Chris Perry, Author

Tag: Ouchi Clan

  • The Shimazu, Part 1

    The Shimazu, Part 1

    Last time we looked at Shikoku, the so-called ‘four provinces’, well, how about an island of nine provinces? That’s right, Kyushu, the third largest of Japan’s main islands, is so called because in the pre-modern period it was home to nine whole provinces, which means, as names go, it’s not terribly creative, but what can you do?

    Kyushu.
    By TUBS – This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this file:, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16385933

    In ancient times, Kyushu had been the centre of cultural, economic, and social development in Japan, as its close proximity to Korea, and by extension China, made it the logical landing site for innovations as widespread as rice farming and written language. The island would also be the focus of two ultimately unsuccessful Mongol invasions in the 13th Century, and the Shogunate administration there would continue to be important until the decline of central authority in the 15th Century left Kyushu, much like the rest of the realm, effectively independent.

    Into this power vacuum stepped several powerful clans, with the most prominent arguably being the Ouchi, Otomo, and Shimazu. Though the Ouchi and Otomo would play important roles of their own in the story of the Sengoku Period, it is the Shimazu that we will be focusing on.

    The exact origins of the Shimazu name aren’t entirely clear, but the first figure to take the name was Tadahisa, who was made lord of the Shimazu Manor in southern Kyushu in 1185. Tadahisa himself is something of a mysterious figure, with various conflicting reports of his origins, parentage, and even his name, but what is clear is that the Shimazu were well established in southern Kyushu by the 13th century, and would use it as their base going forward.

    Shimazu Tadahisa, the first “Lord” Shimazu.

    Tadahisa’s son, Tadatoki, seems to have been an accomplished military leader, as he was appointed the shugo (military governor) of Satsuma, Osumi, and Hyuga Provinces, all of southern Kyushu in effect. He was also granted numerous prestigious lands and titles around the realm, but it was his Kyushu holdings that would be the most important for his descendants.

    The Shimazu’s fortunes would ebb and flow over time, but the distance of their lands from the centre of power in Kyoto meant that they were often able to weather the storms of early Medieval Japan. They were not immune from the ever-present problem of internal conflict, however, and by the time of the Onin War in 1467, the Shimazu were weak, divided, and vulnerable.

    It would be Shimazu Tadayoshi (1492-1568) who would begin to turn the fortunes of the clan around. Originally from the Isaku Clan (a branch of the Shimazu), Tadayoshi had a difficult start to life. His father, Yoshihisa, was apparently murdered by a stable hand when Tadayoshi was just two, and his grandfather was killed in battle in 1500. Following this, Tadayoshi’s mother, Lady Baiso, agreed to marry the lord of another branch of the Shimazu, on the condition that Tadayoshi be adopted as heir to both branches. The lord in question was apparently so keen on Lady Baiso that he agreed.

    Shimazu Tadayoshi.

    Tadayoshi proved to be an enlightened and capable ruler, taking inspiration from Zen teachings and humanitarian principles. He was a popular leader, as he genuinely cared for the needs of his retainers and the welfare of his territory, but his son, Takahisa, would prove to be greater still. In 1526, following the deaths in quick succession of both his sons, the head of the main branch of the Shimazu Clan, Katsuhisa, turned to Tadayoshi (renowned for his learning and upright conduct) for a solution to the succession issue.

    Tadayoshi had Takahisa adopted by the Lord of the Shimazu. In November 1526, Katsuhisa handed over control of the Shimazu Clan to Takahisa and retired to a monastery. Tadayoshi became a monk himself shortly afterwards and would go on to play a significant role in aiding his son in reestablishing Shimazu power in southern Kyushu.

    Shimazu Takahisa.

    Things are never quite that simple, however, and Takahisa’s accession to the leadership of the Shimazu was opposed by several powerful retainers, some of whom also claimed the right to lead. Katsuhisa himself also seems to have expressed some regret about handing over power, and in June 1527, an army was raised which drove Takahisa out, and had Katsuhisa returned as the shugo.

    The fighting would go back and forth for a while after this, despite unsuccessful efforts to arrange a reconciliation in 1529. Katsuhisa proved to be an unpopular lord, however, apparently being more focused on ‘vulgar entertainment’ than the business of ruling. Though this did not automatically translate into support for Takahisa, the division amongst his enemies handed him the initiative.

    Starting in 1533, Takahisa would lead a series of counter-attacks which eventually saw him establish control over most of Satsuma Province, and in 1539, the decisive Battle of Murasakihara saw Takahisa drive out his primary rivals, though it wouldn’t be until 1552 that he was finally recognised as the shugo of Satsuma Province by the Shogunate, 26 years after he had first assumed the mantle.

    Satsuma Province, home of the Shimazu 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=1691755

    Takahisa had long hoped to reestablish Shimazu control of the three provinces held by his ancestors, and he would lead campaigns into neighbouring Osumi province from 1554 to 1556, which would allow him to establish a foothold in the province from which further expansion could be launched.

    Though Takahisa would prove to be a successful warrior, he was also known for his outward-looking attitude towards foreigners. The Shimazu had long had trade with Ming China, largely through intermediaries in the Ryukyu Islands (modern Okinawa), and after Portuguese merchants arrived in Japan, Takahisa was one of the first lords to welcome them to his domains, and perhaps one of the first to employ firearms in battle.

    He would also go some way to establishing Christianity in Japan, as he welcomed Francis Xavier into his territory in 1549, though this would ultimately prove a short-lived association, due to backlash from conservative elements amongst the Buddhist and Shinto priesthoods.

    A later depiction of a Portuguese trading ship in Japanese waters.

    Takahisa would eventually retire to a monastery in 1556, handing control of the Shimazu over to his son, Yoshihisa, who also inherited his father’s ambitions to regain control of the three provinces of Satsuma, Osumi, and Hyuga. Yoshihisa had actually joined his father’s campaign in Osumi, making his ‘debut’ in 1554, and after inheriting the leadership from his father, he would continue the campaigns to fully pacify Satsuma and expand Shimazu holdings into the neighbouring provinces.

