The Miyoshi Family and the Pirates in Kii Channel

      Hosokawa Yoriyuki (1329-1992) was the Regent of the Ashikaga Shogunate (1336-1573) from 1366 mainly under Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), who became the third Shogun in 1369 at the age of 11.  As he entered his adulthood, he wanted to decide and control everything by himself and for himself.

     In 1378, Yoshimitsu preferentially treated Yamana Yoshitada (1337-?9, Yamana Ujikiyo (1344-1392), Shiba Yoshiyuki (1350-1410), and Toki Yoriyasu (1318-1388) in military operations.  In the meanwhile, Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359-1398), the second Kanto Deputy Shogun, wanted to become a central shogun.  He recognized Yoshimitsu's military operations as chaos, and appointed Uesugi Norimasa (1335-1394) as the general of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate Army to advance to Kyoto.  Norimasa advanced to Izu Province, communicated with Yoshimitsu, and went over to his side.  In return, Yoshimitsu supported Norimasa to become the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  With all those forces in his hands, Yoshimitsu drove Yoriyuki away to Shikoku Island.

     Yoriyuki, however, was able to thrive even in the worst situation.  He built up his rule over Awa Province and his sovereignty over Sanuki and Tosa Provinces.  In 1391, he returned to Kyoto with his brother, Yorimoto (1343-1397), with some other family members left in Shikoku Island.

     Another brother of Yoriyuki, Akiharu (1330-1367), stayed in Awa Province, and started a branch family there: the Awa-Hosokawa Family, which ranked second among the Hosokawa Clan just to the head family in Kyoto, Keicho-Hosokawa Family.

     Miyoshi Yoshinaga (?-1386) and his son, Nagayuki, were just watching those struggles for central power from Miyoshi County, the westernmost hilly county in Awa Province.  The Miyoshi Family were locally-hired officials of the Miyoshi County Government in ancient times.  Many such officials were replaced by samurai who were dispatched by the Kamakura Shogunate in medieval days.  Miyoshi County might have been too poor to attract any Kanto samurai.  The Miyoshi Family survived as a powerful local family.  For them, central powerful families were beyond their reach, or out of their imagination.

     A turning point came about the Miyoshi Family in 1467, when Miyoshi Yukinaga (1458-1520), Nagayuki's son, was only 9 years old.  Hosokawa Katsumoto (1430-1473), Yorimoto's great grandson, and Yamana Mochitoyo (1404-1473), Ujikiyo's grandson by his daughter, started the Onin War, which lasted till 1477.  In the war, Hosokawa Shigeyuki (1434-1511) advanced to Kyoto to support Katsumoto in 1467.  Yukinaga was sent to Kyoto to work for Shigeyuki's camp.  At the age of 9?  Presumably, he functioned as a partner of male homosexuality.  After coming into his adolescence, he might have become rebellious.  He abruptly fled and came back home in 1471.  He even shut himself in the hills of the Iya Valley.  Finally, he was brought back by Shigeyuki's son, Masayuki (1455-1488).

     After the Onin War, Yukinaga showed his talent.  Shigemoto stayed in Kyoto and so did Yukinaga.  After the war, the shogunate lost its authority.  Not only local samurai but even peasants became rebellious.  Yukinaga was good at enticing and organizing those with rebellious minds.  Soon, he was suspected to be a wirepuller of frequent uprisings of peasants, carriers, and other townspeople around Kyoto.

     On June 11th, 1485, Yukinaga tried to rescue his man who was captured as a robber.  The attempt was stopped by Hosokawa Masamoto (1466-1507), Katsumoto's son.  In August in the same year, an uprising broke out in Kyoto.  Yukinaga was suspected to be the ringleader of it, and his lodging was surrounded by Masamoto and Taga Takatada (1425-1486), a chief of the Police Department, on August 8th.  The information of the domiciliary visit, however, had been leaked to Yukinaga, and he had asked Masayuki for his protection the previous night.  Masamoto and Takatada then surrounded the residence of Masayuki.  He dodged their accusation, and Masamoto and Takatada withdrew.  Unbelievably, Yukinaga started provoking people just the following day, and robbed pawn shops of pledge on 14th.

     Masayuki's favor to Yukinaga made even some of Masayuki's vassals jealous, and they pulled out back to Awa Province.  In October, Masayuki and Yukinaga, far from regretting what they had done, went back to Awa Province and suppressed them.  After these incidents, Yukinaga became a man in the news in Kyoto.

     When Masayuki died young in 1488, his brother, Yoshiharu (1468-1495), succeeded to the Guardian Samurai of Awa Province, and Yukinaga became a vassal of him.  Meanwhile, Masamoto didn't have a son and adopted Yoshiharu's second son, Sumimoto (1489-1520), as the Awa-Hosokawa Family was second to Keicho-Hosokawa Family.  On February 19th, 1506, Yukinaga was dispatched to Kyoto as Sumimoto's butler to command an advance party.  Accordingly, he became a vassal of the Keicho-Hosokawa Family.  In August, he advanced to Yamato Province under Masamoto's order.  Yukinaga was as shrewd as ever.  He embarked on the conflicts over taxation powers as a butler of Sumimoto.  It meant he took risks for Sumimoto in power struggles among central powerful families, and that gave him important lessons.  Those experiences and his own potential to organize rebellious moods brought him up to be an important figure even in the central political circles.  His up-and-coming emergence, however, raised jealousies and envy among conventional central samurai of his peers, such as Hosokawa Hisaharu (?-1519), the head of Awaji-Hosokawa Family, and Kozai Motonaga (?-1507), who was dispatched from Masamoto to Sumimoto as another butler.

