Biographies XCVII: Nawa Nagatoshi, Nawa Nagashige, Kojima Takanori, and Doi Michiharu

Nawa Nagatoshi

¶Nawa Nagatoshi, of the Minamoto clan, was first named Nagataka and was styled Matatarō. He was a man of Nawa in Hōki province. Because he was a descendant of Imperial Prince Tomohira, a son of Emperor Murakami, he was also called of the Murakami clan. His father was named Yukitaka (Note: following the Nawa Kafu). His great-grandfather Yukiaki fought on the side of the court in the Jōkyū Disturbance and defended against the rebel army at Uji (Note: supplied from the Hōki volume and the Funagami-roku).

¶Nagatoshi was the jitō, steward, of Nawa. By nature he was brave and an excellent archer. His wealth was ample and his clan was powerful, and the men of the province held him in awe and respect. In the third year of Genkō (1333), when Emperor Go-Daigo was in Oki, most of the guards in the emperor's escort wished to devote their loyalty to him. The emperor therefore asked, "Who in the nearby provinces can be entrusted with a great undertaking?" and they all answered by naming Nagatoshi.

¶Nagatoshi's younger brother Yukiuji was also among the guards. The emperor summoned and saw him, and instructed him to return to Nagatoshi and urge him to receive the emperor. Yukiuji was held back by the wind and could not set out, but the emperor, together with Minamoto-no-Tadaakira, Sakonoe-no-Shōshō, Lesser Captain of the Left Palace Guards, had already crossed the sea and reached Hōki, and had sent Narita Kosaburō to Nagatoshi's house (Note: the Baishōron says that Tadaakira was sent).

¶The message said: "I have come from Oki and wish to rely upon you. If you will not obey my edict, report at once to Kamakura." Nagatoshi shed tears and said, "Since the Son of Heaven has entrusted a great matter to me, how could I decline? I shall repay him with my death." He then gathered his sons and younger kinsmen and told them. They were all roused and said, "Our valor is known to the neighboring provinces. Even if the rebels come against us clad in iron shields, we can shoot through them. Within a few days our whole clan will have assembled. Even if the rebels attack with the whole realm behind them, what is there for us to fear?" (Note: following the Hōki volume. According to the Taiheiki, when the emperor sent a messenger to Nagatoshi's house, Nagatoshi was just then holding a banquet with his kinsmen assembled, and pondered without giving an answer. His younger brother Nagashige stepped forward and said, "What a warrior prizes is honor. Now the lord of ten thousand chariots has graciously entrusted himself to us. Only if we leave our corpses on the battlefield can our names be handed down to later ages. Since pursuers will surely arrive soon, we should first take the imperial palanquin into Mount Funagami." They all rose and followed him eagerly. Which account is correct is not known.)

¶Nagatoshi then led his clan and received the emperor (Note: following the Hōki volume, the Baishōron, and the Nanto-bon and Tenshō-bon of the Taiheiki. The current printed text of the Taiheiki gives Nagashige here). He helped the emperor onto a horse and set out for Mount Funagami (Senjōsan). The emperor was greatly fatigued and meant to go up Mount Funagami on the following day. Nagatoshi stepped forward and said, "This place lies close to the rebels' territory. If we do not hurry on now, we shall be trampled by the rebel horsemen. If Your Majesty does not rouse yourself, how can the realm be pacified?" The emperor then advanced to the foot of the mountain. The men bound timbers together to make a palanquin and climbed by the western slope. Suddenly men arrived from behind, and the emperor, startled, took them for rebels; but they were Nagatoshi's younger brother, the monk Genjō, and the monks of Daisen-ji. At last the emperor entered a Buddhist temple on the summit (Note: following the Hōki volume).

¶Nagatoshi called for villagers, saying, "To each man who carries the grain in my storehouse to Mount Funagami I shall give five hundred mon." More than five thousand koku were carried in that same day. He then set fire to his own house, had one hundred and fifty men guard Mount Funagami, and cut trees to build stockades. He tore down roof timbers and used them in place of shields. His younger brother Teitaka (Note: written Ujitaka in the Hōki volume; another account says he was a kinsman named Kunitaka) smoked cloth with pine-resin smoke and painted on it the banners of the generals and officers of the neighboring provinces, and used these as a feint army, to deceive the enemy.

