Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

Just when Yoshishige was overjoyed about finding two powerful generals, his sworn brother, Miyoshi Nobunaga, who was far away in Settsu, also made a leap to a higher level, and his strength and status were further improved.

As mentioned before, although they were both important ministers under Hosokawa Harumoto, Kizawa Nagamasa was dissatisfied with the attack of Miyoshi Nobunaga and Miyoshi Masanagi on his ally Shiokawa Kunimitsu. He ignored Hosokawa Harumoto's dissuasion and angrily raised an army. He joined forces with Itami, Miyake and other locals to fight a fierce battle with Miyoshi Nobunaga and others, causing the Kinki area, which had just been stable for a short time, to fall into turmoil again.

This melee that lasted for more than half a year reached a small turning point in early September.

On September 2, Kizawa Nagamasa divided his troops and entered Settsu Itami Castle, defeated the coalition forces of Miyoshi Nobunaga, Miyoshi Masanaga, and Hatano Hidetada, seized the initiative on the battlefield, and built a castle on Kasagi Mountain in Yamashiro Province, cutting off the connection between Kyoto and Settsu.

The defeated Miyoshi Nobunaga retreated to his home castle of Koshimizu in Settsu, and Hatano Hidetada also returned to Yakami Castle. Seeing this, Kizawa Nagamasa immediately made a request to Ashikaga Yoshiharu in Kyoto, hoping that he would order the punishment of Miyoshi Nobunaga and others, and threatened that if he did not, he would rush into Kyoto to "greet" Ashikaga Yoshiharu in person.

Ashikaga Yoshiharu was originally a puppet of Hosokawa Harumoto, so he dared not disobey Hosokawa Harumoto and get involved in the fight between Kizawa Nagamasa and Miyoshi Nobunaga. He could only refuse to intervene on the grounds that the conflict between the two sides was a private matter of the Hosokawa family. Not only that, he left Kyoto overnight and took his eldest son Kikudomaru to take refuge in Sakamoto Castle in Omi.

In view of the fact that Kizawa Nagamasa repeatedly rejected his request for a ceasefire, Hosokawa Harumoto finally decided to completely eliminate this traitor.

At the instruction of Hosokawa Harumoto, Ashikaga Yoshiharu issued an imperial order to the Iga guardian Niki clan, requiring them to organize troops to capture Kizawa Nagamasa's castle on Kasagi Mountain.

One day in early October, the Niki clan gathered seventy or eighty Iga and Koga ninjas, sneaked into Kasagi Castle under the cover of night and set it on fire. They also destroyed the wooden walls and fences outside the castle. Afterwards, they launched night attacks on the castle every now and then, causing the defenders in the castle to be in a panic and suffer terribly.

Taking this opportunity, Hosokawa Harumoto decided to launch a counterattack. He first set up his troops in Iwakura, north of Kyoto, and then entered his castle, Akutagawa Castle in Settsu, and called on daimyos from all over the world to attack Kizawa Nagamasa.

It has to be said that as a kanrei, Hosokawa Harumoto still had a strong appeal. Under his call, the daimyo and people of Kinki responded one after another and launched attacks on the castles of the Kizawa clan in various places. Even the Miyake clan, an ally of Kizawa Nagamasa, realized that the situation was not right and switched to Hosokawa Harumoto.

Hosokawa Harumoto personally participated in the battle, which tilted the balance of victory towards Miyoshi Nobunaga and his team again. Kizawa Nagamasa panicked and quickly mobilized his troops to rush to the Kizu River and Yodo River areas to confront Hosokawa Harumoto's troops. This confrontation lasted until the following year.

At the beginning of 1542, Ashikaga Yoshiharu sent an imperial letter to Ishiyama Honganji to prevent the Ikko Ikki in Kawachi Province from joining Kizawa Nagamasa's side. Yusa Nagakuni of Kawachi Province also formed an alliance with the Hosokawa Harumoto faction to prepare to jointly deal with Kizawa Nagamasa.

