Biographies XCIII: Minamoto-no-Akiie and Minamoto-no-Tadaakira

Minamoto-no-Akiie

¶Minamoto-no-Akiie was the eldest son of Kitabatake Chikafusa, Dainagon, Major Counsellor. In the Gen'ō and Karyaku eras (1319-1329) he was granted Junior Fifth Rank Upper, and thereafter rose step by step, holding concurrently the posts of Jijū, Chamberlain, and Sakonoe-no-shōshō, Lesser Captain of the Left Palace Guards. In the first year of Genkō (1331) he was appointed Sangi, Consultant, and became Sakonoe-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards; Akiie was then only fourteen years old (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the spring of that year the emperor, together with the Chūgū, the consort, Eifukumon'in, made an excursion to the Kitayama villa of Fujiwara-no-Kinmune, Gon-Dainagon, Provisional Major Counsellor, to view the blossoms. The emperor himself played the shō, the mouth organ, and Akiie danced the court dance "Ryōō." His bearing was composed and graceful, and his movements fitted the beat exactly; all who watched him sighed in admiration and praised him. When the dance was over and he was about to withdraw, the emperor called him back and had him dance a second piece, and bestowed gifts upon him (Note: following the Masukagami and the Mai-goran-ki).

¶In the third year of Genkō (1333) he was additionally appointed Danjō-no-daihitsu, Senior Assistant Master of the Board of Censors (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). The emperor, now that the realm had at last been settled, conceived the idea of pacifying the eastern provinces, and wished to appoint Akiie Mutsu-no-kami, Governor of Mutsu, and send him to Mutsu and Dewa. Akiie declined, pleading that he was unaccustomed to civil government and military affairs, but the emperor would not permit it, and declared: "This is an age of great peace, and there is no distinction between the civil and the military. From of old, imperial princes and grandsons, and the sons and younger brothers of regents and ministers of state, have for the most part commanded the armed forces generally. In future too I wish you to cultivate the martial arts and be a bulwark of the court." Akiie had no choice but to take up the post, and, wishing to borrow the authority of the imperial house, he escorted Imperial Prince Noriyoshi and took him along. The emperor himself wrote an inscription on a banner and bestowed it upon Akiie, and in addition conferred several pieces of military equipment. At that time the old ceremonies by which court nobles proceeded to their provincial posts had long fallen into disuse, but at Akiie's departure everything was carried out entirely in the ancient manner, and the emperor, in his own presence, bestowed clothing and a horse and sent him off (Note: following the Jinnō Shōtōki).

¶The emperor further permitted the old institutions of the Kamakura shogunate to be followed as a special measure, and established a Council of State, a Council of Petitions, and the various magistracies of the Samurai-dokoro, to assist the government of Mutsu (Note: following the Kenmu Ninen-ki). Originally, Imperial Prince Morinaga disliked the fact that Ashikaga Takauji secretly harbored the ambition of seizing military power over the whole realm, and thought of dispersing his partisans and cutting down his strength. He therefore recommended Akiie as commander of the garrison of the eastern provinces, and had the warriors of the east follow him, so as to hold Takauji in check. Because Akiie's aunt was a consort of Imperial Prince Morinaga, such arrangements were made (Note: following the Hōreki Kanki). Only two months after he arrived in Mutsu, the two provinces of Mutsu and Dewa submitted (Note: following the Jinnō Shōtōki).

¶In the first year of Kenmu (1334), for this merit, he was granted Junior Second Rank, and in the second year (1335) he was additionally appointed Chinjufu Shōgun, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacification Headquarters (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin. The Taiheiki places this in the first year of Engen, which is an error). By imperial edict he escorted Imperial Prince Noriyoshi, and was to attack Ashikaga Takauji at Kamakura together with Nitta Yoshisada (Note: following the Taiheiki). Akiie gathered troops within Mutsu province but could not bring them together in time, and so led the troops he had in hand just as they were, fighting as he advanced (Note: compare the Kanjō-sho and the Taiheiki).

