Virtual Yashima Domain 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #18 Senshu-ji Temple

 

     Senshu-ji Temple was founded in 1631 by the offspring of the Tomai Family.

     Ogasawara Family was based in Ogasawara, Kai Province.  In 1425, Ogasawara Masayasu (1376-1442) was appointed as the Guardian Samurai of Shinano Province.  After his death, his sons, Muneyasu (?-1446) and Mitsuyasu (?-1486), and his nephew, Mochinaga (1396-1462), mutually fought for the succession of the position.  In 1446, Mochinaga killed Muneyasu.

     What happened to the Ogasawara Family?

     Ogasawara Nagamasa, the 1st son of Ogasaawara Nagamoto (1347-1407), either died young of a disease or was killed in battle young, with his only son, Mochinaga, left.

     Nagamoto's 2nd son, Nagahide, succeeded him, incurred the animosity of the local samurai and was defeated in the Battle of Oto in 1401, after which he was stripped of his position as the Shinano Guardian Samurai.  Shinano Province was temporarily under the control of Shiba Yoshimasa (1350-1410), and, in 1402, it became a direct territory of the Muromachi Shogunate.  Nagamoto's 3rd son, Masayasu, came of age at the age of 13 in 1388, and, in 1405, Nagahide handed him the family headship and the Ogasawara Family's territory.

     When the Kanto Deputy Shogun, Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), and his butler, Uesugi Zenshu (?-1417), got at war in 1416, Masayasu marched with Imagawa Norimasa (1364-1433), the Guardian Samurai of Suruga Province, and Uesugi Fusakata (1367-1421), the Guardian Samurai of Echigo Province, to put down Zenshu.  In 1417, he assisted Takeda Nobumoto, who was in Kyoto, in returning to Kai Province.

     In the Muromachi Period, whose central government was located at Muromachi in Kyoto, the Kanto area was half-independent and was governed by the regional government in Kamakura, which was ruled by the Kanto Deputy Shogun.  Both the central shoguns and the Kanto deputy shoguns were from the Ashikaga Clan.  The both rather rivaled each other and some Kanto deputy shoguns even tried to become central shoguns.

     To check the rivaling attempts, the central shoguns appointed some powerful samurai not only in the Kanto Region but also In Mutsu and Dewa Provinces, which were under the control of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate, to be directly feudatory to them.

     Those directly feudal to the central shoguns were called Kyoto Servants.  Although they resided within the jurisdiction of the Kanto Deputy Shogun, they neither had to serve the Kamakura office nor were supposed to be under the command of the Kanto Deputy Shogun.  

In 1423, Masayoshi marched to Hitachi Province with the Shogunate Magistrate, Hosokawa Mochiari, to rescue the Kyoto Servants there, the Yamairi, Oguri, and Makabe Families, who were in conflict with the Kanto Deputy Shogun, Mochiuji.  Masayasu was highly valued by the 4th Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimochi (1386-1428), to keep the Kanto Deputy Shoguns in check, and, in 1425, he was appointed as the Shinano Guardian Samurai.

     In 1428, Masayasu went to Kyoto to suppress the Shocho Uprisings, which was the first launched by the peasants.  As social anxiety increased as a result of bad harvests due to poor weather since the last year and of an epidemic of cholera, the bashaku, the Japanese teamsters or cargo carriers who used horses to transport their shipments, of Otsu and Sakamoto in Omi Province demanded a debt moratorium.  This revolt spread and extended to all the provinces around Kyoto as peasants throughout the region who were struggling to repay their debts attacked and looted sake merchants, storehouse money brokers, and temples. 

     In 1432, Masayasu was recommended as the Archery and Horsemanship Instructor for the 6th Shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori (1394-1441).  In 1436, Masayasu defeated the Murakami and Ashida Families, who were in league with Mochiuji, and received a letter of commendation from Yoshinori.  The Murakami Family surrendered to the Shogunate in 1437, and the Ogasawara Family's control over Shinano Province was tentatively achieved.

     In 1438, the Eikyo War broke out between Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439) and Uesugi Norizane (1410-1466), who became the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate after Norimoto, in the Kanto Region.  The central Shogunate in Kyoto supported Norizane, and Emperor Go-Hanazono issued an order to suppress and punish Mochiuji as the enemy of the Imperial Court.  Such an order hadn't been issued for 60 years.

In the war, Masayasu marched to Kozuke Province and defeated the forces of Mochiuji, who were marching north towards Hirai Castle.