    Satsuma would come under his complete control in 1570. In 1572, a rival clan from Hyuga Province would invade Shimazu territory, only to be defeated in short order at the Battle of Kizakihara, with the Shimazu forces being led by Yoshihisa’s highly capable younger brother, Yoshihiro. It is said that the Shimazu, despite being outnumbered 10 to 1, launched an aggressive attack against the enemy, which saw several key leaders killed and over 500 enemy deaths (counted in heads taken after the battle).

    A later depiction of a head viewing (kubi-jikken), a common practice among Samurai, in which the heads of defeated enemies would be presented to lords, or otherwise publicly displayed.

    This victory allowed Yoshihisa to focus on Osumi Province, which he was able to fully conquer by the end of 1573. Then in 1576, he captured the strategically important Takahara Castle, held by the powerful Ito Clan of Hyuga. The fall of Takahara led to a domino effect in which the remaining 48 castles of the Ito Clan were either conquered or defected to the Shimazu. Not long after, the head of the Ito Clan, Yoshisuke, fled Hyuga, and the long-dreamt-of reunification of the three provinces was achieved.

    Almost as soon as the dust had settled, however, the powerful Otomo Clan, who controlled several provinces in North-Eastern Kyushu, invaded, nominally in support of the exiled Yoshisuke, but more likely in an opportunistic attempt to expand their own territory. A huge army of some 43,000 men crossed into Hyuga Province in October 1578 and laid siege to Takashiro Castle. The Shimazu under Yoshihisa could muster only 20,000 men in response, but they took advantage of poor coordination amongst the Otomo, dealing with the invaders piecemeal.

    The campaign culminated in the Battle of Mimikawa (which was actually fought nearly 20 miles from the eponymous river), in which Yoshihisa employed a series of feigned retreats, breaking the Otomo Army (which still enjoyed a numerical advantage) down, and eventually winning a victory that was so comprehensive the Otomo effectively ceased to be serious rivals.

    The war wouldn’t end at Mimikawa, however, and in 1580, Oda Nobunaga began negotiations between the Otomo and Shimazu, hoping to bring an end to the war, since he wanted the Otomo to join his upcoming campaign against the Mori. The negotiations were apparently successful, as Yoshihisa even went so far as to recognise Nobunaga as his ‘lord’, and planned to join the attack on the Mori as well.

    The situation on the eve of Nobunaga’s death in 1582. The Shimazu lands are blue, in southern Kyushu.
    By Alvin Lee – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39198356

    As we already know, Nobunaga’s death at the Honnoji incident in June 1582 put an end to those plans, but the weakened state of the Otomo and the fact that the peace deal no longer applied meant that the Shimazu were able to defeat or force the defection of several former Otomo retainers, increasing their own power and control over southern Kyushu.

    The campaign to unify the entire island would go on, but we’ll look at that next time.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B3%B6%E6%B4%A5%E7%BE%A9%E4%B9%85
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%80%B3%E5%B7%9D%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E5%8F%8B%E6%B0%8F
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B3%B6%E6%B4%A5%E7%BE%A9%E5%BC%98
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B3%B6%E6%B4%A5%E8%B2%B4%E4%B9%85
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B3%B6%E6%B4%A5%E5%BF%A0%E8%89%AF
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A2%85%E7%AA%93%E5%A4%AB%E4%BA%BA
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%96%A9%E6%91%A9%E5%9B%BD
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimazu_Takahisa
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B3%B6%E6%B4%A5%E5%BF%A0%E4%B9%85
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B3%B6%E6%B4%A5%E6%B0%8F
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_daimy%C5%8Ds_from_the_Sengoku_period

  • Memento Mori, Part 2

    Memento Mori, Part 2

    Last time we looked at Mori Motonari, the lord who took his clan from struggling to hold onto their domains to controlling one of the largest territories of any clan during the Sengoku Period. Motonari’s son, Takamoto, died early, and so it would fall to his grandson, Terumoto, to lead the clan after Motonari himself passed in 1571.

    Mori Terumoto

    Terumoto was born in 1553, at a time when his clan, the Mori, were already on the rise. Under the leadership of Motonari, the clan had recently purged the Inoue, who had presented a serious internal threat, obliging Motonari to get rid of them. Shortly before Terumoto was born, the Ouchi, nominal overlords of the Mori, were seriously weakened by an internal coup, allowing Motonari to expand his clan’s power base still further, and not long after that, the Mori would win the decisive Battle of Itsukushima, establishing themselves as the (relatively) unchallenged power in the region.

    Throughout his early life, Terumoto hardly saw his father or grandfather, as both men were frequently on campaign, and the young boy, as the future leader of the Mori, was kept safe, far from the fighting. Takamoto was, by this point, technically the leader of the Mori (though Motonari would remain in control), and when he died suddenly in 1563, Terumoto, just 11 years old, became the nominal head of the clan. Due to his youth, however, Motonari agreed to serve as ‘co-leader’, whilst (again) retaining all the actual power.

    In 1565, as a sign of how far the Mori had risen, Terumoto’s coming-of-age ceremony was attended by an official representative of the Shogunate, lending formal (if only symbolic) prestige to the young man. After this, Terumoto, who was now legally an adult, became the official head of the clan, and from then on, most legal documents carried his signature, though he would continue to defer to his grandfather in practice.

    Later that year, Terumoto would join his grandfather in Izumo Province, taking part in the campaign against the Amago, who had once been strong enough to demand fealty from the Mori, but were now on their last legs. This final campaign against the Amago would be concluded successfully in late 1566, with the surrender of their last stronghold at Gassan-Toda Castle, signalling the end of the war and the Amago Clan.

    The site of Gassan-Toda Castle as it appears today.
    安来市政策秘書課 – 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=74692475による

    Despite this victory, an uprising of former Amago retainers would occur in June 1569, followed by a similar uprising amongst former Ouchi warriors in October. These twin uprisings were either instigated or supported after the fact by the Otomo, whom the Mori had been fighting for control of Northern Kyushu with.

    Mori control of Izumo, Suo, and Nagato provinces was suddenly under serious threat. Withdrawing forces from Kyushu allowed them to quickly deal with the Amago rebellion, but the Ouchi proved a much sterner test, and required the Mori to dedicate even more resources to putting them down. Though victorious in early 1570, the consequences were that the Mori lost all their influence in Kyushu and had to continue a long, bloody campaign, trying to stamp out the embers of the Amago.

