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

The Yoshikawa clan, whose capital was Kokurayama Castle at the junction of Aki and Iwami, was said to be a descendant of Otomaro, the third son of Takechimaro, the ancestor of the Fujiwara clan. Other samurai families of the same lineage included the Kudo clan, the Ito clan, the Nikaido clan, the Sagara clan, etc.

The ancestor of the Yoshikawa clan, Yoshikawa Tsuneyoshi, made military achievements under Minamoto no Yoritomo and was granted an estate in Suruga called Yoshikawa (Yoshikawa)-sho, which he used as his surname.

At the end of the Kamakura period, the Yoshikawa clan was transferred by the shogunate to the area near Iwami in northern Aki. The heyday of the Yoshikawa family can be said to be the tenth generation, Yoshikawa Momonji. As an Aki native, he followed Yamana Munemoto's Western Army camp to participate in the "Onin War" and repelled the Bingo nobles who joined the Eastern Army. He became famous for repelling Hatakeyama Yoshimasa of the Eastern Army many times and was given the title of "Oni Yoshikawa".

After the war, Yoshikawa Nobuki devoted himself to expanding his territory, extending his rule into Iwami and eastward to Bingo, building the largest territory of the Yoshikawa family. In 1509, Yoshikawa Nobuki abdicated the throne to his eldest son Yoshikawa Kunimitsu, and died eleven years later at the age of .

With the abdication of Yoshikawa Nobuki, the Yoshikawa family began to decline.

Forced to join the Amago clan and the Aki Takeda clan under attack from both the north and the south, Yoshikawa Kunimitsu was forced to defect to the Amago clan, thus forming an opposition with Mori Motonari, who was close to the Ouchi clan, for nearly twenty years.

But even so, the complex relationship between the two families was not cut off easily. Yoshikawa Kuniyoshi's daughter Myoku was the legal wife of Mori Motonari. And the legal wife of Yoshikawa Kuniyoshi's eldest son Yoshikawa Motonari was the daughter of Mori Hiromoto, the widow of Motonari's mother.

In 1522, Yoshikawa Mototsune died, and the -year-old Yoshikawa Okitsune succeeded him as the th head of the Yoshikawa clan. His elderly grandfather Yoshikawa Kunitsune served as the governor, but his grandfather also died four years later.

Like his great-grandfather Yoshikawa Nobuki, Okishita was a fierce general who was extremely brave on the battlefield and was particularly skilled in archery. His archery skills were considered to be comparable to those of the famous archer Chinzei Hachiro from the Heian period, so he was also called "Im Chinzei".

However, Yoshikawa Oki was still a military man after all. He was suspicious and fickle by nature, had a strong temper, and was not very good at handling political affairs and relationships with his retainers. Although he was brave on the battlefield, he was indeed mediocre in politics.

After Yoshikawa Okishin came of age, he actively expanded the Yoshikawa clan's sphere of influence in the northern part of Aki Province and the southern part of Iwami Province, becoming the target of both Ouchi Yoshitaka and Amago Nobunaga's efforts to win over. However, due to geographical relations and the fact that his grandfather Yoshikawa Kunimitsu's sister was Amago Nobunaga's principal wife, Yoshikawa Okishin insisted on standing on the side of the Amago clan.

Although he accepted the recruitment of Ouchi Yoshitaka and defected from the Amago clan after the failure of Amago Haruhisa's attack on Yoshida-gunyama Castle of Mori Motonari, when Ouchi Yoshitaka attacked Tsukiyama Tomita Castle, he defected to the Amago clan again, which not only led to Ouchi Yoshitaka's defeat, but also further damaged his relationship with Mori Motonari.

However, Yoshikawa Okinagi, who had just defected to the Amago clan, soon began to think about defecting to the Ouchi clan. However, Ouchi Yoshitaka was very angry about his repeated rebellions and wanted to divide Yoshikawa's territory between the Aki Takeda clan and the Mori clan.

Despite Mori Motonari's plea, Ouchi Yoshitaka, who had just experienced a defeat, was already furious. Seeing that the Mori clan was unwilling to take action, he had no choice but to hand over the task of attacking and destroying the Yoshikawa clan to the Aki Takeda clan.

