’t ready to roll over just yet. Gathering a force of his allies, he counter-attacked in May 1520 and retook the capital. This time, his victory was decisive; he forced the leader of the Miyoshi Clan to commit suicide and even managed to drive Sumitomo back into exile on Shikoku, where he died of illness shortly afterwards.

    The following year, Takakuni exiled the fickle Yoshitane and installed Ashikaga Yoshiharu, the son of Yoshizumi, as Shogun, though he was just as much a puppet ruler as his father had been. Takakuni was appointed kanrei (deputy) for the new Shogun’s enthronement ceremony, but would resign the position immediately afterwards, proving to be the last man to hold the position, according to historical records.

    It wouldn’t be until October 1524 that the last embers of Miyoshi resistance were stamped out on Shikoku, but even then, Takakuni was far from secure in his position. In 1526, he faced serious opposition from within his own clan and was defeated when he tried to march against them. In 1527, this combined force actually managed to drive Takakuni out of Kyoto, and an attempted counterattack was defeated at the Battle of Katsuragawa in March that year.

    Takakuni, ever tenacious, refused to give up, despite being defeated in 1528 and again in 1530. Things finally came to a head for him in 1531, at the Battle of Tennoji, which is often called the Daimotsu Kuzure, which can be translated as “The Fall of the Big Shots” (lit. big names fall, or collapse).

    The Battlefield Memorial of the Fall of the Big Shots.

    Takakuni was defeated. He survived the battle but was captured shortly afterwards, supposedly whilst hiding in an indigo storage barrel at a dye shop, after which he was obliged to commit suicide. Several of his main supporters (the eponymous “Big Names”) suffered similar fates, and Takakuni’s faction disintegrated.

    Takakuni’s body was likely still warm (and probably blue, given his hiding place) when the forces that had opposed him turned on each other. Members of the Hosokawa, Hatakeyama, and Miyoshi Clans all began fighting, and any hope of retaining a stable government in Kyoto was lost.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B0%B8%E6%AD%A3%E3%81%AE%E9%8C%AF%E4%B9%B1
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E7%89%A9%E5%B4%A9%E3%82%8C
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A1%82%E5%B7%9D%E5%8E%9F%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E5%88%A9%E7%BE%A9%E6%99%B4
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AD%89%E6%8C%81%E9%99%A2%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8A%A6%E5%B1%8B%E6%B2%B3%E5%8E%9F%E3%81%AE%E5%90%88%E6%88%A6
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%88%B9%E5%B2%A1%E5%B1%B1%E5%90%88%E6%88%A6
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8B%E7%94%B0%E4%B8%AD%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E5%88%A9%E7%BE%A9%E6%BE%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E5%86%85%E7%BE%A9%E8%88%88

  • Road to Disaster

    Road to Disaster

    By the mid-15th Century, Japan was in trouble. That might not come as a surprise for anyone who has read any of my previous posts (or even cast a curious eye over Japanese history to this point), but even by the admittedly tumultuous standards of Shogunate rule, things were bad.

    We’ve focused a lot on the Ashikaga Shogunate and its ongoing efforts to stamp permanent authority on the country, but if we zoom out for a moment, the chaos is evident in microcosm almost everywhere we look.

    There are multiple, long-term reasons for this, but here are several immediate causes: First, the Shogun’s policy of insisting that shugo (provincial lords) permanently reside in Kyoto. Whilst this kept the highest rank of the nobility under close supervision, it also meant that governance of the provinces was left in the hands of deputies, and over the years, these deputies began to operate more or less independently, and not always (if ever) in the interests of their nominal lords in Kyoto, leading to centralisation on paper, but fragmentation in reality.

    Secondly, the nature of Samurai families meant that there was no clear rule of succession. Whilst a lord could be succeeded by his eldest son, in reality, when a lord died, it wasn’t uncommon for any of his relatives who could muster support to stake a claim, leading to frequent outbreaks of serious violence that sometimes lasted for years, and led to even more fragments forming.

