The Kuki Sea Forces

 

     In the 4th century, Emperor Wakatarashi appointed the Shima Family as kuni-no-miyatsuko in Shimazu, namely Shima Port.  The family hereditarily provided the governor of Toshi County till the medieval days.  When provinces were established in the late 7th century under the Ritsuryo law system, the Shima area was included in Ise Province.  The area became independent at the turn of the 8th century with its largest territory which covered today's Owase City in the west and Shino, Himaka, and Saku Islands in the Mikawa Bay in the east.  In the 15th or 16th century, the Kira Family in Mikawa Province occupied the 3 islands.  In 1582, Horiuchi Ujiyoshi (1549-1615) in Ki Province and Oda Nobukatsu (1558-1630) in Ise Province divided the large western part of the province into their territories.  Even in the Edo Period (1603-1867), Shima Province remained as small as we think it is.

     Ugaya, whose ancestors had come from somewhere else which got called Takamagahara later, was ruling Hyuga Province in the eastern coast of Kyushu Island.  He had been abandoned by his mother in his infancy, and raised by his aunt, his mother’s younger sister.  When he came of age, he married the aunt, and had 4 sons, Itsue, Inahi, Mikenu, and Sano.

     Inahi drowned himself in the sea to see his mother.  Mikenu left eastward, that is, to the sea, for the land of the dead.  Itsuse left northward with his youngest brother, Sano.  The reason for the family breakdown is unknown and unknowable now.

     Itsuse first arrived ash Usa in Buzen Province, and stayed at another place in the province for a year.  He moved eastward along the Seto Inland sea to Aki Province, and stayed there for 7 years.  And then to Kibi Province, and stayed there for 3 to 8 years.  He finally reached the eastern end of the Seto Inland sea only to be faced by Nagasune, who was hostile against him.  Itsuse was shot, flew, got to O Port in Ki Province, and died there.  He was buried in Mt. Kama near the port.

     Itsuse’s younger brother, Sano, continued their eastward quest, and arrived at Kumano in the province.  Tempted by a local tribe, who had the token of a crow with 3 legs, he went upstream along Totsu river, crossed Yoshino River, beat his way through the bush, and reached Uda in Yamato Province.

     The 3-legged-crow tribe helped Sano rival other local tribes there, and successfully split one tribe.  Sano’s men committed an underhanded murder of another local tribe.  Sano also maneuvered pork-barrel politics against other tribes, and established his ruling in Iware.  He was later called Iware, related to his domain name.  Until the end of World War II, the series of events was widely believed in Japan to have taken place more than 2 millennia before.

     Sano’s offspring eventually unified Yamato Province.  They even further continued the brothers’ eastward quest.  After Kumano, they reached Ise.  They built their advanced base, Ise Shrine, at the southern end of the Ise Plains and developed a saltworks in Futami nearby.  In the 13th century, a manor was formed around the saltworks.  The saltworks became a kind of a shrine and kept various documents from the later Heian Period to the beginning of the Edo Period.

     The origin of the Kuki Family is not so clear.  The family used to live in and be based in Kuki Bay in Kii Province.  It means that they used to be one of the Kumano Pirates.  The family advanced to Shima Province with some other Kumano Pirates.  The Kuki Family first appeared in the documents kept in the shrine of the Futami Divine Manor.  They did violence and brutality against manor workers over the octopus fishing grounds off Obama from 1358 to 1360.

     The Kuki Family seemed to become a local administrator of Shoren-ji Temple's manor in Toshi Island.  In 1403, Kuki Gensho complained to the temple that the Toki Family, who was the guardian samurai of Shima Province, occupied half the island illegally.  In the middle of the 15th century, the Kuki Family, supported by Hosokawa Katsumoto (1430-1473), conflicted with Isshiki Yoshinao over the position of the local administrator of Tomari Port, which was owned by Daigo-ji Sanpo-in Temple.

     Kuki Yoshitaka (1542-1600) was born as Sadataka’s third son.  Sadataka died in 1551, and his eldest son, Kiyotaka (?-1560), succeeded the family headship.  After Kiyotaka’s death, his son, Sumitaka (?-1584), succeeded the family headship at the age of 8.  Yoshitaka killed Sumitaka and became the head of the family.

     In the same period, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) gained momentum after his victory over the Imagawa Clan in the Battle of Okehazama in 1560.  In 1568, Nobunaga started invading Ise Province, fighting against its ruler, Kitabatake Tomonori (1528-1576).  During the invasion, Yoshitaka headed his naval forces, attacked Oyodo Fortress in Taki County along Ise Bay, and occupied it.  In 1569, the peace talk between Nobunaga and Tomonori were concluded.  Tomonari adopted Nobunaga’s second son, Nobukatsu (1558-1630), who married Tomonari’s daughter, Yukihime.