    Suo Province
    Izumo Province
    Nagato 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=1691776

    Around this time, wider events began to have an impact on the Mori as well, bringing them onto the main stage of events in and around Kyoto. Earlier, in 1565, Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru was assassinated in what became called the Eiroku Incident, and his replacement, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, went looking for support from the clans further away from the capital.

    In 1568, the new Shogun dispatched a request for aid to several powerful leaders, including Uesugi Kenshin, Oda Nobunaga, and Mori Motonari. The Uesugi and Mori refused, but Nobunaga, based closer to the capital and possessing uncommon ability and ambition, responded positively and dispatched forces to Kyoto.

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the last of the troubled Ashikaga Shoguns.

    Not long after that, the Oda and Mori began to cooperate against their common enemy, the Miyoshi (who also happened to be the clan behind the assassination of the previous Shogun, which was handy). Over the next few years, an alliance would be established, and Nobunaga would actually dispatch forces to help the Mori put down the Amago and Ouchi, but beyond that, there would be little direct cooperation.

    When Mori Motonari died in 1572, leaving Terumoto to lead the clan alone, relations with Nobunaga were already in decline. Previously, the Mori had sought to use the authority of the Shogun (by now under Nobunaga’s control) to advance their own goals, and for a time, Nobunaga was happy to acquiesce, but after 1572, it became clear that Nobunaga had plans of his own that didn’t necessarily involve the Mori.

    Though the Shogun had largely been under Nobunaga’s control since 1565, at first, it had been a subtle arrangement. Nobunaga was in charge, but Yoshiaki was permitted to still act like the Shogun, even if his commands and proclamations (such as they were) were increasingly screened and eventually written by Nobunaga.

    Oda Nobunaga.

    Yoshiaki didn’t passively accept this, however. His problem was that he had little military strength of his own (a problem for the Ashikaga Shoguns since the very start), and with Nobunaga’s pre-eminent military position, the Shogun needed help. He thought he might find it in the Mori, one of the few clans that had the strength to challenge Nobunaga directly.

    In 1573, at the recommendation of the Shogun, Terumoto was granted the title of Uma no Kami, which translates as “Master of Horse”. Though Imperial titles had long since become little more than baubles, they still carried prestige, and Yoshiaki almost certainly did it to butter the Mori up and bring them over to his side, against Nobunaga.

    Yoshiaki was desperate by this point. Earlier that year, Takeda Shingen, who had agreed to march on Kyoto at least nominally in support of the Shogun, had died suddenly, bringing an end to the prospect of Takeda support. In early Spring, Yoshiaki raised an army anyway, hoping to take advantage of Nobunaga being distracted elsewhere, but instead suffered a series of defeats, which culminated in the Battle of Makishima Castle in July, which saw Yoshiaki exiled from Kyoto.

    The monument at the ruins of Makishima Castle.
    Muscla3pin – 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=77200674による

    Shortly after this, Nobunaga, aware of his vulnerable position, wrote to Terumoto, assuring him that it was the actions of the Shogun that led to Oda troops formally occupying the capital, and that he would do everything he could to maintain peace in the realm. Given that there hadn’t been peace in the realm for more than a century at this point, it leads us to conclude Nobunaga was just being polite.

    Though Terumoto probably eyed Nobunaga’s expansionism warily, the alliance was, for now, convenient for both sides, as it largely secured the border between the two powerful clans and allowed them to carve up the territory of the smaller clans caught in the middle. Terumoto did continue to try to mediate a peace between Yoshiaki and Nobunaga, though neither side seems to have negotiated with much faith.

    Scholars speculate that both Terumoto and Nobunaga wanted to avoid a situation in which the Shogun would flee to Mori territory, Terumoto because had no interest in helping Yoshiaki, but couldn’t rely on some of his more tenuous vassals not making trouble, and Nobunaga for pretty much the same reason, the Mori were one of the few clans strong enough to oppose him, and if they backed the Shogun, Nobunaga might be in trouble.

    Though Nobunaga was allied with the Mori, he took other actions that would be considered unfriendly. On the Eastern borders of Mori territory (the West, as far as Nobunaga was concerned) lay the Urakami Clan, who dominated the three provinces of Bizen, Harima, and Mimasaka. The Mori and Urakami had engaged in a long war before the Urakami had agreed to submit to the Mori in exchange for recognition of this territory, terms to which the Mori agreed, effectively turning the Urakami into vassals.

    Bizen Province
    Harima Province
    Mimasaka Province

    However, Nobunaga issued a “Red Seal Letter” (an official, legally binding document named for its eponymous red seal), recognising the Urakami as lords of the three provinces. This was, in effect, simply making official something that was already a fact; however, when the Urakami accepted the letter, they effectively ceased to be Terumoto’s vassals, that is, if the Mori accepted the new situation.

    The Mori, not surprisingly, did not. In 1575, they attacked the Urakami, defeating them in a series of battles and essentially eliminating them as a power, taking direct control of the provinces. The Urakami had apparently expected Nobunaga to dispatch forces to aid them, but he had erred on the side of caution, deciding that the Urakami were an acceptable sacrifice for keeping the peace with the Mori, at least for now.

    An immediate consequence of this was that there were no more buffers between the Mori and Oda territories, which now shared a border. The relationship was already tense, and it only grew worse as both sides became involved in Tajima Province. Expecting that Nobunaga would seek to make the province part of his domain, Terumoto made an alliance with the province’s local power, the Yamana. You may remember that name from earlier posts, and well done if you did; the Yamana were still around at this point, though no longer the great clan they once were.

    A map showing the borders between the Mori (in Yellow) and the Oda (in Red) in 1575, with Tajima Province marked.
    By Alvin Lee – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39200929

    Then in 1576, the Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, having been forced to flee Kyoto by Nobunaga, found himself in Bingo Province, controlled by the Mori. Terumoto was not happy about this. Although he had ostensibly supported the restoration of the Shogunate, he understood that the only way that could happen was through war with Nobunaga, which he had no interest in. When the Shogun showed up on his doorstep and formally asked the Mori to support him in returning to Kyoto, then Terumoto was in a tricky spot.

