Japanese Pirates’ Medieval Times (15) ——Kono Clan, a Supplier of Legends and a Religion (2)——

Ochi Mochitada fought against Fujiwara Sumitomo (?-941), the first pirate king in Japan, and conferred as a local noble man in 948. Later, at the end of the Heian Period, Ochi Chikakiyo moved to Kono County in the same province, and started calling themselves Kono Clan. His father, Chikatsune did not have a successor son, and adopted Chikakiyo. Chikakiyo, who was appointed as a temporary assistant governor in 1160, did not have his successor son either, and, this time, his wife, Chikatsune’s daughter, stayed in Mishima Shrine, the highest-ranking shrine in Iyo Province, day and night. At the 6th night, a god appeared as a big snake, and she got impregnated with a boy. The boy, Kono Michikiyo (?-1181), later inherited the clan. As the Chinese character for “michi” can also mean to intercourse, all his successors had “Michi” in their names. Michikiyo had scale-like parts on both jowls. Was this a real story or a forth legend? Let’s get back to the ancient times again, and we can find a fifth scrap of a legend. Ochi Tamaoki was a supporter of En Oduno, a legendary founder of Shugendo, a religious sect which combined Japanese folk mountain worship with Taoism and Buddhism. The two visited Mishima Shrine together. A sixth scratch legend says that Kono Clan was descendants of Xu Fu (255 BC-?). In 210 BC, during Qin Dynasty, Xu Fu went on his second voyage to search for medicine of immortality in the east, only never to return. Some, both in China and in Japan, believe he landed in Japan. One of his supposed landing spot was Kumano. You can easily guess that the legendary story was brought to Kono Clan by Kumano sea people. All the legends were gathered and assembled after Kono Michiyoshi’s death in 1394. The times had been entering a new age. In 1392, Southern Court gave up to Northern Court, and Muromachi Shogunate unified the nation. The unification, however, was a soft one and every samurai clan had to fight hard to stand out, or even just to survive. In such an era, Kono Clan was a loser to Southern Court, and Southern Court was a loser to Northern Court. As a double loser, the clan was searching for their survival strategy. Meanwhile, the powerful families living on the islands, or rather living on the sea, between Aki and Iyo Provinces were searching for a way to face Kobayakawa Clan and for the solutions to their pirate dilemma. They chose a weaker clan, Kono Clan, to counterbalance Kobayakawa, and Kono Clan, instead, had to supply legends. As Kono Clan was ruling Iyo Province, they could share the same religion, beliefs in Mishima Shrine. Kono Clan became the third pirate king, but their ruling power was a soft one, something like the one emperors used to have over shogunates.