On the ninth day of the third month, Yusa Naganori launched a coup d'état in Takaya Castle, purging the Kizawa faction in the castle, and then welcomed Hatakeyama Tanenaga, who had been exiled by Kizawa Nagamasa, back to the position of head of the family. Hatakeyama Masakuni, who was supported by Kizawa Nagamasa, fled to Shigiyama Castle in disgrace.

On March 17, Kizawa Nagamasa, who was isolated in Kawachi Province, led his army to attack Takaya Castle, which was defended by Yusa Nagatori. However, Yusa Nagatori, who had noticed Kizawa Nagamasa's movements, received reinforcements from Miyoshi Nobunaga and Miyoshi Masanaga, and his total force reached 8,000, and he also led his army out of the city to fight.

The Kizawa army and the Yusa army fought fiercely near the Ochiai River. Seeing that Yusa Nagakuni was about to collapse, at the critical moment, Miyoshi Nobunaga led his troops to join the battle and attacked Kizawa Nagamasa from behind.

The Kizawa army, which had fought hard for a long time, was defeated and the Kizawa clan died one after another. Kizawa Nagamasa was also captured by Yusa Nagakuni's retainers shortly after he fled to the nearby Taiheiji Temple. Therefore, this battle is also called the "Battle of Taiheiji Temple."

After this battle, Miyoshi Nobunaga was commended by Hosokawa Harumoto for his military achievements. As a reward, Hosokawa Harumoto also gave his own castle, Akutagawa Castle in Settsu, to Miyoshi Nobunaga, allowing his influence in Kinki to be further expanded.

With the victory of the Battle of Taiheiji, Kinki temporarily regained its peace. However, Oshu and the western provinces were in turmoil again, especially Izumo Province under the control of the Amago clan, which became another focus of world attention.

After Akihisa Amago failed in his attack on Yoshida-gunyama Castle and withdrew his troops from Aki Province, the people of Aki Yoshikawa family, Bingo Miyoshi family, Yamanouchi family, and Miya family, who had originally been subordinate to the Amago clan, all defected to Ouchi Yoshitaka.

In October of the 1541th year of Tenbun (), Akihisa received the taboo character "Haru" from Ashikaga Yoshiharu and officially changed his name to Akihisa. The following month, Akihisa died in grief over the loss of Aki Province, ending his eventful life at the age of .

Upon learning that Amago had died of illness after a long period, and in light of the insistence of dogmatic factions such as Tao Takafusa in the country, as well as requests from people in Aki, Bingo, Izumo, Iwami and other places, Ouchi Yoshitaka decided to expedition to Izumo and destroy the Amago clan in one fell swoop.

On the eleventh day of the first lunar month, Ouchi Yoshitaka, accompanied by his adopted son Ouchi Harumichi, Tao Takafusa, Sugi Shigenori, Naito Nobumori and others, led an army of 15,000 men out of Suo. After arriving at the capital of Aki Province, people from Aki such as Takeda Nobumitsu, Mori Motonari, and Yoshikawa Okisuke, as well as people from Bingo and Iwami and other places, led their armies to join them, and a total of more than 30,000 troops were recruited.

In March, the vanguard of the Ouchi army invaded Izumo Province. Standing in the way of the Ouchi army was the Tsukiyama Tomita Castle defense network built by Amago Nobuhisa, known as the "Amago Ten Flags".

The "Ten Flags of Amago" refers to the ten castles in Izumo Province, namely Hakushika Castle, Kansai Castle, Takase Castle, Ōnishi Castle, Mitoya Castle, Kumano Castle, Ushio Castle, Misawa Castle, Umagi Castle, and Akana Castle (Setoyama Castle).

Between Tsukiyama Tomita Castle and the "Ten Flags of Amago", there is a relay point called the "Ten Forts of Amago". The "Ten Flags of Amago" and the "Ten Forts of Amago" built a solid defense network, which prevented the enemy forces coveting Izumo from acting rashly. Even if they invaded Izumo, they could not march straight into Tsukiyama Tomita Castle, the headquarters of the Amago clan.