At this time, Yoshikawa clan's retainers were very dissatisfied with Yoshikawa Okiya's repeated betrayal. In addition, Yoshikawa Okiya favored the outer-ranking Oshio Uemon-no-jo to suppress his uncle Yoshikawa Muneyo and the old retainer Moriwaki Yuari, which caused more dissatisfaction among the retainers. Out of concern for the future of Yoshikawa clan, these retainers believed that Yoshikawa Okiya was no longer suitable to be the head of Yoshikawa clan.

Upon learning that the Takeda clan of Aki was about to send troops to Kokurayama Castle, the Yoshikawa clan quickly split into two factions: pro-Mōri and pro-Takeda.

There is no need to say much about the pro-Mori faction. As for the pro-Takeda faction, they also hope to use the marriage relationship between the Yoshikawa and Takeda families to persuade the Aki Takeda clan to withdraw their troops and resolve the current crisis.

Although Yoshikawa Oki had the blood of the Mori clan, the Yoshikawa clan also had close ties with the Aki Takeda clan. For example, Yoshikawa Oki's sister married Takeda Mitsukazu, and Yoshikawa Oki himself married Takeda Motoshige's daughter, Takeda Mitsukazu's sister, as his successor.

Therefore, in terms of marriage relations, the Mori faction and the Takeda faction are evenly matched, but given that the Aki Takeda clan is currently preparing to attack Kokurayama Castle on the orders of Ouchi Yoshitaka, the retainers in the city who support the Takeda faction have a certain advantage.

In August of 1543, Takeda Motomitsu, who had returned to Aki, received a secret letter from Moriwaki Takunori, a senior retainer of the Yoshikawa clan, saying that the Mori faction in the family had reached an agreement with Mori Motonari and was planning to take advantage of Yoshikawa Okishima's unpreparedness and place him under house arrest, forcing him to adopt Mori Motonari's second son, who had just come of age, as his son and pass the position of head of the Yoshikawa clan to him.

In this way, Mori Motonari could use this relationship to ask Ouchi Yoshitaka to cancel the expedition against the Yoshikawa clan, thus saving the Yoshikawa clan from danger and bringing them under the control of the Mori clan from then on.

After receiving this news, Takeda Motomitsu did not dare to neglect it at all. He immediately ordered Takeda Shigekiyo and Shirai Kiyotane to lead 3,000 troops to Kokurayama Castle. At the same time, he asked Ouchi Yoshitaka for instructions, hoping that he would send Takeda Kosaburo, the son of Takeda Mitsukazu, back to Ginzan Castle. He also told Ouchi Yoshitaka that the Yoshikawa family was a famous family in Aki after all, and the family name could not be cut off, so he hoped that Kosaburo would be adopted by Yoshikawa Okitsune to inherit the Yoshikawa family name. At this time, Takeda Kosaburo, who had served Ouchi Yoshitaka for nearly three years, had just come of age not long ago, and took the taboo character "Takashi" of Ouchi Yoshitaka, and inherited the character "Kō" of Takeda Mitsukazu, and changed his name to Takeda Mitsutaka.

Ouchi Yoshitaka was very satisfied with Takeda Mitsutaka's service over the past few years. Knowing that he had no hope of inheriting the position of head of the Takeda clan in Aki, he thought that it would not be a bad idea for him to inherit the position of head of the Yoshikawa clan. Therefore, he agreed to Takeda Motomitsu's request and sent Takeda Mitsutaka back to Ginzan Castle.

Speed ​​is of the essence in war. Takeda Motomitsu intended to quickly surround Kokurayama Castle and cut off the connection between the Mori faction and Mori Motonari. On the other hand, he wanted to create an opportunity for the Takeda faction to take action. After all, the Takeda faction had to do more than just put Yoshikawa Okishima under house arrest. They also had to eliminate the Mori faction in the castle and create a stable environment for Takeda Mitsutaka to succeed.

On August 20th, the Takeda army captured several fortresses outside Ogurayama Castle and basically completed the siege of the castle.

That night, the Takeda faction led by Moriwaki Yuari took advantage of Yoshikawa Okiyomi's unpreparedness and tied him up and imprisoned him and his family members in the palace. They also lured the leader of the Mori faction, Yoshikawa Motoyo, and his retainers into the palace on the pretext of discussing important matters, and then closed the door. At this time, the samurai who had been ambushed in the palace rushed out from all directions and massacred the defenseless Mori faction like cutting melons and vegetables.