    The Mori had promised Nobunaga that they would not harbour the exiled Shogun. On the other hand, Nobunaga had taken actions that were widely seen as trying to undermine Mori power, and although he had attacked them directly, the damage had been done.

    Terumoto, for his part, took a long time making up his mind. We’ll never know exactly what he was thinking, but it’s easy to imagine that Terumoto had plenty of reason to be wary of Nobunaga, who had already meddled in Mori affairs and would probably do so again if given the chance. The Mori were also one of the few clans with the power to actually face Nobunaga directly, something that Terumoto must have been aware of.

    Terumoto would declare for the Shogun in May 1576, effectively ending his alliance with Nobunaga and setting the Mori on a collision course with the Oda, but more on that next time.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AF%9B%E5%88%A9%E8%BC%9D%E5%85%83
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C5%8Dri_Terumoto
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%88%E5%B1%B1%E5%AF%8C%E7%94%B0%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A7%87%E5%B3%B6%E5%9F%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%B1%E5%8D%B0%E7%8A%B6
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oda_Nobunaga
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashikaga_Yoshiaki

  • Memento Mori, Part 1.

    Memento Mori, Part 1.

    If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might be forgiven for thinking that Japanese history was mostly focused on the Kanto or Kansai regions (modern Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka, respectively). Whilst the capital was in Kyoto, and some of the most powerful clans were based either there or in the Kanto, there were others, just as powerful and just as ambitious, who were based in other parts of Japan.

    One such clan was the Mori, who we have mentioned briefly previously but are deserving of a much closer look. The subject of this post is Mori Motonari, and though he would go on to establish himself and his clan as one of Japan’s strongest, when he was born in 1497, there was little to indicate that the Mori would be anything other than a regional footnote.

    Mori Motonari, our subject for today.

    In the early 15th century, the most powerful clan in the region was the Ouchi, who played a significant role in the turmoil surrounding Kyoto and the Ashikaga Shogunate in the late 1400s. The Mori were based in Aki Province, in modern-day Hiroshima Prefecture, and found themselves caught up in the conflict between the Ouchi and the Hosokawa, who by this point were in effective control of the Shogunate.

    In 1500, in a bid to avoid having to choose sides, Motonari’s father, Hiromoto, retired as head of the clan and was replaced by his son (Motonari’s older brother), Okimoto. Motonari would have a tough childhood, even by the standards of the day. His mother died in 1501, and his father in 1506, either from stress or alcohol poisoning (or a combination of the two).

    In 1507, Okimoto had chosen his side, as he accompanied the Ouchi to Kyoto, leaving 10-year-old Motonari back in Aki. The young lad then had his income embezzled by unscrupulous vassals, leaving him destitute. However, the embezzler died suddenly in 1511, and Motonari’s income was restored.

    Also in 1511, Okimoto returned from Kyoto and set about preserving the clan’s position in Aki Province. In 1513, Motonari would make a formal pledge of loyalty to his brother, supporting Okimoto’s rule, and (ideally) avoiding the kind of fratricidal violence that plagued so many of Japan’s other clans.

    Aki 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=1645417

    In 1515, there was an outbreak of violence in Aki and neighbouring Bingo (yes, it was really called that) province. In response, the Ouchi dispatched a member of the Takeda Clan to restore order. (You may remember we spoke previously of several branches of the Takeda family, this one is sometimes called the Aki-Takeda, due to the location of their base.)

    The Aki-Takeda proved to be unreliable vassals, however, as they took advantage of the chaos to rebel against the Ouchi and take control of several castles for themselves. Okimoto, continuing his service to the Ouchi, would attack the Aki-Takeda and take one of their castles, forcing them to withdraw and giving birth to a local rivalry that would be important for Motonari and the Mori Clan.

    In 1516, Okimoto died suddenly, aged just 24, apparently also from alcohol poisoning. His son was just two years old, and so Motonari would become the guardian and acting head of the clan. A sudden change in leadership can leave a clan vulnerable, and the Aki-Takeda sought to take advantage, attacking several castles in Aki Province that protected the Mori heartlands.

    Mori Okimoto, Motonari’s brother. His sudden death paved the way for Motonari’s rise to power, though it would be said he deeply mourned his brother’s passing.

    Motonari was obliged to respond and proved his mettle several times in the war that followed. Between 1517 and 1522, Motonari would engage in a series of sieges and battles against the Aki-Takeda, which would see Mori gradually extend control across southern Aki province (in the area around modern Hiroshima), and even into neighbouring Bingo.

    Despite his personal successes, the overall situation remained chaotic, and in 1523, the Amago Clan, seeking to expand their influence, advanced into Aki Province. Motonari, who had fought for the Ouchi up to that point, switched sides and aided the Amago in their conquests of several castles in the region.

    This relationship would be relatively short-lived, however. In 1523, Okimoto’s son (Motonari’s nephew), who had been the nominal head of the clan, died, aged just 9. As was common, there was no clear successor, and although he had been the de facto head for years, Motonari was opposed by a faction that wanted his half-brother in charge instead.

    Initially, Motonari was able to secure enough political support to be named head of the clan, and he was even recognised as such by the Amago. Almost as soon as the ink was dry, though, the Watanabe Clan, who had supported Motonari’s half-brother, began agitating against him.

    The situation worsened when several other clans joined the conspiracy, apparently with the approval (or possibly even direct support) of the Amago Clan. Motonari’s position was still insecure, and he was forced to take action, launching a purge of those involved. Japanese politics at this time was usually an extremely bloody affair, and it wasn’t uncommon for entire families to be wiped out as punishment for rebellion.

    Though Motonari ordered the death of his half-brother and his key supporters, he stopped there. No harm was done to the wives and children of the conspirators, as Motonari himself seemed to believe the incident was not so much a rebellion as it was interference from the Amago. Indeed, it was even suggested at the time that Motonari deeply regretted the killings, blaming himself for not having been able to stop the conspiracy, and the Amago for having encouraged it.

