Virtual North Settsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #25 Jisho-in Temple

 

     Josho-in Temple was founded in Shibutani Village, Teshima County, Settsu Province, in 1532, a year after Hosokawa Takakuni (1484-1531) was cornered to kill himself.  Takakuni was from the Yashu-Hosokawa Family, who were based in Bicchu Province, and looked for a chance to be the head of the Keicho-Hosokawa Family, the head family of the Hosokawa Clan.

     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 seesaw 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 seesaw battles continued till Takakuni was cornered to committ suicide at 4 a.m. on June 8th in the year.

      Genna Bakudo is said to have founded Josho-in Temple iby nominally inviting the 6th head priest of Taiko-ji Temple.

Address: 3 Chome-17-11 Shibutani, Ikeda, Osaka 563-0028

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Taiko-ji Temple

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