¶On the following day Sasaki Kiyotaka, together with Sasaki Masatsuna, came to attack with three thousand troops, but on seeing the banners they would not advance. Because his troops were few, Nagatoshi had everyone lie hidden in the shade of the trees, repeatedly sent out archers to loose arrows, and had them wait for nightfall. Every arrow they shot struck home, and whenever one struck it pierced armor. Masatsuna was hit by an arrow and died. The Sado-no-Zenji (Note: his personal name is not transmitted), who had set his camp behind the mountain, led eight hundred soldiers and surrendered. Kiyotaka did not know this, and directed his troops to press forward in competition. Nagatoshi shot and killed four men. As the day drew toward dusk, a thunderstorm suddenly broke, and our side took advantage of it to charge. The rebels collapsed and scattered, the dead and wounded filled the valleys, and Kiyotaka barely escaped with his life.

¶As a result, tens of thousands of generals and officers of the neighboring provinces, hearing the report, came flocking in, and along the way Minamoto-no-Tadaakira and Nagatoshi's son Yoshitaka were sent to retake Kyoto (Note: supplied with reference to the Taiheiki and the Hōki volume).

¶The emperor summoned Nagatoshi and asked about his ancestors. Nagatoshi answered, "When my ancestors lived long ago in Kyoto, monks of the Sanmon once tried to carry their sacred palanquin into the capital. My ancestor shot and killed two armored warriors on that occasion, and the monks fled. The Son of Heaven issued an edict praising him. Afterwards, in the Jōkyū Disturbance, he fought on the side of the court and thereby lost his lands." The emperor sighed and said, "Loyalty over generations is to be called great. Yet one who has grown too tall is in danger." He thereupon bestowed upon him his present name (Nagatoshi), granted him Junior Fourth Rank Lower, appointed him Saemon-no-jō, Third Officer of the Left Gate Guards, and had him hold concurrently the post of Hōki-no-kami, Governor of Hōki.

¶The emperor said to Nagatoshi, "When I left Oki, without a boat how could I have crossed the sea? Without you, how could I have defeated the rebels? And this place is also named Funagami, 'on the boat.' Take this 'boat' as your emblem." He then drew a sailing boat with his own hand and gave it to him (Note: following the Hōki volume).

¶He also composed a letter and a poem, describing in detail the hardships of being tossed about by wind and waves, and praising Nagatoshi's merit, saying, "I wish to show your loyalty to ten thousand generations. Let your descendants never forget to repay the country with uprightness" (Note: according to the imperial autograph that Emperor Go-Daigo bestowed on Nagatoshi).

¶When the emperor received word that the capital had fallen and been retaken, he wished to return to the capital at once and consulted his ministers. Fujiwara-no-Mitsumori, Assistant Director of the Board of Auditors, said, "Although Rokuhara has been defeated, Kamakura is not yet pacified and the rebels' strength is still great. In the world it is said, 'The eight eastern provinces are a match for the whole realm, and Kamakura alone is a match for the eight eastern provinces.' For that reason, in the Jōkyū Disturbance, killing the Iga Hōgan was easy once effort was made, but when it came to meeting the Kamakura troops, the court was at once beaten and broken. What we have gained now is no more than one or two tenths. We should remain here and watch how affairs in the east change." (Note: following the Taiheiki.) Nagatoshi too urged him to stay (Note: following the Hōki volume).

¶The emperor divined by himself, obtained the hexagram Shi, the Army, with the top line changing (Note: a hexagram of the Book of Changes), and resolved to return to the capital (Note: following the Taiheiki). He had Nagatoshi gird on a sword and act as his guard (Note: following the Taiheiki and the Hōki volume).

¶In the first year of Kenmu (1334), in reward for his merit he became shugo, military governor, of Inaba and Hōki (Note: following the Taiheiki). Soon he became a member of the Kirokujo, the Records Office, and, attached directly to the Zasso Ketsudansho, the Court of Miscellaneous Claims, took part in the matter of rewards for generals and officers (Note: following the Kenmu Nenkan Ki).