    Quite why the Amago were so keen to conspire against Motonari isn’t clear, but they’d soon have cause to regret it. In 1525, as a response to Amago meddling, Motonari switched sides again, giving his support back to the Ouchi, who had largely stabilised their own situation by this point. Motonari would use this new alliance to expand his control of Aki Province even further, as many of the local clans remained loyal to the Amago and were now prime targets for Motonari’s revenge and political ambitions.

    Mori Motonari’s Battle Flag.

    Over the next few years, Motonari would use a combination of diplomacy, threat, and outright force to establish broad control of Aki Province. In 1532, 32 local vassals of the clan signed a document pledging to follow Motonari’s lead and establishing him as the final arbiter in legal matters within the province. Also that year, Motonari was (with the support of the Ouchi) granted an Imperial title. As we’ve discussed previously, these titles were largely just for show by this point, but they did serve to increase Motonari’s personal prestige.

    In 1540, the ongoing Amago-Ouchi war reached a new level of escalation, as the Amago marched into Aki Province with 30,000 men. Standing in their path was the Mori home castle at Yoshida-Koriyama, which quickly came under siege. Despite being outnumbered as much as 10 to 1, Motonari held out, and the Battle of Yoshida-Koriyama (which was actually a series of battles) eventually ended in the Mori’s favour, as the castled was relieved by Ouchi reinforcements, and the Amago were forced into a humilitating retreat, ending their attempts to conquer Aki, and leaving Mori control of the province in a much stronger position.

    In 1545, Motonari’s wife died, and shortly after that, he announced his retirement as head of the clan. In a letter to his son, he strongly implied that it was grief over the passing of his wife that led him to make the decision. In 1546 (or possibly 1547), Motonari formally retired in favour of his son, Takamoto. However, as was common, Motonari’s ‘retirement’ was just for show, and he retained almost complete control of the clan.

    As control over Aki and Bingo provinces was established, and Mori power increased, Motonari was now in a strong enough position to deal with his remaining internal enemies. In 1550, after gaining the tacit approval of the Ouchi (still the Mori’s nominal overlords), Motonari launched a violent purge of the Inoue Clan, one time vassals of the Mori, who had begun to operate independently, presenting a threat to Mori internal stability.

    Bingo 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=1652300

    What followed was the massacre of up to 30 individuals, which left the other Mori vassals fearing for their lives. However, Motonari gathered 238 of them and had them sign a pledge of loyalty and obedience. All agreed, and the end of the Inoue Clan further cemented Motonari’s position.

    A year later, the Ouchi themselves fell victim to an internal coup, their leader was assassinated, and replaced by his son, though the real power would be with the new regent, Sue Harutaka (pronounced soo-eh, by the way). Motonari took advantage of the chaos to capture several castles that remained loyal to the old Ouchi Lord, and Harutaka agreed, recognising the Mori as lords of the Aki and Bingo provinces.

    This rapprochement didn’t last long (they never do), with Harutaka soon regretting the power he had given Motonari, and he demanded that he return control. Motonari, unsurprisingly, refused, and shortly after that, conflict broke out. The problem for the Mori was one of numbers; Harutaka was regent of the Ouchi Clan, the regional power, and could muster 30,000 men, to the Mori’s 5000.

    Fortunately for Motonari, the Ouchi were facing several rebellions in the aftermath of the coup, and their forces were divided. This gave the Mori their chance, and at the Battle of Oshikibata in 1554, the Mori, despite being outnumbered nearly 2 to 1, launched a surprise attack against the Ouchi and won.

    A later image of Motonari at the Battle of Itsukushima.

    A year later, Harutaka himself led a large army to put down the Mori, laying siege to Miyao Castle on Itsukushima (site of the famous ‘floating’ Torii gate), with 20,000 men. Unbeknownst to Harutaka, however, was that this was exactly what Motonari had hoped he’d do. The Mori had one of the most powerful navies in Japan at the time, and what followed was a combined sea and land operation, in which the outnumbered Mori launched another surprise attack, trapping the Ouchi and effectively wiping them out, with Harutaka himself amongst the dead.

    The Battle of Itsukushima was not the end of the Ouchi, but they were never again a serious force. Over the next two years, the Mori would expand into the former Ouchi heartlands of Suo and Nagato provinces, as well as advancing in Iwami Province, gaining control of the valuable silver mines there.

    In a sign of how far things had changed, the Amago, who had previously been able to exert control over the Mori, now found that they had to deal with them on equal terms, with the conflict over the Iwami Silver Mines ending in the Mori’s favour.

    Iwami 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=1682513

    In 1563, with Mori control reaching new heights, Takamoto, Motonari’s son and heir, died, leaving his son, Terumoto, as the new ‘leader’ of the Mori. The reality, of course, was that Motonari had retained control, and Terumoto was a child besides, leading to a kind of ‘dual leadership’, which was supposed to last until Terumoto came of age, but of course lasted much longer.

    In 1566, Motonari, with Terumoto in tow, attacked the last Amago stronghold in Izumo province, forcing their surrender in November, and bringing a final end to the Amago, who had once been the region’s dominant power.

    The next year, Terumoto was 15, and officially came of age, with Motonari announcing he would end the ‘dual leadership’. Apparently, Terumoto begged him to reconsider, and so Motonari would stay on as co-leader, though his health was already declining, and by the end of the 1560s, it was becoming clear that Motonari’s time was nearly up.

    Mori Motonari would eventually pass away in June 1571, aged 75, possibly from cancer or old age. At his birth, the Mori had been a minor clan in a distant province, the proverbial leaf on the wind, buffeted to and fro depending on the whims of their powerful neighbours. As he lay dying 75 years later, Motonari ruled one of the largest territories of the era, and had established his clan as one of the truly great Sengoku Clans.

    It would fall to his grandson, Terumoto, to continue this legacy, and though he would often prove equal to the task, fate was not yet done with the Mori Clan.