The Takeda faction, which had basically gained control of the castle, was afraid that the Maori samurai would continue to cause trouble, so they hurriedly ordered people to open the Ote-mon Gate to welcome the Takeda army into the castle. With the arrival of Takeda Shigekiyo and Shirai Kiyotane, the Takeda army and the Takeda faction launched a hunt for the remnants of the Maori faction in the castle. The battle lasted until August 22, when the Maori faction in the castle was basically cleared out.

In order to avoid any trouble and Mori Motonari's interference, under the repeated coercion and inducement of the Takeda faction, Yoshikawa Okisuke, who was under house arrest, finally agreed to adopt Takeda Mitsutaka as his adopted son and pass the position of family head to him. In return, Takeda Motomitsu did not kill Yoshikawa Okisuke and his family, but took them all to Ginzan Castle to "raise them with kindness", which was equivalent to continuing house arrest in a different place.

On August 24, the 19-year-old Takeda Mitsutaka officially took over the Yoshikawa clan and changed his name to Yoshikawa Takashige, officially succeeding as the 15th head of the Aki Yoshikawa clan.

The news soon reached Yoshida-gunyama Castle. Mori Motonari was shocked to hear the bad news. He did not expect that his careful layout would be destroyed so quickly, and he did not expect that the Aki Takeda clan would be so decisive and quickly stabilize the situation in the city at lightning speed.

"It seems that those Wakasa visitors from Ginzan Castle are not easy to deal with." The frustrated Mori Motonari could not help but sigh after hearing that the Takeda faction had gained a firm foothold and Takeda Mitsutaka had succeeded as the family head.

In this way, the Takeda clan of Aki took the Yoshikawa clan into its possession and basically completed its control over western Aki.

However, Mori Motonari was not discouraged by this. Seeing that the Takeda clan in Aki was growing stronger and stronger, he also accelerated the annexation and expansion of surrounding forces.

The Kobayakawa clan originated from the Yoshibun school of the Kanmu Taira clan. At the beginning, Doi Enhei, the son of Doi Sanehira who served Minamoto no Yoritomo, was granted the title of Kobayakawa in the northern part of Doi Township, Sagami, which marked the beginning of the surname Kobayakawa.

Later, Minamoto no Yoritomo set up shugos throughout the country, and Doi Enpei was given Numata Sho in Aki Province, so he moved to Aki, and soon after, he was granted Takehara Sho in Aki Province for his military achievements. As time went by, the Kobayakawa family was divided into two, the main family was the Numata Kobayakawa family, and the branch family was the Takehara Kobayakawa family.

Entering the Warring States Period, the power of the Takehara Kobayakawa family expanded significantly, relying on the increasingly powerful navy, becoming a force that could not be ignored in the Seto Inland Sea. When the Ouchi clan attacked Aki, both Kobayakawa families surrendered to the Ouchi clan and tried their best to ensure the Ouchi clan's control over the coast of Aki.

Long before the Ouchi army retreated from Izumo, in 1542, the th head of the Takehara Kobayakawa clan, Kobayakawa Okikage, died without an heir. So the important retainers of the Takehara Kobayakawa family proposed that Mori Motonari's third son, Mori Takakage, be adopted by the Takehara Kobayakawa family and inherit the family business in the future.

Out of his favor for Tokujumaru, Ouchi Yoshitaka made the decision on behalf of Mori Motonari and agreed to adopt Mori Takakage to the Takehara Kobayakawa clan, and he was thus renamed Kobayakawa Takakage.

On the sixth day of September in the 1543th year of Tenbun (), just a dozen days after Takeda Mitsutaka inherited the position of head of the Yoshikawa clan, at the urging of Mori Motonari, Takehara Kobayakawa held a family succession ceremony, and Kobayakawa Takakage officially became the th head of the Takehara Kobayakawa clan.

As Yoshikawa and Takehara Kobayakawa were absorbed by the Takeda clan and the Mori clan in Aki respectively, the two families had formed a situation of confrontation in Aki.

Although Ouchi Yoshitaka was immersed in Kyoto culture at this time, he was not "indifferent to the outside world". He still had his own unique views on the current situation in Aki and the succession of the family heir. He believed that both Yoshikawa Takatsune and Kobayakawa Takakage were cultivated by him, and having them inherit the position of family heir of the powerful people would be twice the result with half the effort to maintain the rule of the Ouchi family in Aki. (End of this chapter)