Pirate War Lords during the Age of Provincial Wars

I pay attention to Kono Clan, especially Kono Michinao (? – 1587), who was the last head of the clan. Kono Clan was a major pirate war lord, but sank into obscurity in the history in the shadow of Mori Clan, one of the most powerful war lords. Let me introduce Kono Clan’s profile. Some of successive heads of the clan at the time were invalid or short-lived (Michinao, for example, is said to have died at the age of 24), and the clan was having power games for its headship. As a result, even local scholars have regarded the clan as a minor small and weak war lord. However, after all, Kono Clan was a medieval distinguished family who ruled Iyo. Kono Clan’s hongan (the surname’s place) was Kono, Kazahaya Couty, Iyo Country (today’s Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture). The clan produced Kono Michinobu, who played an important role in Gen-Pei Battle (battles between Minamoto Clan and Taira Clan), and who also was a grandfather of Ippen Chishin, a founder of the Ji Sect; also Kono Michiari, who was reputed as a brave during the attack by Yuan Dynasty; and etc. In Chugoku and Shikoku areas, Kono Clan was the only guardian lord who could maintain their territory even after Ouchi Clan in Suo was ruined. Moreover, in the end of the Age of Provincial Wars, Kono Clan organized powerful pirate clans such as Murakami Clan and Kurushima Clan as senior vassals, ruled Iyo country, and had power over the Inland Sea areas. Kono Clan’s distinguished character can be proved with the fact that they were given such high-ranking honors. For instance, the heads of Kono Clan during the Age of Provincial Wars were allowed to use the yakata title. The title was permitted to those such as Ashikaga Clan, who were treated as highly as guardian lords, clans who had been guardian clans for generations and who could attain important positions in the shogunate, and clans who rendered distinguished service to the shogunate. They also joined in shoban-shu, a member of suite or retinue, a second-high position next to shogun aide who can attend a banquet in shogun’s palace and who can accompany shogun when he visited other families. They were also given a public position, sakyo-no-daibu, equal to sishiki-ke who provided a chief officer in judicature /prosecution/police. Recent studies have shed light on the fact that Muromachi Shogunate’s honoring hierarchy deeply penetrated into local samurai societies, and was meaningful for war lords in justifying their authority in the Age of Provincial Wars. Kono Clan’s social status and authority were very high compared with those of Chosokabe Clan, who were at war with Kono Clan. Let me introduce Kono Clan in Mino, today’s Gifu. Inaba Yoshimichi, who had another name Iyo-no-kami Ittetsu and whose son, Sadamichi made the first lord of Usuki Domain in Bungo (a part of today’s Oita); Hitotsuyanagi Naosue (the lord of Karuminishi Castle in Mino) and Hitotsuyanagi Naomori (the first lord of Saijo Domain in Iyo); and some other powerful lords of manors in Mino were in search of their roots in Kono Clan, a noble family. Recently, Kono Clan in Kai (today’s Yamanishi) was brought to light, who were descendants of Kono Clan’s branch family, Yoshu Family, moved to Kai, served Takeda Clan, and made a direct retainer of Tokugawa Shogun. As our studies progress, the expansion of the clan will be revealed. Recent excavations show that Kono Clan’s main castle, Yuduki-jo Castle, was an advanced castle on a low hill surrounded in a plain with massive-scale inner moat, outer moat, and earthen ramparts. I was shocked when I made a field trip to Yuduki-jo Castle to find the remnants of its large-scale citadel excavated and repaired, and to observe a large quantity of relics including high-quality imported ceramics with a markedly international character. I realized that the image of Kono Clan, which had been built hitherto on surviving texts, and which is hence much biased, should be eradicated. It is also important that Yuduki-jo Castle’s surrounding areas attracted travelers and pilgrims nationwide. Its castle town, Dogo, has a nationwide famous hot spring, and has many well-known religious institutions, such as Ishite-ji Temple, which is connected to Kono Clan and the 51st of the 88 Kwannon Temples in Shikoku; Hogon-ji Temple, where Ippen Shonin, the founder of Ji-shu Sect of Buddhism, was born; and Isaniwa Shrine, which is one of the oldest shrines that were listed in a law enforced in 967, and which was removed due to the construction of Yuduki-jo Castle.