     Hosokawa Masamoto (1466-1507) brought the height of the Keicho-Hosokawa Family, but, absorbed in Shugen-do, Japanese mountain asceticism, neither married nor had his biological child.  He adopted 2 sons, and that brought about infighting within the Keicho-Hosokawa Family and their vassals, and, geopolitically speaking, the war around Kyoto.  In the meanwhile, Yukinaga grew up to be broad-minded and appealed even to local samurai not only around Kyoto in Yamashiro Province and Sakai in Izumi Province, but also in surrounding provinces, such as Settsu, Kawachi, and Omi Provinces.

     Masamoto first adopted Sumiyuki (1489-1507) on February 13th, 1491, the second son of Kujo Masamoto (1445-1516), the Prime Minister of the Imperial Court.  As Sumiyuki reached his puberty, the relationship between the two became strained, and Masamoto adopted Sumimoto (1489-1520) in May, 1503.  Sumimoto's father, Yoshiharu (1468-1495), was the head of the Awa-Hosokawa Family and the Guardian Samurai of Awa Province.

     The adoption of 2 boys caused distraction among the vassals of Masamoto.  His old vassals, such as Kozai Motonaga (?-1507) and Yakushiji Nagatada (?-1507), had believed Sumiyuki would become the next head of the Keicho-Hosokawa Family.  Yukinaga, on the other hand, supported Sumimoto as a matter of course.  On May 29th, 1507, Motonaga and Nagatada tempted Masamoto's secretary to assassinate him.  Sumimoto and Yukinaga were staying in Budha-ji Temple in Kyoto.  On 24th, Motonaga and Nagatada attacked the temple.  Yukinaga guarded Sumimoto, and fled to Aochi Castle in Omi Province.  Aochi Nagatsuna sent them further east, counting on Yamanaka Tametoshi in Koga County, Omi Province.

     Motonaga and Nagatada put Sumiyuki forward as the new head of the Keicho-Hosokawa Family.  Sumiyuki blatantly and unashamedly held the funeral of the late Masamoto, and was accepted as the head of Keicho-Hosokawa Family by Ashikaga Yoshizumi (1481-1511), the 11th Shogun.  However, other branch-Hosokawa Families were discontented with the situation.  Hosokawa Takakuni (1484-1531) from the Yashu-Hosokawa Family, who were based in Bicchu Province, successfully put those families together, and killed Motonaga and Nagatada on August 1st.  The following day, Yukinaga and Sumimoto returned to Kyoto.  Sumimoto met with Yoshizumi, and was approved of his inauguration to the head of the Keicho-Hosokawa Family.

     Takakuni, however, wasn't a simple person.  He claimed that he had been adopted by Masamoto, and looked for a chance to be the head of the Keicho-Hosokawa Family.

     A chance came along with the form of a pinch for Takakuni.  The 10th Shogun, Yoshitane (1466-1523), lived in exile in Suo Province under Ouchi Yoshioki (1477-1529).  The assassination of Masamoto and the disorder in the aftermath seemed a chance for Yoshitane and Yoshioki. On November 25th, they left Suo Province.  In December, they reached Bingo Province, which lay just west to Bicchu Province, where Takakuni was based.  For those in Kyoto, the advance of Yoshitane and Yoshioki should have looked like a pinch.  Actually, Sumimoto dispatched Takakuni to negotiate with Yoshioki over peace.  Takakuni, however, saw a chance in the pinch.  On March 17th, 1508, Takakuni abruptly insisted that he should visit Ise Shrine to pray for peace, and he actually did visit Ise Province, counting on his cousin, Niki Takanaga, there.  Accordingly, the peace negotiations collapsed.  Takakuni got a consensus with powerful and influential local samurai around Kyoto, such as Itami Motosuke (?-1529), Naito Sadamasa (?-1525), Kagawa Mototsuna, and Kozai Kunitada, that Yoshitane should take over Yoshizumi's shogunate.  They entered Kyoto on April 9th.  Under their pressure, Sumimoto and Yukinaga escaped to Koga County again, and Yoshizumi fled to Omi Province.  They joined Yoshitane and Yoshioki, and seized power together.  Takakuni was appointed to be the head of the Keicho-Hosokawa Family.

     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 give back 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 Yoshioki.  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.