     In the 1570’s, Yoshitaka wrote a defense letter to Nobukatsu, saying that he was embarrassed because he was accused of treating Kiyotaka inconsiderately.  Yoshitaka also tried contacting Nobunaga through Takigawa Kazumasu (1525-1586).

     After Kitabatake’s practical surrender to Nobunaga, Yoshitaka kept fighting against the local samurai families in Shima Province, defeating them one by one, while he also fought for Nobunaga in the Third Siege of Nagashima in 1574, in the First Battle of Kizu River Estuary in 1576, and the Second Battle of Kizu River Estuary in 1578.  After the Second Battle of Kizu River Estuary, Yoshitaka was given a letter of appreciation by Nobukatsu, so Yoshikatsu presumably fought under the command of Nobukatsu.  That made his position delicate after Nobunaga’s death.

     Anyway, let’s see how Yoshitaka unified Shima Province.

     Shima Province was dividedly ruled by 7 to 13 powerful sea samurai families.  The Kuki Family was one of them, and those families formed a kind of a commonwealth.  In 1482, for example, when Tomari Harutaka in Tomari Bay and Wada Takazane in O Bay conflicted with each other over collecting tolls in Tomari Bay, Kuki Kagetaka, Osa Takakage, Arashima Sanemori, Wagu Hisamune, and Koga Munenori jointly asked Shinto Head Priests of Ise Shrine to mediate the two sides.  They also persuaded the two to stop fighting.

     However, after Oda Nobukatsu started ruling Ise Province, Yoshitaka approached Nobukatsu while the other powerful families liked to keep independent.  Nobukatsu disliked those families disturbing his ambition.  Yoshitaka respected Nobukatsu’s wishes, and attacked the other families to realize his own wishes.

     The Ura Family lost to Yoshitaka and killed themselves.  The Arashima Family made peace.  The Obama Family escaped to Mikawa Province.  The other 5 families gave in.  Nobunaga admitted Yoshitaka’s supremacy over those 7 families.  Yoshitaka expressed his gratitude through Kazumasu.

   Now, let’s see how the First and the Second Battles of Kizu River Estuary were fought.

     Nobunaga heavily lost to the naval forces of the Mori and Kono Clans in the First Battle of Kizu River Estuary in July, 1576.  In June and November, 1578, however, he fought against the sea forces of the Mori Clan and the Soga people again, which ended as his overwhelming victory.  Let’s see how the Kuki Naval Forces contributed to Nobunaga’s victory, comparing two entries about the two naval battles from the Biography of Lord Nobunaga.

     “They stopped our ships, and shot many earthenware explosives to burn the ships down.  We were heavily outnumbered, and lost veteran samurai such as Manabe Sadatomo, Numa Iga, Numa Den’nai.  Western forces won a victory in the battle, shipped military provisions into Osaka Hongan-ji Temple, and sailed their forces back to the western provinces.”

     The first quotation describes how the naval battle in July, 1576, was fought.  In the battle, the naval forces of the Mori and Kono Clans, whose de facto main force was the Murakami Pirates, surrounded Oda Naval Forces, threw in many earthenware explosives, and burnt down Oda’s ships and boats.  The tactics to cut off each enemy ship from others by surrounding them with small fast boats and to attack with earthenware explosives used to be common in battles in the Seto Inland Sea.  An earthenware explosive was a round fire bomb which had black powder and iron pieces or lead balls in it with earthenware cover.  The earthenware explosives were popularly used in the Warring States Period.  Later, even small rockets with 3 plumes which were fired with guns, cannons, or wooden cylinders came to be employed.  The explosive powder in their tips exploded when they struck ships.

     Oda Naval Forces were severely beaten by the naval forces of the Mori and Kono Clans, and could not stop the enemy’s shipping military provisions into Osaka Hongan-ji Temple.

     After the first battle, Nobunaga ordered the Kuki Family to build armored ships.  The armored ships were to be armored with iron plates to shield the enemy attacks with earthenware explosives and guns.

     Another quotation about the Second Battle of Kizu River Estuary in June and November, 1578, tells us that, in June, the armored ships which had sailed to Osaka Bay via the Sea of Kumano-nada encountered the besieging enemy naval forces from Soga and Tan’nowa which were shooting arrows and guns, but defeated the enemy with big guns this time.