    Thirdly, the Ashikaga Shoguns themselves were weak. Since the beginning of their Shogunate, they had relied almost entirely on the support and goodwill of powerful clans. The reasons for this are fairly straightforward. In Japan, as in most feudal societies, power was derived from wealth and manpower, and those were derived from the control of land.

    The Ashikaga, despite being the pre-eminent family, controlled very little land of their own, and therefore had relatively few independent resources that they could call on, meaning that, when it came to everything from collecting taxes to raising armies, they relied heavily on the powerful clans around Kyoto.

    This system was always unstable, but it kind of worked when there was a strong-willed, capable Shogun at the head of things. But what happened when the seat of power was occupied by a weakling, or worse, a child?

    In 1441, that question was foremost in the minds of Japan’s leaders. In June of that year, the Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshinori, was assassinated. Yoshinori has arguably become a paranoid despot by this point, but he was undeniably a leader strong enough to hold the whole system together.

    Ashikaga Yoshinori, arguably a tyrant, but strong enough to keep the whole thing together.

    The impact of his sudden death was compounded by the fact that he had no adult heirs. Now, as I mentioned earlier, the idea that a lord would be succeeded by his eldest wasn’t enshrined in law, but the heir, generally, was expected to at least be grown up. What remained of the Shogunate was now facing not only rebellion but a succession crisis as well.

    The crisis was faced by the Kanrei, or Shogun’s Deputy, Hosokawa Mochiyuki. You might remember hearing the Hosokawa name before. They were a powerful family, and although their fortunes waxed and waned, they had remained central to the Shogun’s government.

    Mochiyuki put Yoshikatsu, the previous Shogun’s son, on the throne, and for a short while, at least, the initial crisis passed. Emphasis on the short , however, within a year, first Mochiyuki, and then Yoshikatsu (at just nine years old) were dead.

    Hosokawa Mochiyuki, the man who held the centre after Yoshinori’s death, but then, like so many great men, died himself not long after.

    Mochiyuki was replaced as kanrei by Hatakeyama Mochikuni, a member of the Hatakeyama Clan (hence the name). The Hatakeyama had been particularly harmed by the tyrannical rule of Ashikaga Yoshinori, and Mochiyuki sought to use his position to undo some of that harm. His intention was to restore certain lands and titles that had been taken from himself and his relatives, which I suppose he thought would serve to redress the balance of power.

    In this, however, he was opposed by the Hosokawa Clan, who had actually done quite well under Shogun Yoshinori and saw no reason to upset the new status quo. What followed was something of a ‘Cold War’ situation in which the Hosokawa and Hatakeyama would seek influence and advantage by engaging in politicking and proxy wars.

    The most visible example of this is how they involved themselves in family disputes. As I mentioned, succession was not a clear-cut thing, and when violent disputes inevitably broke out, the Hosokawa and Hatakeyama would swoop in to offer support for either side.

    From 1455 to 1460, the Hatakeyama themselves fell into civil war over who would be the next leader of the clan. The Shogun threw his support behind his favoured candidate, but it did little good.

    A strong Shogun might have been able to reassert control, but Yoshimasa was not that, and Shogunate support, which might have once been a decisive factor in deciding these disputes, instead became an irrelevance.

    Ashikaga Yoshimasa, another weak Shogun.

    One of the more serious outbreaks was in the Kanto (again), and when the Shogun ordered the Shiba Clan to dispatch an army to put it down, the Shiba instead collapsed into chaotic infighting over who would be the next head of the clan. The Shogun attempted to impose a new clan head, but this just made things worse. The Shiba were now too embroiled in their own fighting to be much use, and the rebellion in the Kanto went on unopposed.

    By late 1464, then, Japan was in serious crisis. This sense of anxiety was only worsened by the fact that, at age 29 (middle-aged by the standards of the day), Yoshimasa had no children who could serve as his heir (he had two daughters, but no one thought a woman could be Shogun). In November of that year, he solved this problem by calling his brother, Yoshimi, who was a monk, back to secular life and named him his heir.

    With Yoshimi safely back in Kyoto, the question of succession was resolved for now, and the Shogunate could focus on bringing the rest of the country back under control, or so they probably thought.