¶In the first year of Engen (1336), when he reached Kamakura, Takauji had already gone west. At this time the eastern commanders Nitta Yoshioki and Chiba Sadatane joined his side, and his troops numbered about fifty thousand. Akiie pursued Takauji day and night, and on reaching Ōmi he ordered Ōdachi Yukiuji to attack and capture Sasaki Ujiyori's Kannonji castle, killing more than five hundred men. The emperor sent seven hundred ships to meet Akiie, and had him cross Lake Biwa to Enryaku-ji (Note: compare the Jinnō Shōtōki, the Baishōron, and the Taiheiki). Together with Yoshisada he attacked Onjō-ji and took it, and then, with the other commanders, divided the roads to attack Takauji. Akiie led twenty thousand troops and advanced from Awataguchi, setting fires as he went. Takauji, seeing this from afar, said, "Now that Lord Kitabatake has come, I cannot fail to go out and meet him myself," and led several hundred thousand troops to resist. The two armies fought many times; Akiie's force, though few, fought well, and Takauji could not break it, so both armies withdrew for a time to rest. Then Yoshisada loosed his troops in a charge, and Takauji fled. Next they sent troops out to Toshimagawara and attacked Takauji again; Akiie was the first to charge in, the other commanders followed, and they won a great victory. Takauji fled west, and Akiie, together with Yoshisada, reformed the army and returned in triumph to the capital (Note: following the Taiheiki). For this merit he was additionally appointed Uemon-no-kami, Commander of the Right Gate Guards, and Kebiishi-no-bettō, Superintendent of the Imperial Police (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin).

¶At about this time Takauji's partisans rose in every region (Note: following the Taiheiki). Akiie therefore escorted Imperial Prince Noriyoshi and went down to Mutsu once again (Note: following the Genkō Nikki Uragaki). By imperial edict he was also placed in charge of the two provinces of Hitachi and Shimotsuke (Note: following the Hōreki Kanki).

¶Akiie submitted a memorial to this effect: "The province of Mutsu is the most important of the border lands, and a key position for guarding against any unforeseen trouble from the Emishi. In the third year of Kōnin (812) a special imperial order was issued, saying: 'Establish the Chinjufu, select a man of the capacity of a great general and grant him the title of shōgun; let his rank be Junior Fifth Rank Upper, and let him hold concurrently the governorships of the neighboring provinces together with his home province.' I have now risen in office to the eight seats and in rank to Second Rank. By special imperial command I have gone to my home province, and for my merit I have also been made head of the Chinjufu; Your Majesty's favor is truly great. Yet although my rank is high my post is low, and I fear that it violates the proper standing. I humbly beg that, from now on, whenever a person of Third Rank or above is appointed to this post, the character 'Dai' (Great) be added, and that this be made a permanent rule. To fix institutions in accordance with the times is the ordinary practice of every age, and just as, when an imperial prince is appointed a provincial governor, he is specially called 'Taishu,' so this is an example of the same kind. I humbly await Your Majesty's decision." (Note: following the Kenmu Ninen-ki.) Thereupon Akiie became Chinjufu Daishōgun, Great General of the Pacification Headquarters (Note: following the Kenmu Ninen-ki and the Shokugen-shō), and soon afterwards was appointed Gon-Chūnagon, Provisional Middle Counsellor (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin).

¶Akiie attacked Sōma Tane'aki at Hokke-dō and Sōma Mitsutane at Odaka castle, and killed both (Note: following the Sōma Kaden).

¶In the spring of the second year of Kenmu (1335), many of the warriors of Mutsu responded to Takauji's side and attacked Akiie. Akiie's situation was unfavorable, and together with Yūki Munehiro he escorted Imperial Prince Noriyoshi and shut himself up in Ryōzen castle to hold it firm (Note: compare the Yūki Monjo, the Genkō Nikki Uragaki, the Hōreki Kanki, and the Taiheiki). The enemy again surrounded it (Note: following the Yūki Monjo and the Hōreki Kanki).

¶Before this, the emperor had moved to Yoshino, and the strength of the imperial army was reviving (Note: following the Yūki Monjo and the Taiheiki). Nitta Yoshisada sent Akiie a letter urging him to raise troops and march on the capital. While Akiie had not yet moved, the emperor sent Edo Tadashige, Shuri-no-suke, Assistant in the Office of Palace Repairs, and gave Akiie an edict, saying: "I was about to return to the capital, but Ashikaga Tadayoshi broke his promise and mishandled affairs, and matters have turned out greatly contrary to my intentions. I have now moved my temporary palace to Yoshino, and am urging the loyal troops of the provinces to work for recovery. I wish you to lead the imperial army and go swiftly to the capital, and to pacify the realm by your strength. In particular, convey my intentions to Munehiro and the others, and have them exert their loyalty to the utmost." When Akiie showed this edict to Munehiro and the others, all were moved, and their morale rose still higher (Note: following the Yūki Monjo).