    Mori Terumoto

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AF%9B%E5%88%A9%E5%85%83%E5%B0%B1
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8E%B3%E5%B3%B6
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8E%B3%E5%B3%B6%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%98%B2%E9%95%B7%E7%B5%8C%E7%95%A5
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%8A%98%E6%95%B7%E7%95%91%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%89%E7%94%B0%E9%83%A1%E5%B1%B1%E5%9F%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%89%E7%94%B0%E9%83%A1%E5%B1%B1%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E6%A9%8B%E8%88%88%E5%85%89
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A6%99%E7%8E%96
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A3%AC%E7%94%9F%E7%94%BA_(%E5%BA%83%E5%B3%B6%E7%9C%8C)
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%95%E4%B8%8A%E5%85%83%E7%9B%9B
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aki_Province
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AF%9B%E5%88%A9%E8%88%88%E5%85%83

  • 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
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    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E5%86%85%E7%BE%A9%E8%88%88

  • The Eisho Disturbance

    The Eisho Disturbance

    Last time, we looked at the Meio Coup that saw the Shogun’s kanrei (deputy), Hosokawa Masatomo, take over the government and install a puppet Shogun with himself in effective control. At the end of that post, we also looked at how, despite the coup’s success, Masatomo’s grip on power was far from secure.

    Hosokawa Masatomo, the most powerful man in the realm following the Meio Coup.

    As soon as the dust settled, Masatomo found himself surrounded by problems. Some had been long-standing, violence between powerful clans in the provinces had been a problem for decades, and Shogunate authority outside of Kyoto was tenuous at best.

    Within Kyoto, too, there were enduring rivalries between different factions, sometimes within the same family, all revolving, as it always had, over who would control the throne, or the man (it was always a man) sitting on it. In many ways, Masatomo’s coup can be seen as a continuation of political instability that went back centuries. As long as there had been an Imperial Throne (nearly a thousand years at this point), there had been powerful families vying to control it. That situation hadn’t really changed when the centre of power became the Shogun instead of the Emperor.

    Some of the problems were of Masatomo’s own making, though. He was, but most contemporary accounts describe him as an authoritarian and quite eccentric character. It is easy for us to imagine the Shogun as some all-powerful ruler, but the reality was that there was a considerable amount of power sharing in the capital. This was no democracy, but it was also expected that the powerful clans surrounding the throne would be consulted about government matters and have their seat at the table when it came to running things.

    There had been several examples of powerful families coming to dominate the government, and again, Masatomo was just continuing that trend, but like the families who came before him, centralising all power in one man attracted a lot of hostility from the other clans who now found themselves frozen out.

    The other problem with Masatomo was that he was something of an eccentric iconoclast. A follower of the ascetic Shugendo sect of Buddhism, he lived an austere life, swearing off certain foods, all alcohol and the company of women, though some contemporary sources suggest his aversion to sex wasn’t limited to his male companions, and he was apparently a practitioner of shudo, a kind of ritualised homosexuality that was common amongst Samurai.

    Modern day practitioners of Shugendo, of which Masatomo was a keen adherent.
    By 唐山健志郎 (Kenshiro Karayama) – 唐山健志郎 (Kenshiro Karayama), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2259089

    Masatomo is supposed to have believed that his religious fervour would allow him to engage in magical feats, such as being able to fly or speak mystical languages. He had more practical eccentricities as well; he would go on long journeys, sometimes alone, and without telling his retainers, meaning that government would effectively come to a halt until he could be found.

    Religious and sexual habits aside, Masatomo also opposed much of the pomp and ceremony surrounding the institutions of government. It is said that he disliked the formal clothing required at certain ceremonies, and the official enthronement of the new Shogun was delayed simply because Masatomo refused to wear the eboshi hat required by tradition.

    A 17th Century depiction of an official wearing the eboshi hat that Masatomo despised.

    Masatomo also had a shockingly (for the time) rational approach to the Imperial Court as well. He is supposed to have opposed the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Go-Kashiwabara on the grounds that, since the Emperor no longer had any real power, there was no point in a grand ceremony. This was technically true, but flew in the face of long-established tradition.

    So a combination of Shogunate weakness, Political problems, and personality issues meant that Masatomo’s position was never strong, and he wouldn’t help matters with some of the decisions he made. Given Masatomo’s apparent aversion to women, he wasn’t able to produce an heir (obviously). This problem wasn’t an uncommon one at the time, and adoption was usually the preferred solution.

    Masatomo, never one to do anything the easy way, adopted three sons, Sumimoto, Sumiyuki, and Takakuni. You may remember, in the period leading up to and including the Onin War, one of the key factors in the instability that gripped the realm was the frequency of internal conflict over clan succession. One of the reasons the Hosokawa Clan had been able to take such a strong position was that they had largely been able to avoid these struggles, with Masatomo succeeding his father relatively smoothly.

    Some contemporary sources suggest that Masatomo’s ultimate plan was to divide the Hosokawa lands between two of these sons, while the third would inherit the position of kanrei and thus real political power. Initially, it seems that Masatomo favoured Sumimoto to succeed him as kanrei, but the fact that all three ‘sons’ came from three different families meant that the succession was now the subject of growing factional rivalries.

    Hosokawa Sumitomo, Masatomo’s choice as heir.

    This situation was precarious, but held together by the sheer force of Masatomo’s will. With power centralised in his hands, he could exert enormous control over what remained of the Shogunate government and its nominal loyalists. This way of doing things required him to be alive, however, which he no longer was after June 23rd, 1507, when he was assassinated.

    The assassins were apparently partisans of Sumiyuki, favouring him as kanrei over Sumitomo, who they also attacked at the same time as his father, though Sumitomo was able to escape with the help of his supporters, led by members of the Miyoshi Clan (a name that will become important later).

    The fact that Sumitomo survived was a problem for Sumiyuki, especially after he fled to Takakuni, the third brother, who agreed to support him and march against Sumiyuki. There was a series of blood battles between the rival factions until Sumitomo’s supporters, led by Miyoshi Yukinaga, took his final refuge at Yushoken, forcing Sumiyuki to commit suicide.

    An image depicting Sumiyaki at the moment of his death.
    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

    It turns out that your enemy’s enemy isn’t always your friend, though, and it wasn’t long before Takakuni and Sumitomo were at each other’s throats. The problem stemmed from Sumitomo’s supporters amongst the Miyoshi Clan, whose strength and growing overbearingness earned them many jealous rivals. Then, in late 1507, former Shogun Yoshitane (who had fled after the Meio Coup) returned to the scene.