     Let's get back to the Miyoshi Family.  Seesaw battles went on between the 2 camps, yet Yukinaga gradually lagged behind.  On August 27th, 1509, Yukinaga's 2 elder sons, Nagahide and Yorizumi, were cornered and committed suicxide.  On May 11th, 1520, Yukinaga and his 2 younger sons were killed.  Yukinaga was succeeded by Nagahide's eldest son, Motonaga (1501-1532).  On June 10th, 1520, Sumimoto died, and was succeeded by his first son, Harumoto (1514-1563).

     Motonaga learned a lesson from what Yoshioki achieved and what his grandfather, Yukinaga, couldn't achieve.  When you carry a portable shrine on your shoulders, the more beneficial the better.  The Shogun is more beneficial to carry than the head of the Keicho-Hosokawa Family.

     Hosokawa Takakuni (1484-1531) replaced Ashikaga Yoshitane (1466-1523) with the son of Ashikaga Yoshizumi (1480-1511), Yoshiharu (1511-1550), in 1521.  Takakuni was in his heyday.  Lights, however, are usually followed by shadows.  In July, 1526, Hosokawa Tadakata (?-1531), Takakuni’s cousin, fabricated the secret communication between Takakuni’s vassal, Kozai Motomori (?-1526), and Hosokawa Harumoto.  It wasn’t recorded what intention Tadakata had.  Motomori was said to be uncultured and uneducated.  Anyway, Takakuni just flew into a fury and had Motomori assassinated.  Motomori’s brothers, Hatano Motokiyo (?-1530) and Yanagimoto Kataharu (?-1530), got furious in turn.  They rebelled against Takakuni in their homeland, Tamba Province.  Motokiyo shut himself up in Yakami Castle and Kataharu in Kannosan Castle.  Takakuni was astonished and ordered Tadakata to siege Kannosan Castle.  He also dispatched Kawarabayashi Shurinosuke and Ikeda Danjo to Yakami Castle on October 23rd.  There were some skirmishes for several days.  On November 5th, Naito Kunisada (?-1553), the lord of Yagi Castle,who was sympathetic toward the brothers, withdrew from the encirclement of Kannosan Castle.  On November 30th, Akai Goro, the lord of Kuroi Castle, attacked the besiegement of Kannosan Castle and broke it.  Takakuni’s army raised the siege of the castles.  On their way back, Shurinosuke and Danjo had infighting.  Tadataka just ran away.  Takakuni’s rule exposed its vulnerability in half a year.

     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.

     Against all the expectation or anticipation aristocrats in Kyoto and local samurai around Kyoto had for Ashikaga Yoshitsuna. A seasaw battle was going on between the 2 camps around Kyoto, and Yoshitsuna couldn’t enter Kyoto.  He was called a Sakai Shogun, while Yoshiharu was called an Omi Shogun.  The historical significance of a Sakai Shogunate is still debatable today.  Anyway, the Miyoshi family produced an officer of shogunate, and that itself was a great achievement for a local samurai from a province not so remote but “regional”.

     In January, 1528, Motonaga was trapped into having peace negotiations with Hosokawa Takakuni (1484-1531).  Their communication was leaked to Hatano Hidetada and Yanagimoto Kataharu (?-1530), who got furious at the communication with the killer of Kozai Motomori (?-1526), who was Hidetada’s uncle and Kataharu’s brother.  They complained to Hosokawa Harumoto, who refused to hear Motonaga’s excuse.  Takakuni retreated to Sakamoto, Omi Province, in May.  So, his “peace negotiations” with Motonaga was just buying time.

     In July, Motonaga imposed land taxes around Kyoto while he did nothing to occupy the city.  That irritated not only Hidetada and Kataharu but also Miyoshi Masanaga (1508-1549), who all actually fought to seize the city.  In August, 1529, Motonaga had to return to Awa Province, and it was Masanaga who headed the Miyoshi army.

      However immature and inexperienced he was, Motonaga was a good general and had his own army.  After his return to Awa Province, Takakuni rallied again.  Motonaga returned in 1531, and the seasaw battles continued till Takakuni was cornered to committ suicide at 4 a.m. on June 8th in the year.

     When the enemy is defeated, the victorious soldiers can be killed off.  Motonaga was cornered to committ suicide on June 20th in 1532.  The Miyoshi Clan kept fighting seesaw battles.  In the middle of the 1550's, when Zheng and Jiang visited Japan, Motonaga's son, Nagayoshi, ruled Settsu, Yamashiro, Tamba, Izumi, and Harima Provinces as well as Awa and Awaji Provinces.  The Miyoshi Clan's power exceeded that of the Later Hojo Clan in the Kanto Region.

     The fall of the Hosokawa Clan and the rise of the Miyoshi Clan wasn’t solely caused by the competence of their leaders.  The route of the trade or smuggling between Japan and China had changed from via the Seto Inland Sea to via the Pacific Ocean or the Kii Channel.  As the ruler of Awa and Awaji Provinces, the Miyoshi Clan had the power and chances to control the channel.

     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.  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.”

     Kumano sea people appeared in Kii Channel as pirates, and stretched their action even into the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea.  Kumano Pirates sent Wakiya Yoshisuke (1307-1342), a western general of the Southern Court, to Iyo Province in 1342, supported by the sea people of Nujima Island in Awaji Province.