Cannot See the Wood for the Trees

The area of study on the history of pirates has accumulated a number of profound researches after Meiji Era. These years, Amino Yoshihiko argued “Sea Faring People,” and Katsumata Shizuo alleged “Samurai without their Lord.” Their arguments were widely noticed, but, after them, it seems that researches have been heavily inclined toward those to investigate specific conditions. For instance, inquiring into the difference between the sea world and the land world is rather unproductive. In the Inland Sea, the sea and the land are tightly connected, and some pirates worked as local magistrates. The sea was a highway anyone could use. The Inland Sea is a main artery, and the surrounding coastal areas of Chugoku and Shikoku should be recognized as a closely related region. I am going to describe the activities of pirates in this region. Of course, there used to be active pirates in Kyushu, Kumano, Shima, Chita, and etc., and some war lords organized pirates as their navy in those regions, other than in the Inland Sea. Here I concentrate on the pirate society in the Inland Sea because when Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and/or Ieyasu, war lord heroes, were going to unify the nation, organizing the pirates in the Inland Sea became of critical importance. Pirates integrated the coastal areas along the Inland Sea reducing frictions there. As the large part of the Western Inland Sea is included in Iyo, influential pirates such as Murakami clan regarded Kono clan, Iyo’s guardian, as their lord, and they were regarded as such even Mori Motonari wrote, “This time we send troops to Iyo in return, because Mori Takamoto and all of us were saved by Kurushima clan.” (Mori clan’s archives) He recognized that his clan’s victory over Sue clan in the Battle of Itsuku-shima Island in the 24th year of Tenbun, in 1555, owed to Kurushima clan’s support, who was one of the main vassals of Kono clan. That was why Mori clan sent troops to Iyo to help Kono clan in return. Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki smashed Nobunaga’s navy in the Battle of Kidu-gawa estuary, and successfully sent in provisions into Osaka Hongan-ji Temple in the 4th year of Tensho (in 1576). He gave thanks to Kono Michinao for Murakami Clan’s participating in the battle. Kono Clan used to be regarded as the top of pirates’ hierarchy during the Age of Provincial Wars. That kind of recognition was still seen even during Tensho years. The history of pirates has been studied by investigating the conditions of powerful pirate clans, such as Murakami Clan, during the Age of Provincial Wars, when their were most active. I it more important that Kono Clan and their distant relative, Mori Clan (practically Kobayakawa Takakage) were the pirates war lords, or public authorities who ruled the Inland Sea at the end of the Age of Provincial Wars. To make contrast with those war lords in East Japan who mainly fight land battles, I use the concept “pirate war lord”. The reason is that those pirate war lords were maintaining their domains by securing the mastery of the sea exploiting their pirates’ high maneuverability and well-honed mercenary wits. For instance, Kono Michinao could defend their country against the relentless attack by Chosokabe Motochika, a war lord in Tosa, thanks to their navy’s superiority. Would-be national leaders who were conquering West countries were inevitably to organize their own navy. For example, Kuki Yoshitaka entered wars under Nobunaga: first against Ise-Nagashima Uprising by the True Pure Land sect in the second year of Tensho (in 1574), second in another battle of Kidu-gawa estuary in the 6th year of Tensho (in 1578), third against the Hanakuma Castle in Settsu in the 8th year of Tensho (in 1580), and etc. He established himself as a pirate war lord serving under Nobunaga. Under Toyotomi regime, Kono Clan was ruined, and Murakami Clan was moved to Kyushu. Toyotomi’s war lords occupied Iyo and Awaji, and organized local pirates as their navies, which were sent to Korea. Those war lords included Todo Takatora, Kato Yoshiaki, and Wakisaka Yasuharu. At this stage of pirates’ history, utilizing big battle ships with cannons and lots of matchlock guns, which used to be called atake-bune in Japanese, and financing the armaments have become more indispensable than each pirate’s combat power. The end of pirates lords’ high days, when they sailed their sekibune or kohaya (Japanese small boats) tactically to enemy ships and burned them down with horoku-bi-ya, a kind of incendiary shells, had come. Some vassals of Murakami Clan left service to the clan, and served Toyotomi’s clans. However, Kuki Clan, with their building techniques of bottle ships, atake-bune, was taken into national leaders’ confidence. Some historians call Murakani Takeyoshi “a war lord on the sea”, “a pirate war lord”, or even “a unified regime on the sea”, who extended his power even over the East Inland Sea, but that is overestimation. Although Murakami Clan enjoyed independency, they placed themselves as Kono Clan’s senior vassal. They didn’t dream of acquiring a status to work under shogun or national leader’s direct orders. Preceding studies have analyzed each pirate, but didn’t research pirates’ power politics in coastal areas of Chugoku and Shikoku influenced by the behaviors of pirate war lords. They couldn’t see the wood for the trees.

Complexity in Education (3)

Educational scene is a complex mixture of positive and negative feedbacks, as each teacher tries to align her/his spin in parallel with certain of her/his neghbors and opposite to all the rest. Each teacher will always have to endure a certain amount of frustration at having to align with neighbors that she/he doesn't want to be aligned with, but, by the same token, there are a vast number of ways to arrange the spins so that the frustration is reasonably tolerable for everyone---a situation describe as “local equilibrium.”

Complexity in Education (2)

I have earned my own right in my own guts to think what I want to think. Having gone through language school, having become a teacher, having home-room-teachered more than 900 students, having interviewed their parents, having held 8 commencements, having conducted almost all kinds of division duties, having coached playing tennis, having taken care of other sports clubs, having accompanied players to many games and matches, having taken part in various trainings, and having learned how to give various types of lessons, this, that, and the other things, I have earned my own right to do what I want to do. I now trust myself as an educationist.

Complexity in Education

How can we make an education an autocatalytic set, so that the the education grows steadily? The answer may lie in the existence of a catalyst. The key understanding to reach the answer is an education's collective behavior. They need certain kind of metabolism to form a more complex compounds of the set, that is to grow or develop. When there are plural autocatalystic sets, which set(s) will flourish? Flourishing sets should be those which are more robust to environmental changes or those contain more efficient catalysts and more elaborate reactions or those contain complex and sophisticated members. And above all, they need member supply. Though cramming-oriented usually lack complex and sophisticated members, they are robust, after all, and have plenty of member supply. They might gain some elaborate reactions with a couple of more efficient catalysts. As educational innovations result from new combinations of old technologies, the number of possible innovations will go up very rapidly as more and more technologies become available. Once they get beyond a certain threshold of complexity they can expect a kind of phase transition, but below that level of complexity they find education dependent upon just just a few major industries, and their education tend to be fragile and stagnant. In that case, it wouldn't matter how much investment got poured into the education. But if an education ever manages to diversify and increase its complexity above the critical point, then they can undergo an explosive increase in growth and innovation.