Facts have proved that this defense network is indeed very strong. When the Ouchi army attacked Akana Castle, the first castle of the "Ten Banners of Amago", they encountered desperate resistance from the castle lord Akana Mitsukiyo and the reinforcements Tanaka Saburozaemon.

Akana Mitsukiyo was extremely brave and took the initiative to go out of the city to fight, killing the vanguard of the Ouchi army, Kumagai Naotsugu (Kumagai Nobunao's younger brother) and his retainer Arakawa Yozo, which frustrated the Ouchi army's offensive. In order to avoid greater casualties, Ouchi Yoshitaka decided to adopt a siege tactic, which bought precious time for Amago Haruhisa of Tsukiyama Tomita Castle to organize a defense.

While the battle in Izumo was becoming increasingly tense, an unprecedented "melee" was breaking out in Oshu.

The protagonist of this incident, the Date clan, was a descendant of the San'in school of the Fujiwara clan. He originally lived in Shimotsuke and later moved to Hitachi.

In 1189, Minamoto no Yoritomo invaded Oshu, and Fujiwara no Tomomune led his four sons to join Minamoto no Yoritomo's army. Because Fujiwara no Tomomune's eldest son Fujiwara no Tamemune fought hard and killed Nobuo Shoji, Sato Motoharu and others, Fujiwara no Tomomune was rewarded for his merits and was granted the Mutsu Date County. He changed his surname to Date and made Kuwaze-go in the county his residence. Date Tomomune was the ancestor of the Date clan.

After that, the Date clan experienced prosperity and decline, and finally came to the 14th head, Date Tanemune. After he succeeded, Date Tanemune vigorously promoted marriage diplomacy and the policy of adoption, and successively formed marriages with neighboring daimyo such as Soma Akitane, Ashina Moriuji, Tamura Takaaki, and Kageda Toshimune. He also adopted his son Date Yoshinobu as the son of Osaki Takane and Date Harutane as the son of Kasai Harushige, which gradually restored the vitality of the Date clan.

However, this policy also aroused dissatisfaction among some family forces, led by the eldest son Date Harumune.

First, in 1541, Date Tanemune decided to grant land to his son-in-law Soma Akitane, a decision that made Date Harumune and his retainers unhappy.

The following year, Date Tanemune even wanted to send his son Fujigoro to the Echigo guardian Uesugi Sadamasa as an adopted son, and sent a hundred elite cavalry to escort him.

This incident further aroused opposition, and Date Harumune could no longer tolerate it and took the initiative to try to stop Date Tanemune. However, Date Tanemune still insisted on his own way and decided to force his plan to be implemented.

In desperation, Date Harumune had to use force to stop his father's actions.

In March of the 1542th year of Tenbun (), Date Harumune took advantage of Date Tanemune's hunting in the suburbs and forcibly controlled Date Tanemune with his troops. He imprisoned him in Nishiyama Castle and then appointed himself as the new head of the family.

But soon afterwards, Date Tanemune was rescued by his retainers, Koharugawa Munetomo and Morimune. After being rescued, Date Tanemune angrily decided to send troops to deal with his son.

At this time, due to Date Tanemune's marriage diplomacy, the daimyo of Mutsu were inevitably involved in the chaos, and formed the Date Tanemune faction, which was mainly composed of daimyo such as Soma Akitane, Nikaido Teruyuki, Ashina Moriuji, Ishikawa Harumitsu, and clan members such as Date Yoshimune, and the Date Harumune faction, which was mainly composed of daimyo Iwaki Shigetaka, and young retainers such as Nakano Munetoki.

A fierce battle broke out between the two factions, and the entire southern Oshu region fell into chaos. Because this great battle took place during the Tenbun era, it was called the "Tenbun Rebellion."