     “On June 26th, in the 6th year of Tensho, our ships sailed out to the Sea of Kumano-ura, sailed to Osaka.  They rowed numerous boats out of Soga, Tan’nowa and as such against our big ships off Tan’nowa.  They shot arrows and guns, and pressed attacks on us from all sides.  Kuki Yoshitaka, who had decorated the 7 ships like mountains, fought restrictively first, waited for the enemy boats to come closer, then fired big guns all at once, and destroyed many of the enemy boats.  Afterward, the enemy boats could hardly find ways to approach our ships, and we could easily sail to Sakai on July 17th.”

     Those big guns showed their power in November as well to defeat the naval forces of the Mori and Kono Clans, whose de facto main force was the Murakami Pirates again.

     “On November 6th, more than 600 ships and boats from western provinces advanced to Kizu areas.  Kuki Yoshitaka intercepted the enemy ships and boats.  They besieged our ships, sailing southward, and fought a sea battle from 8 in the morning till around noon.  Kuki seemed to be having a hard battle at first, but, having many big guns in their 6 ships, waited for the enemy ships and boats to come closer, and fired the guns to the enemy flagship to strike it down.  They panicked and couldn’t approach us any more.  Kuki finally drove hundreds of the enemy ships and boats into Kizu Estuary, and all the audience praised Kuki Yoshitaka for his military exploits.”

     Just 2 years witnessed a big change in navy battles; from throwing in earthenware explosives to shooting big guns.  The armored ships were not only armored with iron plates to shield the enemy’s attacks of shooting arrows and guns.  The Correspondences of the Society of Jesus in Japan also reported that the ships were also equipped with 3 cannons.  We may well call them battleships with heavy guns.

     Kano Mitsunobu (1565-1608), a painter of the Kano school, one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting, painted Nagoya Castle in Hizen on a byobu with 6 panels in detail years later.  The castle was a base to sally forth to the Korean Peninsula at the time.  The byobu represents armored ships as well with two-storied or three-storied donjons on top of them.  Those donjons might have been spaces for a commander, and symbols of authority and power.  The ships had sails, but were usually driven with oars.  Small-sized armored ships were said to have 50 oars, while big-sizes to have more than 150 oars.  They were equivalent to ships with 75-300 of net tonnage, and were equipped with heavy guns, and were crenelated.

     The structure of the armored ships suggests that they could not sail so fast.  They went to battles with small fast boats guarding them.  In terms of modern navy battles, an armored ship fought as a battleship, a medium-sized boat as a cruiser, and a small boat as a destroyer.  Navy battles were definitely changing, and surpassing in firepower was coming to play more decisive roles than maneuverability, which the Murakami Pirates were good at.  Big ships with a high-rise building on top of them and with a lot of guns to shoot from there at enemy ships and boats were opening a new era on the sea as well.  I just wonder how much iron they should have imported to meet the need.

     In 1582, Nobunaga was cornered by Akechi Mitsuhide (1528-1582) to commit suicide in the Honno-ji Incident.  In the confusion after Nobunaga’s death, Yoshitaka was said to be admitted as the ruler of Shima Province sometime between 1582 and 1584.  It is, however, not clear by whom he was appointed.  Yoshitaka’s nomination could have been planned and carried out by himself.

    After Nobunaga’s death, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) fought against each other to become the actual successor.  Hideyoshi installed Nobunaga’s grandson as a nominal leader, while Ieyasu supported Nobukatsu.  Yoshitaka seems to have changed sides from Nobukatsu to Hiheyoshi for unknown or unrecorded reasons.

     When Hideyoshi and Ieyasu fought the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute in 1584, Yoshitaka attacked Matsugashima Castle in Ise Province.  He also crossed Ise Bay and burned down the ports of Yoshigo and Waji in the Atsumi Peninsula on April 17th.  In May, the Obama and Mamiya Naval Forces under Ieyasu attacked Yoshitaka from behind.  They fought in Oizu and Matsumura along the south-western shore of Ise Bay.  On June the 16th, Takigawa Kazumasu attacked Kanie Castle at the mouth of the Nikko River.  Yoshitaka supported Kazumasu with his naval forces including an armored ship.  Kazumasu failed and Yoshitaka retreated to Shimoichiba Castle, which fell on the 18th.  On the 19th, Yoshitaka failed in breaking the naval blockade by Ieyasu's naval forces.  On November 12th, peace was reached, and Yoshitaka became Hideyoshi’s vassal.

     After the battle, Hideyoshi invaded Shikoku and Kyushu with the Kuki Naval Forces as his main naval unit.  However, those naval forces only functioned as means of transportation.  Without experiencing full-scale real naval battles, Yoshitaka’s naval forces crossed the Tsuhima Straits to the Korean Peninsula in 1597.