¶He then issued a call to arms and recruited troops, and more than six thousand answered, including Munehiro's kinsmen and the clans of Date, Shinobu, Nanbu, and Shimoyama. Akiie set out from Ryōzen and reached the Shirakawa Barrier; the soldiers who gathered from within his jurisdiction numbered several hundred thousand, and he advanced as far as Shimotsuke (Note: following the Taiheiki). He stayed at Utsunomiya for several days to rest men and horses, and then set out (Note: compare the Yūki Monjo and the Hōreki Kanki).

¶The army of Ashikaga Yoshiakira was holding the Tone River, but just then long rains had swollen the river and it could not be crossed. Akiie's subordinates Saitō Sanenaga and his younger brother Bungo Jirō began to cross without regard for the torrent, the remaining troops followed them across, and the water overflowed as far as the west bank. The enemy tried to block them in midstream, but the drowned were beyond counting, and they collapsed utterly and fled. Akiie entered the Musashi provincial capital and stayed five days, and Utsunomiya Kintsuna joined his side. Akiie sent troops to attack Haga Zenka and made him submit, and together with Hōjō Tokiyuki and Nitta Yoshioki attacked Kamakura and put Yoshiakira to flight (Note: following the Taiheiki). The enemy commander Shiba Ienaga withdrew to Sugimoto castle and shut himself in; troops were sent, took it, and killed Ienaga (Note: compare the Hōreki Kanki, the Muromachi-ke Mato Hajime Nikki, the Sonpi Bunmyaku, and the Tsurugaoka Shamuki).

¶In the third year of Engen (1338) he led his troops toward the capital, but his soldiers plundered as they pleased wherever they went and burned the lands they passed through. When he came to Owari, Fujiwara-no-Masayoshi and Horiguchi Sadamitsu joined him with their troops, and his force grew still larger. On the road the enemy commanders Momonoi Naotsune, Toki Yoritō, and others repeatedly pursued him from behind, but Akiie's troops had reached more than eighty thousand. Akiie drew up his lines at Aonogahara, fought Yoritō and the others, and drove them off. Just then Takauji had sent Kō-no-Moroyasu to block the way at the Kurochi River (Note: following the Taiheiki). Because Yoritō and the others appeared again, Akiie found himself facing enemies both in front and behind (Note: following the Nan-Taiheiki). He therefore took the road by way of Ise, intending to make for Yoshino (Note: following the Taiheiki). Moroyasu pursued as far as the Kumozu River and drove Akiie back (Note: following the Nan-Taiheiki and the Mitoya Monjo).

¶He rested his troops at Nara, gathered his commanders and asked for plans. Yūki Munehiro said: "If we cannot break through the enemy at Kurochi, we should go straight to the temporary palace. If, when His Majesty questions us, we have no words of explanation, we shall not be able to answer for our fault. Though our army is weary, it is still strong enough to retake the capital. Even if we should meet a reverse, to leave our corpses beneath the capital would be the way to redeem this regret." Akiie followed this, but before he set out, Takauji sent Momonoi Naotsune to meet him. Akiie's troops were exhausted and could not fight, and they broke and fled. Akiie escaped to Kawachi, gathered his scattered soldiers, and took his stand on Otokoyama, whereupon the momentum of his army recovered somewhat. Takauji sent Kō-no-Moronao to attack him. Akiie relied on the steep terrain and deep moats to hold, and his soldiers all fought with all their strength. The enemy army was hard pressed, and Moronao, fearing that the imperial forces of Kawachi and Settsu would respond to Akiie and catch him between them, left his main force to besiege the castle while he himself set up camp at Tennō-ji and cut off the road of reinforcements. Akiie sallied out from the castle and fought but was heavily defeated; with some twenty horsemen he broke through the encirclement and tried to flee to Yoshino, fighting hand to hand with drawn blades. But he was surrounded by enemy soldiers and at last fell in battle in the midst of the field (Note: following the Taiheiki). He was twenty-one years old (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Kitabatake Keizu). After his death he was posthumously granted Junior First Rank and the office of Udaijin, Minister of the Right (Note: following the Kanjō-sho and the vow-text in Chikafusa's own hand preserved at Kongōbu-ji on Kōya). His son was named Akinari (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku); he served Emperor Go-Murakami and attended at the temporary residence at Yoshino (Note: following the Entairyaku). His son was named Chikanari (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Minamoto-no-Tadaakira

¶Minamoto-no-Tadaakira was a grandson of Naidaijin, Minister of the Interior, Arifusa, and a son of Gon-Chūnagon Aritada (Note: following the Taiheiki). His family name was Rokujō, or he was called Chigusa (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Taiheiki), and he was also called Zenrinji (Note: following the Hōreki Kanki). From his youth he loved riding and archery, and indulged in gambling, drink, and women, so that his father Aritada detested him bitterly and refused to treat him as his son (Note: following the Taiheiki). Even so, he entered service and became Sakonoe-no-shōshō (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Senjō-roku).