To sum up, in March of the 12th year of Tenbun, from Mutsu to Kinki, and from Kinki to Izumo, the whole of Japan was in turmoil.

However, Yoshishige, who lived in Tango, was surprisingly "quiet" for more than half a year. He neither took advantage of the war in Kinki to get a share of the spoils, nor took the opportunity of Amago Haruhisa's passive defense to seize his territories in Hoki and Bitchu. Instead, he focused all his attention on domestic politics at home.

The most important of these is to formulate national laws based on the implementation of existing policies.

The so-called Bunkoku Law, also known as the Sengoku Law or the Sengoku National Law, was a law formulated by the daimyo of the Japanese Warring States Period to rule the territories under their command. The main matters it stipulated include the control of subjects, command of retainers, control of temples and shrines, discussion of territories, and military service.

In principle, the term "national law" refers to publicly promulgated documents, but many rules that are passed down in the form of family precepts are also considered national laws. Therefore, the concept of national law is relatively broad.

Since the Bunkoku Law was mandatory and authoritative, it could only be implemented in the territories of daimyo who had achieved a high degree of unification. On the contrary, it was difficult for daimyo who had weak ruling power or lost their authority to implement this law.

For example, the historical example of a person who was unable to implement the law of dividing the country was the Maori Motonari. Although he dominated China, he was unable to promote the implementation of the law of dividing the country because the people in his territory were too powerful.

During the reign of Rokkaku Yoshiharu, the local people in the territory were powerful. They united to formulate a set of laws called "Rokkaku Clan Rules" and forced Rokkaku Yoshiharu to accept them. Although the Rokkaku family was the nominal lord, they could only passively accept them helplessly.

From this we can see that although the Bunkoku Law was an effective weapon for the Warring States daimyo to strengthen themselves, not all daimyo could implement the Bunkoku Law according to their own will, so they could only formulate corresponding laws within the scope of their own control.

The contents of the national laws can be roughly divided into two major items: laws for governing peasants and regulations for controlling retainers.

Since the annual tribute paid by the peasants was one of the main sources of income for the daimyo, a complete system had to be established in order to ensure that the peasants paid the tribute. At the same time, in order to ensure the operation of the territory, a set of laws and regulations related to the governance of the peasants would naturally be needed.

In contrast, the laws related to commanding retainers were enacted to stabilize the domestic situation. By emphasizing the master-servant relationship, clarifying the hierarchy within the retainer team, and the military service obligations of retainers during war, the daimyo's position could be stabilized and chaos and decline within the retainer group could be avoided.

On the first day of the first month of the 11th year of Tenbun, after more than half a year of research and formulation, the Wakasa Takeda clan's national law, "Wakashu Takeda clan law list", was officially promulgated.

This law of national division initially consisted of only eleven articles, but was later expanded and finally finalized at fifty-seven articles.

This collection includes Yoshishige's summary of specific methods for governing the country and the basic rules for governing the people. He uses laws and regulations as indicators and guidelines for action, with the aim of improving civil affairs in both quality and quantity. At the same time, he brings ideals and hopes to the people, providing impetus for the development of the territory.

Many years later, a special clause was added to the "Jakashu Takeda Clan Law List", which stated that anyone who violated the law would be punished according to the law regardless of his status.

Although this was based on retaining the privileges of the samurai class and still had limitations, it generally won the hearts of the people under his rule and increased cohesion within the territory.

Apart from civil affairs, the most important point is the determination of military service obligations, that is, the establishment of military service accounts. According to the relevant regulations on military service, the amount of knowledge and practice is not only a symbol of wealth, but also can be regarded as the number of troops that the lord can mobilize.

After careful research and review of the land inspection account, Yoshishige initially determined that the military service obligations of the retainers in the territory were linked to the koku of the koku multiplied by the annual tribute rate. Therefore, in the early stages of the establishment, retainers with a koku of 10,000 koku had the obligation to mobilize about 250 to 300 soldiers. (End of this chapter)