    Yoshitane, after fleeing into exile, had been supported by the Ouchi Clan based in modern-day Yamaguchi Prefecture, and now they raised their banners in support of his march on Kyoto. Although not strong enough to take the city at first, shortly after the new year, Takakuni became the focal point for anti-Miyoshi feeling and chose to throw in his lot with the old Shogun.

    This combined force attacked Kyoto and took the city in early April, forcing Sumitomo and Shogun Yoshizumi to flee. Takakuni was recognised as the new head of the Hosokawa Clan, and Yoshitane was reinstated as Shogun, beginning his second reign.

    Sumitomo and Yoshizumi were down but not out, however, and what followed was more than 20 years of strife that is collectively called the Hosokawa Civil War, or Hosokawa Rebellion. This conflict had all the hallmarks of the internal violence that had wracked multiple clans throughout this period, but wrought on a massive scale, involving not just the Hosokawa but their vassals, retainers, and the Shogunate itself.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B0%B8%E6%AD%A3%E3%81%AE%E9%8C%AF%E4%B9%B1
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  • The Power in the Provinces Part Two

    The Power in the Provinces Part Two

    Western Japan

    Western Japan was, much like the Kanto, away from the centre of power, but still close enough to be a perpetual source of trouble.

    The Ouchi

    The mon of the Ouchi Clan
    By Mukai – No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7845833

    At the end of the 15th Century, the Ouchi Clan were one of the strongest in Japan. Based at Yamaguchi, in the furthest west of ‘The West’, they were in an enviable position. Their centre of power was far enough away from Kyoto that they were often spared the worst of the destruction, and the city of Yamaguchi, positioned as it was, near the coast, was a prime location for getting involved in the trade with China and Korea.

    These close links to mainland Asia go back into the mists of time. Unlike many other clans, the Ouchi did not claim descent from one of the ‘Imperial’ Clans (Fujiwara, Minamoto, or Taira). Instead, they claimed as their ancestor a Korean prince, Prince Imseong, although the long years involved make a definitive link impossible to prove.

    During the Nanbokucho Period, the Ouchi proved to be staunch supporters of the Northern Court and the Ashikaga Shoguns, earning them rich rewards, and by the time of the Onin War, they had extended their control into Northern Kyushu, officially on behalf of the Shogun, but effectively ruling their little empire independently.

    During the Onin War, the Ouchi sided with the Yamana Clan and the Western Army. In fact, after the decline of the Yamana during the war, it was the Ouchi who stepped forward and played the leading role in securing Western military victories in the West. When the war ended, the Ouchi regained control of their former territories in northern Kyushu, and would continue to be one of the leading powers at the dawn of the 16th Century.

    Their links to international trade continued during this period as well, in fact, during the mid-16th Century, they would prove to be one of the key clans in what became called “Nanban trade”, literally the “Southern Barbarian Trade”, the ‘Barbarians’ in this case, being the Portuguese, who arrived in Japan in the 1540s.

    Despite their wealth and power, the Ouchi would eventually become overstretched. Facing powerful clans in Kyushu and nearer to home, they would initially see success, crushing the Shoni Clan of Kyushu in 1536, and facing the Amago Clan of Izumo Province in 1541. An initial victory over the Amago was followed by a serious defeat in which the Ouchi clan’s heir was killed.

    Ouchi Yoshitaka, who oversaw the decline of his clan.

    After this, the head of clan, Yoshitaka, began neglecting affairs of government, and the Ouchi would enter a period of steep decline. In 1551, Yoshitaka was killed in a rebellion, and over the next five years, the Ouchi’s once expansive domains were chipped away, as rivals took advantage of the chaos, and even formerly loyal vassals (most notably the Mori Clan) went their own way, often violently.

    The Ouchi would enter terminal decline from this point. There was a brief attempt at a restoration in 1569, but it was crushed by the Mori, and the original Ouchi Clan ceased to exist. A supposed branch of the family, the Yamaguchi Clan, would survive as rulers of the Ushiku Domain, in modern Ibaraki Prefecture, but they appear to have died out in the male line in 1991.

    The Mori

    The mon of the Mori Clan.
    Kashiwamon – 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=91163213による

    Like the Hojo in the Kanto Region, the Mori were arguably the most successful clan based in Western Japan. Despite this, the origins of the clan are actually in Sagami Province, close to the modern city of Atsugi in Kanagawa Prefecture. From there, the clan would branch off (as they always seem to) into several different ‘Mori’ Clans, but the one we are focusing on here is the ‘Aki Mori’ Clan, which came to be based in Aki Province in what is today Hiroshima Prefecture.

    During the period of the Kamakura Shogunate, the Mori clan remained largely aloof, and when the Emperor Go-Daigo overthrew the Kamakura, the Mori did not get involved. This actually worked against them as Go-Daigo adopted a “With me or against me” approach, and the Mori temporarily saw their territories forfeit.

    This backfired pretty spectacularly when, just three years into the “Kenmu Restoration”, Emperor Go-Daigo himself was overthrown by the Ashikaga Family, leading to the establishment of the eponymous Shogunate, and the Mori (who had helped the Ashikaga) being restored to their lands.

    Much like every other major Samurai family, the Mori broke up into several branch families that would often end up fighting each other. Their situation in the mid-15th Century was further weakened by the presence of the powerful Ouchi and Amago Clans in the region.

    Through the late 15th Century, the Mori would find themselves caught between these two powers, but in the 16th Century, several savvy political marriages and a few adoptions improved their position considerably, and they would eventually rise to eclipse their former masters, the Ouchi, entirely.

    Mori Motonari, the man who would lead his clan to the height of their power.

    Throughout the Sengoku Period, the Mori would become the power in the West in the same way the Hojo were the power in the East. When Oda Nobunaga (him again!) drove the last Ashikaga Shogun out of Kyoto in 1576, he sought protection from the Mori, who would remain Nobunaga’s chief rivals in the West until his death (spoilers) in 1582.

    The Mori would make peace with Nobunaga’s successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and remain a major power, eventually establishing their base at Hiroshima. However, the final battles of the Sengoku period would see the Mori choose the losing side, and they were eventually reduced to just two provinces, which became known as the Choshu Domain.