¶When Emperor Go-Daigo secretly made his progress to Kasagi, Tadaakira followed him. When Kasagi fell and the emperor was captured, he was moved to the south of Rokuhara. Hōjō Nakatoki and Hōjō Tokimasu released Tadaakira and the Chūnagon Fujiwara-no-Fujifusa as a special favor, and let them attend at the emperor's side. Afterwards he also accompanied the emperor to Oki. The following year the imperial forces rose in every region, and Sasaki Kiyotaka, the military governor of Oki, patrolled and guarded the temporary palace day and night against emergencies (Note: following the Taiheiki). Yet most of the guard warriors secretly wished to help the emperor escape (Note: following the Masukagami and the Hōki-maki).

¶Fujina Yoshitsuna was on guard at the middle gate; at the emperor's command he went to Izumo to gather troops, but was detained by En'ya Takasada. The emperor waited for his return for many days, and as he did not appear, he planned with Tadaakira to move to a lodging outside, using as pretext that the confinement of the Sanmi-no-tsubone was near, and to escape under cover of dusk. On the road they abandoned the palanquin and went on foot, with Tadaakira as their sole attendant. They knocked at the door of a house by the roadside and asked the way to Senba harbor; the master looked hard at the emperor and answered: "It is about fifty chō from here to the harbor, but there are many forks in the road and it is easy to lose one's way, so I shall guide you." That man carried the emperor on his back as far as the harbor, found a boat and put him aboard. The boatman also sensed that they were no ordinary persons and asked, "To be given such a great task today will be an honor for my whole life. If I may ask, where are you bound?" Tadaakira quietly told him, "This is the lord of the realm. We wish to cross in haste to between Izumo and Hōki," and pointing out the destination had him put out, and promised, "If the affair succeeds, we shall reward you with land." The boatman, delighted, cast off the mooring and sped the boat on. Sasaki Kiyotaka sent out pursuing boats that closed in on them, and everyone aboard was astonished and did not know what to do (Note: following the Taiheiki).

¶The emperor told the boatman, "There is no need to fear. Only let down a fishing line." The boatman hid the emperor and Tadaakira in the bottom of the boat, covered them with dried fish, had the helmsman and the oarsmen stand on top of them and row, and sat down himself pretending to fish. The pursuers boarded the imperial boat and searched every corner, and the boatman asked calmly, "What are you gentlemen looking for?" The pursuers answered, "His Majesty has escaped. He must be somewhere on this sea" (Note: compare the Baishōron and the Taiheiki). The boatman deceived them, saying, "Around the hour of the Rat tonight, a boat left the harbor. One of the passengers wore a court cap and one a hat of the eboshi kind; they looked like persons of high rank. By now they must have gone some five or six ri," and pointing far off he said, "You can still see that boat over there." The pursuers believed him, turned their rudders and left. After a while more than a hundred enemy ships came chasing at flying speed. Just then the wind dropped, and the imperial boat could not advance. The emperor cast a Buddha relic into the sea and prayed in secret (Note: following the Taiheiki. The passage "pointing far off" and so on follows the Tenshō text).

¶Suddenly a wind rose, and the enemy ships were driven west and the imperial boat east; after drifting for several days it passed Izumo and reached Ōsaka harbor in Hōki. On landing, Tadaakira asked passers-by, "Is there any well-known warrior in this land?" and was told the name Nawa Nagatoshi. Tadaakira sent a messenger to Nagatoshi's residence to convey the emperor's wishes, and entrusted everything to him. Nagatoshi at once raised troops, welcomed the emperor to Senjō-san, and the army's strength grew greatly (Note: compare the Taiheiki and the Hōki-maki. According to the Mōri-family text and the Tenshō text of the Taiheiki, Tadaakira had relations with one of the emperor's ladies-in-waiting, and she was with child. The emperor is said to have used the nearness of her confinement as a pretext to move her to a lodging outside and so make his escape, and the emperor asked Tadaakira, "If the child that is born is a boy, make him your heir without fail"; a boy was in fact born and later succeeded to the house. The Baishōron states that Fujina Yoshitsuna escorted the emperor and Tadaakira to Hōki. Further, the Hōki-maki records how Emperor Go-Daigo moved to Harima, but since it differs from the other books, none of it is adopted here).

