The Road to a Sakai Shogunate ---The Awakening and Rise of the Miyoshi Family (8)---

     

     The Miyoshi Family didn’t miss the good opportunity.  Miyoshi Masanaga (1508-1549) landed at Sakai and occupied Hori Fortress on an island in the Yodo River as early as on December 13th, as if they had had a secret communication with Motokiyo and Kataharu.

     Here, we should notice what the Ouchi Family and the Miyoshi Family had in common: they had good navies, or they had pirates under control, to carry out mobile operations across the sea.

     As early as at the turn of the 9th century, Ki Tsurayuki (866?-945?), who had been the governor of Tosa Province, was worried about pirates on his way back from Tosa Province to Kyoto.  As the first entry about pirates was on February 26, or the 21st day after his departure from Tosa Province and the last entry about pirates was dated March 7th, or the 30th day after the departure, it must have been Awa Pirates that he was afraid of.  In the first entry about pirates, Tsurayuki “remembered that the pirates had threatened to take revenge upon him, when once he had left the Province (=Tosa Province).”  In the last entry about pirates, after he passed Awa Province, he wrote, “Now that they had reached the Land of Izumi, there was no further question of pirates.”  The Hosokawa Family might have won over the pirates, sharing the profit from trading with China.  As a vassal of the family, the Miyoshi Family tamed Awa Pirates, and that was one of the reasons why the Miyoshi Family kept carrying their lord at least in name only.

     Hatano Hidetada, the son of Motokiyo (?-1530), took action against Hosokawa Takakuni (1484-1531).  He started going southward, and captured Noda Castle in Settsu Province on January 28th, 1527.  He advanced to Kyoto, crossed the border between Settsu and Yamashiro Provinces, and seized Yamazaki Castle across the border on February 4th.  On 11th, the Hatano and Miyoshi armies joined up in Yamazaki Castle on 11th, and confronted Takakuni’s army across the Katsura River estuary along Oguraike Lake on 12th. Takakuni’s logistic support was based in Sensho-ji Temple in the upper reaches of the Katsura River.  On 13th, the Miyoshi army made a surprise attack on Sensho-ji Temple and killed more than 80 garrison.  Takakuni had a sense of crisis, left his main force, and moved to the temple.  He lost 10 samurai on horses and 300 foot soldiers, and retreated.  The surprise attack succeeded, and Takakuni escaped from Kyoto to Sakamoto, Omi Province, with Ashikaga Yoshiharu (1511-1550), the 11th shogun.  Some shogunate officers and officials followed them, and the others just ran away.  The shogunate government was scrapped, vanished, or disappeared in effect.

     What the Miyoshi and Hatano armies could do was to keep public order, and they waited for Hosokawa Harumoto to come to Kyoto.

     Harumoto left Awa Province and came to Sakai with Ashikaga Yoshitsuna (1509-1573), who was the second son of Yoshizumi (1481-1511), the 11th shogun, in March.  For some reason, he stayed there.  In July, Yoshitsuna was given the same post by the Imperial Court as former shoguns had been given.  Aristocrats in Kyoto and local samurai around Kyoto flocked to Sakai in the expectation or anticipation for Yoshitsuna to become the next shogun.  Some officers who had followed Yoshizumi to Awa Province started to issue shogunate official documents.

     The Miyoshi army also invited Miyoshi Motonaga (1501-1532) as the head of the Miyoshi Family to Sakai, although he was still in his 20’s.  He soon exposed his immature and inexperienced political talent and skills.