    There they would remain, implacably opposed to the new government, but far enough away from the capital to be too much trouble to get rid of. During the Meiji Restoration in the 19th Century, it was Choshu, and the Mori clan, who would play a leading role in the modernisation of Japan, but that’s a story for another time.

    The Mori family continued through this period and into the modern era, with the current head being Mori Motohide, who works for Hitachi Steel Works, and became the family head in 2020.

    The Amago

    The mon of the Amago Clan

    The Amago were a branch of another clan, the Kyogoku, who were themselves descended from the Sasaki Clan, whose progenitor was a son of the Emperor Uda, who ruled in the late 9th century.

    Emperor Uda, who ruled from 887-897. The Amago claimed him as their illustrious ancestor.

    The Amago Clan themselves were a relative latecomer; their direct ancestor (the ‘first’ Lord Amago) was Takahisa, who took the name Amago for the area (near Kyoto) where he had his manor. In the early 15th Century, he was appointed as the deputy governor (shugo-dai) of Izumo Province (in modern Shimane Prefecture) on behalf of the Kyogoku Clan, who were obliged to reside in Kyoto.

    We’ve discussed in previous posts how the Shogun’s policy of demanding that Shugo reside in Kyoto led to the rise of independently minded deputies; well, the Amago are one of them. Although officially only deputies, the Amago would take advantage of the chaos of the Onin War to consolidate their power, and by the time the war ended, they were in effective control.

    When the Kyogoku line became extinct in 1514, with the death of the last lord, the Amago graduated from de facto to actual lords of Izumo, and it would be there that they based their power. The rise of the Amago was initially opposed by the Ouchi, and throughout the early 16th Century, they would engage in something of a hostile coexistence, neither side quite able to overcome the other, with the Ouchi focusing on the west, whilst the Amago had their eyes to the east.

    The Amago would eventually rise to be the masters of eight provinces in the region, but in the 1540s, the rise of the Mori clan would lead to the decline of the Ouchi and directly threaten the Amago. The conflict between these clans would drag on for nearly 40 years, but the Mori would eventually prevail, with the surviving members of the Amago family serving as retainers for the Mori throughout the Edo Period.

    The family itself would survive until 1940, when the last head of the clan passed away without an heir.

    The Akamatsu

    The mon of the Akamatsu Clan
    By お茶飲む人 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53365103

    Unlike many of the other clans we’ve been looking at, the Akamatsu Clan were a family that peaked early, and then never really recovered. The exact origins of the clan are disputed, with some sources suggesting they descended from the Minamoto Clan, whilst others refute this, leading to some confusion.

    What is not disputed is that the Akamatsu Clan originally supported the Emperor Go-Daigo during the short-lived Kenmu Restoration, earning Harima Province for their trouble, only for the province to be forfeited shortly afterwards during Go-Daigo’s controversial “Alienate everyone as quickly as possible” policy, which saw him overthrown by the Ashikaga Shogunate after just three years.

    The Akamatsu, thoroughly alienated as they were, sided with the Ashikaga and had Harima Province restored to them after their victory, and the clan would be steadfast loyalists of the new Shogunate, at least for a while. The Akamatsu remained faithful, but in 1429, a serious peasant revolt in their home province badly weakened them, and not long after that, the Shogun, Yoshinori, came to the throne and proved to be an effective, but extremely paranoid ruler.

    The exact reasons for the so-called Kakitsu Rebellion are unclear, but members of the Akamatsu Clan assassinated the Shogun in 1441, after which they raised an army only to be crushed by the Shogunate army shortly afterwards.

    Branches of the family would survive, and after conspicuous service during the Onin War, the Akamatsu were actually restored to control of Harima Province. For a while, things were looking up. By 1488, the head of the clan, Masanori, had established control of three provinces, and there was every indication that the Akamatsu would enter the 15th century as one of the major players.

    You’ve probably already guessed that that isn’t what happened, though, and you’d be right, good on you for paying attention. Masanori died suddenly in 1496, and his heir was just four years old, meaning that the clan fell into the hands of so-called ‘Elders’ who were supposed to rule until the little lord came of age.

    Akamatsu Masanori, who might have held things together for his clan, if he’d lived.

    This might have worked in more peaceful times, but in the early days of the Sengoku Jidai, it led to chaos. Before long, different factions of the clan were fighting each other, and the Akamatsu entered a period of steady decline. Even after the lord, Yoshimura, came of age, he couldn’t change the situation.

    It got so bad that Yoshimura was first forced to abdicate in 1521 and was then assassinated shortly afterwards. His son, Harumasa, was young and easier to control, which might be why the ‘elders’ favoured him as ruler.

    There was a brief resurgence in 1531, when Harumasa managed to establish his own rule, but years of infighting had effectively bled the Akamatsu dry, and in 1537, the neighbouring Amago Clan invaded and conquered the Akamatsu’s home province of Harima.

    The Akamatsu would return to Harima, but they were never able to establish control of the whole province ever again, and throughout the 16th century, their power was gradually eroded away, until 1568, when they made the somewhat short-sighted decision to resist Oda Nobunaga, who promptly crushed them and took Harima for himself.

    Branches of the family would survive in one form or another, but they never ruled large territories again. In the modern era, a descendant of the clan, Akamatsu Yoshinori, served in several high positions in the Imperial Navy, eventually being granted the title of Baron. His descendants are still going today, although there’s not a lot of information available online.

    Sources
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Cuchi_clan
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E5%86%85%E6%B0%8F
    https://reichsarchiv.jp/%E5%AE%B6%E7%B3%BB%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88/%E7%89%9B%E4%B9%85%E5%B1%B1%E5%8F%A3%E6%B0%8F
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C5%8Dri_clan
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AF%9B%E5%88%A9%E6%B0%8F
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AF%9B%E5%88%A9%E5%85%83%E6%95%AC
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AF%9B%E5%88%A9%E5%85%83%E6%A0%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%BC%E5%AD%90%E6%B0%8F
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akamatsu_clan
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B5%A4%E6%9D%BE%E6%B0%8F