¶When Nitta Yoshisada went on his eastern expedition, Nagatoshi stayed behind with Kusunoki Masashige and others to guard Kyoto. In the first year of Engen (1336), when Ashikaga Takauji attacked Kyoto, Nagatoshi guarded the Seta bridge with two thousand men. On hearing that the other armies had been defeated, and as the emperor's carriage had gone on progress to Enryaku-ji (Note: the text reads "Enpan-ji"), Nagatoshi led three hundred soldiers back to the capital. The rebels recognized the sailing-boat emblem, cut across his path and struck him, and Nagatoshi fought seventeen engagements in turn. More than half his men were dead; at last he reached the Kinmon, the palace gate, and seeing that the palace was empty of people, looked back, wept, and departed (Note: the Saigen-in text says that Nagatoshi, fearing that the palace would be defiled by the rebels, set fire to it and left, but this is mistaken).

¶Arriving at the temporary palace, he joined forces with the generals, struck Takauji and drove him to flight, and escorted the imperial carriage back to the capital. When Takauji again pressed on the capital, he again followed the carriage into Enryaku-ji. When Takauji's army attacked the Eastern Slope, Nagatoshi, together with Wakiya Yoshisuke and others, beat it back, and again together with Nitta Yoshisada attacked Takauji in Kyoto.

¶As he was passing the vicinity of Shiratori, travelers on the road were talking among themselves and said, "Of the Sanboku Issō, the Three Trees and One Grass, only a single tree now remains." Nagatoshi heard this and said, facing the palanquin, "The world mocks me because I am slow to die. If the battle goes badly, I shall die today." It is thought that Yūki Chikamitsu, Nawa Nagatoshi (Hōki), Kusunoki Masashige, and Chigusa Tadaaki were meritorious retainers of that time, all of whom received the emperor's favor. For that reason the world called them the "Sanboku Issō" (Note: because the Japanese readings of "ki" in Hōki and of "ki," tree, are related, and likewise "chigusa" in Chigusa and "kusa," grass).

¶When the battle was lost and the generals withdrew, Nagatoshi shut the street gate behind him to cut off any retreat, and together with his cousin Nobusada and others and two hundred soldiers, fought hard and died (Note: following the Taiheiki. As to his cousin Nobusada, following the Hōki volume).

¶He had three sons: Yoshitaka, Motonaga, and Takamitsu. Yoshitaka at first served under Nijō Takatoki's army and went to attack Chihaya castle. When Nagatoshi raised his troops, he received the news and hurried back. The emperor summoned him, was greatly pleased, and he followed the imperial carriage to Kyoto together with his father, was granted Senior Fifth Rank Upper, and became a Kebiishi, police commissioner (Note: following the Taiheiki). Soon afterwards he was attached directly to the Musha-dokoro, the Warriors' Office (Note: following the Kenmu Nenkan Ki). Later, together with his cousin Yoshishige, he followed Minamoto-no-Akiie (Kitabatake Akiie) and was killed in battle at Sakai-no-ura. He was thirty-seven.

¶Motonaga was styled Magosaburō. On the way, when Nagatoshi was receiving the emperor at Mount Funagami, he said to Motonaga, "Go back in my place, return to the house, and dispose of its affairs." Motonaga said, "The rebel troops are about to arrive. How could I leave the emperor's side? To lay down my life for righteousness and keep my loyalty whole is what I desire. The affairs of the house can be left to other kinsmen." Nagatoshi said, "No. I am ashamed to have the rebels trample on my house. If you do not go, the people of the household cannot do it."

¶Motonaga then returned, set fire to his own house, and took his mother and the household to Mount Funagami. When Kiyotaka attacked, Motonaga led troops, fought fiercely, and drove him to flight. When the soldiers were about to pursue, Motonaga cried out, "They have come only to surrender. Why must we pursue them so hard?" The soldiers then stopped. Many who surrendered did indeed come, but Enya Takasada had not yet arrived. Nagatoshi had Motonaga attack him. Takasada heard of this and in fear came and surrendered (Note: following the Hōki volume).

