The Road to a Sakai Shogunate ---The Awakening and Rise of the Miyoshi Family (6)---

 

     On April 27th, 1508, Ashikaga Yoshitane (1466-1523) and Ouchi Yoshioki (1477-1529) landed on Sakai, Izumi Province.  On May 5th, Yoshitane approved Hosokawa Takakuni to be the head of the Keicho-Hosokawa Family.  On June 8th, Yoshitane and Yoshioki entered Kyoto.  On July 1st, Yoshitane became the Shogun, and rewarded Yoshioki for his military contribution with the Sakai-Minami Manor in Izumi Province.  Then Yoshioki revealed his nature, or the Ouchi Clan's character.

     The Ouchi Clan was a kind of a transit trader.  They had benefited from importing advanced and sophisticated products from the continent and selling them to the Royal Families, aristocratic families, temples, and shrines.  As the head of the clan, Yoshioki wasn't interested in a manor around Kyoto or Sakai.  He returned the manor, which had been misappropriated by samurai, to the original owner, Sokoku-ji Temple.  That, despite Yoshioki's intentions, opened Pandora's box.  For example, Todai-ji Temple demanded Yoshioki to return their original manor in Suo Province.  Yoshioki's "goodwill" was favored by temples but provoked dissatisfaction among his local samurai.

     In a seesaw battle against Miyoshi Yukinaga, Yoshioki fought rather advantageously for 4 years.  His efforts paid.  The Ashikaga Shogunate authorized him to trade with the Ming Dynasty.  The authorization didn't satisfy Yoshioki's local samurai at all, but provoked Takakuni's hostility toward Yoshiyuki.  The hostility led to the Nimbo Incident in 1523.

     In 1513, Yoshioki's dissatisfied samurai withdrew from the battlefront in Kyoto and revolted against him especially in Aki Province, which was located along the Seto Inland Sea between Suo Province and Kyoto.  The resistance meant the instability of the sea lane in the Seto Inland Sea.  In the same year, along the Sea of Japan, Amago Tsunehisa (1458-1541) started invading Yoshioki's territory to capture silver mines.  In 1518, Yoshioki returned to Suo Province, and died in 1528.  His son, Yoshitaka (1507-1551), was cornered by his vassal, Sue Harukata (1521-1555), and killed himself along with his family.  The Ouchi Clan collapsed.