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

Compared with the Takeda clan of Aki, Kobayakawa Takakage, who inherited the Takehara Kobayakawa clan, had more advantages. With the support of Mori Motonari, he quickly gained a foothold in Kimura Castle (the castle of Takehara Kobayakawa). As the saying goes, "after getting Long, you want more", at this moment, it was natural for Mori Motonari to capture Numata Kobayakawa and become his next goal.

However, the Numata Kobayakawa did not want to follow in the footsteps of Takehara Kobayakawa, especially Tabasaka Yoshiaki, the lord of Inamurayama Castle and a hereditary retainer of Kobayakawa Shigehira, who had long seen through Mori Motonari's ambitions. Especially after Kobayakawa Takaki succeeded to the throne, he suppressed and liquidated his family's old retainers, which made Tabasaka Yoshiaki and other retainers try their best to keep a distance from the Mori family to avoid Mori Motonari taking advantage of the opportunity.

At the same time, Yoshiaki Tasaka actively approached the Takeda clan of Aki, and by submitting an oath, he hoped that Takeda Nobumasa would come forward to counter the infiltration of the Mori clan into the Numata Kobayakawa clan.

At this time, Takeda Nobumasa was very conflicted. After all, he had just controlled the Yoshikawa clan. If he intervened in the Numata Kobayakawa clan, it would not only cause dissatisfaction from Mori Motonari, but also arouse suspicion from Ouchi Yoshitaka.

However, Takeda Motomitsu and Takeda Shigekiyo did not think so. Takeda Motomitsu, who had a thorough understanding of the surrounding situation, suggested that Takeda Nobumasa should still make an effort. As long as he could defeat the Numata Kobayakawa clan, he could further expand the presence of the Aki Takeda clan in the southeast of Aki, and form an overall advantage over the Mori clan.

Takeda Shigekiyo considered it from a realistic tactical perspective. He believed that the strength of the two navies under the command of the Aki Takeda clan was still somewhat inferior to that of the navies under the command of the Takehara Kobayakawa clan. If the Mori clan were to capture the Numata Kobayakawa clan at this time, then the strength of the naval forces under the command of the Mori clan would greatly exceed that of the Aki Takeda clan.

Therefore, Takeda Shigekiyo believed that in order to ensure that the Takeda clan of Aki would not be at a disadvantage in future possible maritime struggles, it was necessary to capture Takayama Castle (the castle of Numata Kobayakawa).

After listening to the opinions of the two heavyweights, Takeda Nobumitsu finally changed his mind and decided to have a serious fight with Mori Motonari over the ownership of the Numata Kobayakawa clan.

In the first month of 1544, Takeda Nobuzane ordered Kagawa Mitsukage to bring valuable gifts to Ouchi-kan to express his sincerity to Ouchi Yoshitaka in exchange for his recognition of the Aki Takeda clan's affiliation with the Numata Kobayakawa clan.

However, Kagawa Mitsukage knew that Ouchi Yoshitaka was now immersed in Kyoto culture and had entrusted most of the family affairs to civil retainers such as Sagara Taketoshi. Therefore, before meeting Ouchi Yoshitaka, Kagawa Mitsukage first went to Sagara Taketoshi's residence and tried to exchange the support of this popular figure of the Ouchi clan with a carefully prepared gift.

After the expedition to Izumo ended in failure, the arbitrary faction headed by Tao Takafusa, as the initiator of the expedition, was neglected by Ouchi Yoshitaka. The civil faction headed by Sagara Taketoshi turned the disaster into a blessing, gained the trust of Ouchi Yoshitaka, and took control of the Ouchi family's internal and foreign affairs, and thus came into conflict with the arbitrary faction.

Upon learning that Kagawa Mitsuki was coming to visit, Sagara Taketoshi was very happy and agreed to his request on the spot, saying that he would do his best to speak for the Aki Takeda clan and try to get Ouchi Yoshitaka to agree to hand over the Numata Kobayakawa clan to Takeda Nobumasa.

The reason why Taketoshi Sagara was so straightforward was very simple.