¶Motonaga later became a monk and lived on Mount Kōya (Note: according to the Nawa Keizu).

¶Takamitsu's childhood name was Otodōmaru. At the time of the battle at Mount Funagami, Takamitsu was fourteen and fought bravely in the very front, killing many of the enemy. The emperor received him in audience, was greatly pleased, and gave him a boxwood comb that he himself had used, as a token of reward (Note: following the Hōki volume). Later he was granted Senior Sixth Rank Upper. Together with his father he followed the imperial carriage and was killed in battle at Enryaku-ji (Note: following the Hōki volume and the Nawa Keizu. The Taiheiki says that Nagatoshi's second son, Hōki-no-kami Nagaaki, and his third son, Shuri-no-suke so-and-so, went west to the sea provinces in the following of Imperial Prince Kanenaga, but the genealogy has no such record. Examining the genealogy now, Nagatoshi's second son is Motonaga, and Motonaga's son is called Gankyō. Because the readings of "Aki" in Akiie and of "aki," autumn, are related, it seems that the Taiheiki confused the name and mistakenly made him Nagatoshi's son).

¶Yoshitaka's son Akioki was in fact a child born to Motonaga. He was granted Junior Fourth Rank Lower and became Kebiishi, Danjō-no-taifu, Senior Assistant Master of the Board of Censors, and Hōki-no-kami (Note: the Junior Fourth Rank Lower follows the genealogy). In the thirteenth year of Shōhei (1358) he led his clan to Higo, followed Imperial Prince Kanenaga, the Seisei Shōgun, and fought on the side of the court, residing at Yatsushiro castle in Higo (Note: following the Nawa Kafu. As to the thirteenth year of Shōhei, following Kikuchi Taketomo's petition. This book says the second year of Kenmu, but that is a mistake. The Nawa clansmen who were in the western seas first appear in the Taiheiki in the fourteenth year of Shōhei, which broadly agrees with Taketomo's petition).

¶Nagatoshi's nephew was Nagashige.

Nawa Nagashige

¶Nawa Nagashige was styled Ōrōzaemon (Note: Tarōzaemon). (Note: the Taiheiki makes Kotarōzaemon Nagashige a younger brother of Nagatoshi, but the family record has no such statement. Nagashige is in fact Nagatoshi's nephew. The Taiheiki also mentions a man named Tarōzaemon Nagao, whose deeds agree with those of Nagashige recorded in the Hōki volume. If so, Nagao and Nagashige are probably the same man, and making him a younger brother was likely a mistake of hearsay.)

¶He rose in arms following Nagatoshi and fought in Kyoto. In the seventh year of Shōhei (1352), when Ashikaga Yoshiakira attacked the encampment at Otokoyama, Nagashige was within the camp together with his kinsman Nagauji. When the enemy pressed in, Nagauji was killed in battle. Soon the emperor's carriage broke through the encirclement and returned to Anō. The situation was urgent, and the attendant officials, abandoning the chest holding the sacred mirror in a rice field, were about to leave. Nagashige then dismounted, took off his armor, and ran with the chest on his back. The enemy pursued, shooting arrows like rain, but Nagashige barely escaped and got back. The boards of the chest were thin and brittle, yet although more than ten arrows struck it, not one in the end went through, and people thought this a marvel (Note: supplied with reference to the Taiheiki, the Hōki volume, and the Nawa Keizu).

¶In this year, Nagatoshi's clansmen fought the enemy in Hōki, and from the third month into the fourth, Nawa Naganobu, Nawa Takamasa, Nawa Gorō, and his younger brothers Okimura and Wa Yukisada were all killed in battle (Note: according to the Nawa Keizu).

Kojima Takanori

¶Kojima Takanori was styled Bingo Saburō and was a man of Bizen. His surname was Miyake, and his father, named Norinaga, was styled Wada Bingo-no-kami (Note: following the Taiheiki). From his youth Takanori was fond of reading (Note: following the Tenshō-bon of the Taiheiki).