    In November 1465, just a year later, and to the surprise of many (though hopefully not Yoshimasa), a son and heir, Yoshihisa, was born. I’ve made this point already, but a son didn’t necessarily inherit from his father, and Yoshihisa didn’t automatically become the heir.

    This is where Yoshihisa’s mother, Hino Tomiko, enters the scene. She had actually been Yoshimasa’s wife for a decade at that point, and had given birth to a son in 1459, although the child had only lived for a day. Two daughters followed in 1462 and 1463, and then in 1465, Yoshihisa arrived.

    Like many historical women, Tomiko has been the victim of some seriously unflattering portrayals in contemporary sources, and what followed is possibly an example of that. The Oninki, a source for the origins of what was to come, say that Tomiko was a manipulative woman who saw in her son an opportunity to take power. She secured the support of the Yamana Clan and sought to promote her son as heir, whilst she would take control as regent until he came of age (which was expected to be a long time).

    Her alliance with the Yamana and her attempts to promote her son as heir over the Shogun’s brother were, for centuries, believed to have been the spark that led to the so-called Onin War.

    The problem with this is that the Oninki is literally the only source that places the blame for the war on Tomiko and her scheming. That’s not to say that she didn’t play a part, and the factions that formed in the late 1460s were certainly motivated at least nominally by support for one candidate or another, but Tomiko herself seems to have become a genuinely unpopular figure by the late 15th century (fairly or not) and so the Oninki which is usually believed to have been authored around the late 15th or early 16th centuries may have just been playing on what was, by then, a popular trope.

    Outside of Kyoto, the situation continued to deteriorate. In July 1466, the Shogun attempted to intervene in the Shiba clan’s succession crisis. This time, however, he encountered serious pushback, with several powerful shugo, including the Hosokawa, refusing orders to intervene, and some even stating they would fight for the Shiba against the Shogun.

    In September of that year, rumours abounded that Yoshimi (still officially the heir at this point) was going to be assassinated. Exactly how complicit the Shogun was is unclear, but Yoshimi was sufficiently scared for his life to flee to the protection of the Hosokawa.

    Ashikaga Yoshimi, the Shogun’s appointed heir.
    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=24843648による

    At this point, the Hosokawa and the Yamana cooperated to protect Yoshimi and oppose the Shogun. Facing the combined might of these two clans, the Shogun had little choice but to back down. The allies went further when they demanded that the lords who were closest to the Shogun (and were publicly blamed for his decisions) be removed. Several previously powerful supporters of the Shogun were either forced to commit suicide or sent into exile, seriously weakening the ability of the Shogun to run the government, and effectively leaving him in the hands of the Hosokawa-Yamana alliance.

    This alliance of convenience quickly became inconvenient, however. It goes back to the Hatakeyama Clan’s internal dispute that I mentioned earlier. The Hosokawa and Yamana supported rival factions, and when this dispute spilt over into Kyoto, a proverbial line in the sand was drawn.

    The actual combatants were made up of various members of different clans, and it gets very messy, so for ease of use, we’ll just talk about the Hosokawa and Yamana factions, but just know that’s not strictly how it went. For example, there were Hatakeyama, Shiba, and numerous other clans on both sides, which gives you some idea of how chaotic it got.

    At New Year 1467, the Shogun, breaking with tradition, visited the Yamana faction for the celebrations, which was about as clear a statement of support as you can imagine short of openly declaring himself. In response, Hosokawa forces surrounded the Shogun’s palace and attempted to intimidate him into issuing orders against the Yamana faction.

    This attempt failed, however, and the Shogun then issued orders that private feuds should not be settled in Kyoto. The Hosokawa faction seems to have followed these orders, but the Yamana and their supporters did not. As a result, the Hosokawa faction’s allies were forced to retreat to the Kamigoryo Shrine, on the outskirts of Kyoto.

    There, on the evening of January 18th, 1467, they were attacked by allies of the Yamana faction and defeated. At the time, the Shogun intervened swiftly, and there was hope that what became called the Battle of Kamigoryo Shrine would be the end of it.

    Neither side was going to let it lie, however, and throughout early spring, both sides gathered more forces in and around Kyoto, and by May, they were on a collision course.

    Sources
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