     Mochiuji was cornered to commit suicide by the central Shogunate and thus the Imperial Court.  His eldest son, Yoshihisa (1423-1439), also killed himself.  Yuki Ujitomo (1402-1441) sheltered 2 of Mochiuji’s younger sons, Shun'o-maru (1430-1441) and Yasuo-maru (1431-1441), in his castle, and rebelled against the central Shogunate in 1440. Masayasu also led the Shinano samurai to supress the rebellion, and the names of his generals appear in the Yuki Battle Register.  On April 16th, 1441, the castle fell and Ujitomo and his son were killed in fighting.  Shun'o-maru and Yasuo-maru were arrested and were to be transferred to Kyoto, but, on their way, at Tarui, Mino Province, they were killed, with their death poems left:

“Summer weeds,

Their flowers blooming in Aono Field

Who knows their future?” (Shun'o-maru)

“Who knows the future?

Our lives are to be limited today

Here away from home.” (Yasuo-maru)

     In 1442, Masayasu died in Unno, Ogata County.  He was 67 years old.  His eldest son, Muneyasu, succeeded him.  However, since he did not prepare a formal letter of succession, this created room for dissent.  

     Ashikaga Harutora was born on June 13, 1394.  At the age of 9, he entered Seiren-in Temple, on June 21, 1403.  On March 4, 1408, he became a priest, and was named Gien.  Ashikaga Yoshikazu (1407-1425) and Yoshimochi (1386-1428) died of a disease one after another, and the shogunate became vacant.  Chief vassals assembled at Iwashimizu-Hachiman-gu Shrine and decided the next shogun by lot on January 17, 1428.  And Gien became the sixth shogun, Yoshinori (1394-1441).

     It was Yoshinori that forced Mochiuji to commit suicide.  Yoshinori also killed his younger brother, Priest Gisho (1404-1441).  He also killed his powerful vassals, Isshiki Yoshitsura (1400-1440), Toki Mochiyori (?-1440), and others.  Finally he was assassinated by his vassal, Akamatsu Mitsusuke (1381-1441) on June 24, 2 months and 8 days after the execution of the 2 young brothers: Shun'o-maru and Yasuo-maru.

      Yoshinori's assassination, Hatakeyama Mochikuni (1398-1455) rose to power in the shogunate.  Masayasu's eldest brother's son, Mochinaga, had participated in suppressing the Hida Revolt in 1411.  In 1441, he made achievements in the Yuki Battle and in suppressing the Kakitsu Rebellion.  With those contributions for the Ashikaga Shogunate, he tried to make the head of the Ogasawara Family, supported by Mochikuni.  Meanwhile. Hosokawa Mochikata (1403-1468), who was the rival of Mochikuni in the central politics, backed Muneyasu.  The local samurai in Shinano Province split into two factions and started fighting each other.  The Ogasawara Family was in turmoil due to a family feud, which caused a disruption in their rule of Shinano.

     When the Onin War (1467-1477) broke out in Kyoto, Muneyasu's son, Masahide (?-1493), fought for the Western Army.  Mitsuyasu's son, Ienaga (?-1480) fought for the Eastern Army.  Mochinaga's son, Kiyomune (1417-1478), supported the Western Army.  Although they supported the Western Army, Masahide attacked Kiyomune in 1467.

Masahide was based in Suzuoka Fortress.  Mitsuyasu and Ienaga were based in Matsuo Fortress.  After Mochinaga took away Igawa Fortress from Muneyasu, he and Kiyomune were based in it.

     Ogasawara Shikibunosho left Shinano Province, presumably hating or being tired of the infighting of the Ogasawara Family.  He arrived at Tomai Village (today's Higashiyuritateai, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0221), Yuri County, Dewa Province, sometime between 1467 and 1469, presumably adopted by the local powerful family, and ruled the village.  He called his family Tomai.

     In 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) confiscated the Tomai Family’s lands, and the family moved north out of Tomai Village, became farmers, and developed new land along Ishizawa River.  Their probable offspring, Jirozaemon, Nakatsukasa, and Yozaemon were documented in 1612 as farmers in Oikata Hamlet.  In 1617, Oikata held a market periodically.  The Tomai offspring held on.

Address: Oikata-10 Higashiyurioikata, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0211

Phone: 0184-69-3126

Tomai Fortress Site

Address: Tatemae-5-1 Higashiyuritateai, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0221

Phone: 0184-69-2028

Suzuoka Castle Ruin

Address: 1055 Dashina, Iida, Nagano 399-2561

Matsuo-jo Castle Ruin

Address: Matsuo 1114, Iida, Nagano 395-0812

Igawa-jo Castle Ruins

Address: 1 Chome-8-4553 Igawajo, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-0831