¶When Emperor Go-Daigo was at Kasagi, Takanori plotted to gather troops and rise on behalf of the court (Note: following the Taiheiki). The emperor granted him a brocade banner (Note: following the Tenshō-bon of the Taiheiki). Soon the temporary palace fell, and the emperor's carriage was to be moved to the west. Takanori gathered his clan and said, "Among men of purpose and humanity, there are those who give up their own lives to accomplish humanity. I intend to seize the carriage on the road and raise an army, bearing it with us. Even if the matter fails and I die, that will still be enough to make my name shine." They all rose up and followed, and together they went up Funasaka-yama to wait for the imperial party.

¶When he heard that the escorting troops had turned off onto the San'indō, Takanori changed his plan, misled the road, and came to Sugisaka in Mimasaka, but the carriage had already passed far ahead. His companions thereupon scattered. Takanori still wished to see the emperor and convey his feelings, and followed alone, in shabby clothing. For several days he found no opportunity, but one night he slipped into the residence and, cutting a cherry tree (Note: the Tenshō-bon and the Kinshō-in text say a willow), shaved it white and wrote on it, "Heaven, do not abandon Goujian; the time is not without a Fan Li." (Note: that is, as Heaven did not abandon Goujian, it is only that the times are bad now, and there is no lack of loyal ministers like Fan Li.) Among the attendants there was no one who could read the characters, and they reported it to the emperor. The emperor too did not know who had done it, but was secretly glad in his heart.

¶When the emperor was at Mount Funagami, Takanori, together with Norinaga, led his clan and came to him, and finally was attached to Minamoto-no-Tadaakira, Sakonoe-no-Chūjō, Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards, and attacked Rokuhara. The imperial army was defeated and Tadaakira fled back to Minedō. Takanori and Murakami and Yukimura (Note: Murakami and Yukimura follow the Hōki volume) fought hard and grew all the more resolute. Tadaakira sent a rider galloping to call Takanori back, saying, "The defeated troops are exhausted and it is hard for them to fight again. Moreover my camp is close to the rebels, and I fear an unforeseen mishap. Now I think of moving the camp back a little and planning for a later chance. What do you think?"

¶Takanori answered, "Victory and defeat depend on fortune, so why should a small setback cause concern? But not to advance when one should advance, and to retreat when one should not retreat, that is the fault of a general. Akamatsu Enshin camped at Yamazaki with only a thousand men, advanced three times and was defeated three times, yet still held his camp firmly and did not retreat a single step. Now our remaining troops are still more numerous than the rebels, and the ground where our army stands, with mountains behind and water in front, has the advantage of terrain for defense. How can we abandon it? The only worry is that the rebels may take advantage of our weariness and attack. Let me go to the Shichijō bridge. You too should send out troops and make ready."

¶He then led three hundred men and camped west of the bridge. In the middle of the night Takanori looked from afar and saw that the torches at Minedō were gradually growing fewer, and thinking that Tadaakira might have abandoned his camp and fled, he set out to find out. On the road he met Ogino Tomotada. Tomotada said, "The commander has already fled. I too intend to go to Tanba. I would like you to come with me." Takanori said, "I was mistaken to try to accomplish anything under this cowardly general. Please go on ahead. I shall look over the main camp and then catch up and join you."

¶He then left his troops at the foot of the mountain and climbed alone to Minedō. There the brocade banner and the weapons lay scattered and abandoned. Takanori cursed loudly, saying, "Why did I not make that man fall into a pit or a moat and die?" He then gathered up the brocade banner and, together with Tomotada, went to guard Kōzan-ji castle.

¶When Ashikaga Takauji rose in arms at Shinomura, the generals and officers of the neighboring districts competed to follow him. Takanori disliked becoming his subordinate, and in particular, together with Tomotada and the clans of Adachi, Sukehide, Wada, Inda, Honjō, and Hirajō, he went by way of Wakasa, turned and entered, attacked Rokuhara with the generals and took it, and returned to Bizen.