Due to internal strife within the Sagara clan, Sagara Taketoshi was forced to flee Higo with his father. Fortunately, he was taken in by Ouchi Yoshitaka and later became his assistant, assisting Ouchi Yoshitaka in handling government affairs while also acting as a check and balance on the authoritarian faction.

But as an outsider, Sagara Taketoshi's foundation in Ouchikan was unstable. If it weren't for Ouchi Yoshitaka's deliberate favoritism, the civil faction headed by him would not be a match for the arbitrary faction. Although the civil faction now occupies an advantageous position, Sagara Taketoshi knows that the civil faction, which has no military power, will be counterattacked by the arbitrary faction once it loses the protection of Ouchi Yoshitaka. Therefore, he urgently hopes to get the support of the local powerful faction, and the Takeda clan in Aki is the best choice. With the support of Takeda Nobumasa, the civil faction will be much stronger. And once something unexpected happens, the Takeda clan in Aki next to Suo is the best and fastest "refuge" for the civil faction. It is well connected, and you can reach Iwami to the north and cross the sea to Shikoku to the south. There is always a way to help the civil faction get out.

In order to prevent any possible trouble and at the same time intimidate the authoritarian faction in his family, Sagara Taketoshi readily agreed and decided to go to meet Ouchi Yoshitaka with Kagawa Mitsukage to ensure that the matter could be accomplished.

That afternoon, Kagawa Mitsukage was formally summoned by Ouchi Yoshitaka. With the "assistance" of Sagara Taketoshi, his request did receive a positive response from Ouchi Yoshitaka.

But at the same time, we also learned from Ouchi Yoshitaka that not long ago, Tao Takafusa brought Mori Takamoto and Kobayakawa Takakage to pay a visit, and the reason was the same, which was also to hope that Kobayakawa Takakage would inherit the Numata Kobayakawa clan and achieve the unification of the two Kobayakawa clans.

However, Ouchi Yoshitaka did not immediately agree to their request. After all, he was well aware of the importance of the Kobayakawa navy. If the two families were allowed to unify, it would not necessarily be a good thing for the Ouchi clan.

Therefore, when Ouchi Yoshitaka learned that the Takeda clan of Aki also wanted to get involved in this matter, he was secretly delighted - if Numata Kobayakawa was handed over to Takeda Nobumasa, then the naval strength of Takeda and Mori would reach a balance. This would be a good move for Ouchi Yoshitaka, who wanted the two families to check and balance each other and thus ensure the prestige of the Ouchi clan in Aki.

In addition, out of support for Sagara Taketoshi, the civil faction obtained powerful external aid and thus had the capital to compete with the arbitrary faction. Ouchi Yoshitaka was also inclined to hand over the Numata Kobayakawa clan to the Aki Takeda clan.

In fact, in Ouchi Yoshitaka's mind at this moment, the importance of the Aki Takeda clan was higher than that of the Mori clan. The reason for this was that Ginzan Castle was closer to Suo.

Second, after unifying the Yoshikawa clan of Iwami, the Takeda clan gained a bridgehead for attacking Iwami, which was very important for the subsequent Ouchi clan's conquest of Izumo.

Third, the backers of the Aki Takeda clan were the Wakasa Takeda clan, and Ouchi Yoshitaka urgently needed the latter to contain the Amago clan to prevent Amago Haruhisa from taking advantage of the Ouchi clan's recent defeat to launch a reckless counterattack against Aki, Bingo and other places.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons again and again, Ouchi Yoshitaka pretended to be embarrassed and reluctantly agreed to Kagawa Mitsukage's request: "Please go back and tell Amagami that the Numata Kobayakawa clan will be handed over to him. However, please ask him to handle the relationship with Mori Umato well and don't make it difficult for me. Please also ask him to understand that I have made a great determination in this matter, and I hope he will not let me down in the future."

"Your Highness, I am deeply grateful for your respect and support for our family! Please rest assured that our family will remember your instructions and will never let you down!" Kagawa Mitsuki kowtowed repeatedly with tears of gratitude. (End of this chapter)