¶For this merit Tadaakira became Kurōdo-no-tō, Head Chamberlain, and Sakonoe-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin, the Hōreki Kanki, and the Taiheiki). Akamatsu Norimura attacked Hōjō Nakatoki and Hōjō Tokimasu at Rokuhara but the fighting went badly, and Tadaakira, under orders, led troops to support him. On the way he took in surrendering soldiers, and their number swelled to nearly thirty thousand (Note: "thirty thousand" follows various variant texts). Ōta Morinobu, military governor of Tajima, escorted Imperial Prince Tsuneyoshi and raised troops; when he reached Sasamura in Tanba, he happened to join Tadaakira. Tadaakira then escorted Imperial Prince Tsuneyoshi and advanced his camp to the Mine-dō on Nishiyama. At this time the monk Ryōchū was camped at Otokoyama and Akamatsu Norimura at Yamazaki. Tadaakira, relying on the size of his own force and wishing to monopolize the credit, pushed into the capital with a lone army, and had the soldiers write the character "Wind" on the sleeves of their armor as a mark of recognition. He fought the Rokuhara troops but the fighting went badly, and Morinobu fell in battle. Tadaakira withdrew his army to Mine-dō and began to discuss retreat, but Kojima Takanori strongly remonstrated and held him back. This is told in Takanori's biography. Tadaakira was still afraid, and that same night escorted Imperial Prince Tsuneyoshi and fled to Otokoyama.

¶At this time Ashikaga Takauji entered the capital from Uchino, and Akamatsu Norimura from Tō-ji. Tadaakira too joined the fighting from Takeda and won a great victory, and advanced to besiege Rokuhara. Tadaakira ordered: "If we are slow in the attack and the days pile up, the enemy soldiers at Chihaya will abandon their castle and rush to the rescue, and our army will be caught between front and rear. We must take it quickly, before the enemy reinforcements come." The soldiers linked together several hundred carts, tore down the timbers of houses and piled them like a mountain on the carts, pushed them up under the castle gate, set fire to them, and burned down the gate tower. Hōjō Nakatoki and Tokimasu, taking the Retired Emperor Kōgon with them, fled eastward (Note: following the Taiheiki).

¶Tadaakira found the sacred mirror at the Kitayama villa and installed it within the palace (Note: following the Kōnendai Ryakki). When the emperor's carriage returned to the capital, Tadaakira led five hundred attending troops as the vanguard, guarding against unforeseen events. For this merit he was granted three great provinces and several tens of villages as fiefs (Note: following the Taiheiki. However, this text does not record the names of the provinces granted, and there is no way now to verify them). Tadaakira became Danjō-no-daihitsu, Senior Assistant Master of the Board of Censors, was granted Junior Third Rank, and was appointed Sangi (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). The emperor's favor toward him was without equal.

¶From this time on Tadaakira gave himself up to boundless extravagance. He had his retainers by turns prepare sumptuous meals, spent ten thousand coins a day, and indulged in drinking parties with several hundred close companions. He also built a great stable and kept several tens of horses, and whenever he was drunk he put on brocade trousers and tiger-skin leg guards and went out hunting with his horses in a line (Note: following the Taiheiki). When Ashikaga Takauji attacked the palace, Tadaakira, together with Yūki Chikamitsu, Nawa Nagatoshi, and others, defended against him and fought fiercely at Seta (Note: following the Baishōron). In the first year of Engen (1336), Tadaakira shaved his head and entered the religious life (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Soon afterwards, together with Fujiwara-no-Masatada, Konoe-no-shōshō, Lesser Captain of the Palace Guards, he tried to seize Ashikaga Takauji at Nishizaka, but was defeated in the battle and died (Note: following the Taiheiki).

¶He had four sons, named Tomoaki, Osatada, Tadakata, and Akitsune (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Akitsune became Shōnagon, Lesser Counsellor, and Konoe-no-shōshō (Note: it is not known whether of the Left or the Right Palace Guards). In the seventh year of Shōhei (1352), when the commanders attacked Ashikaga Yoshiakira in the capital, Akitsune led five hundred troops and entered the capital by the Tanba road and fought (Note: compare the Entairyaku and the Taiheiki). He later rose to Gon-Dainagon, Provisional Major Counsellor (Note: following the Shin'yō Wakashū). His son Masamitsu became Junior First Rank and Gon-Chūnagon (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).