¶In the second year of Kenmu (1335), Akura Nobutane and others held Fukuyama castle and answered Takauji's call. Takanori, together with Asayama Jōshū, attacked it and had almost taken it, but because traitors appeared in the army, he lost the battle and fell back to hold Mitsuishi castle. Imperial troops gradually gathered and came out to fight at the post station of Wake. Because Matsuda Moritomo surrendered to the enemy, Takanori was routed and entered Kumayama castle. That very night, again traitors appeared and led the enemy into the castle. Takanori with his clan barely escaped, reported what had happened to the court, and at last hid himself in the mountains.

¶In the first year of Engen (1336), Nitta Yoshisada sent his younger brother Wakiya Yoshisuke to attack Funasaka, but it was long in falling. Takanori heard of this and sent a man to tell Yoshisada, "Funasaka is steep and difficult, and indeed it is not easy to take. On the eighteenth day of the fourth month I shall raise troops at Kumayama. The enemy will surely divide their forces and come to attack. General, divide your army in two: let one part make a show of attacking so as to draw the enemy, and let the other come out by the road south of Mount Mitsuishi, striking where the enemy do not expect it, and catch them front and rear. I shall at once lead my troops to join you, and then Funasaka can be taken. If Funasaka falls, what province of the western lands will not submit?" Yoshisada was greatly pleased and promised to advance.

¶When the day came, Takanori set fire to his own house by night, led more than two hundred men, and at dawn climbed Kumayama. The enemy indeed sent out three thousand men to attack. The mountain had seven roads, and Takanori divided his troops to defend them and fought hard all day. At night the enemy circled around the ridge and attacked suddenly. Takanori met them with a dozen or so horsemen, but was badly wounded and fell from his horse. Two enemy soldiers galloped up to cut him down. Takanori's nephews Wada Norishi and Matsuzaki Norie ran to the rescue, lifted him up and carried him back, but his wound was severe and he was nearly dead.

¶His father Norinaga encouraged him, saying, "In the past Kamakura Kagemasa, shot in the eye by an enemy, did not pull out the arrow for three days, and in the end shot dead the man who had shot him. You have received only a small wound, and are beaten down like this; how can you accomplish a great matter?" Takanori then revived and said, "Quickly help me up and put me on my horse. I shall go out and fight the decisive battle." Seeing that he could do it, Norinaga charged with the remaining seventeen horsemen. The enemy, unable to gauge how few our men were, withdrew without fighting. The imperial army was at last able to take Funasaka, and this was thanks to this battle.

¶Soon afterwards Norinaga and Takanori, intending to block Akura Nobutane's troops from going east with Takauji, set out to Nishi-kawajiri, but when they heard that the enemy had taken Fukuyama castle, they meant to join Wakiya Yoshisuke. Yoshisuke had already withdrawn, so they took advantage of the night and followed steep roads and reached Sakoshi-no-ura, but Takanori's wound grew worse, and Norinaga entrusted the aftermath to a monk he knew and went on.

¶As day was breaking, Akamatsu Norimura sent out troops and lay in wait at a steep defile, calling out, "Fugitive soldiers, quickly take off your armor and surrender." Norinaga laughed and said, "Earlier Ashikaga Takauji tried to lure me with letters, employing every means, but I tore them all up and threw them into the fire. Why should I now surrender to you? If you want armor, I shall give it to you myself."

¶He then broke through the encirclement with eighty-three men and went out to the east. The enemy called out to the villages to say that fugitives had passed. Several thousand local levies gathered from all sides and shot arrows at them. Norinaga fought eighteen times, his soldiers were killed and wounded, and in the end only six remained alive. Norinaga said, "If I had been able to come with my whole clan, I would have trampled them down and passed through. Now that it has come to this, this is the day of my death." He then cut open his belly, and died with his sword in his mouth.

¶Takanori soon became Bizen-no-kami, Governor of Bizen.

¶In the third year of Shōhei (1348), Nitta Yoshisada was in Echizen and wished to attack Takauji in Kyoto and relieve Otokoyama. Takanori was serving in the army and counselled, saying, "Earlier the imperial army was defeated and Mount Hiei could not hold out either. It was because the northern rebels blocked the roads and provisions did not last. We should leave troops in the northern provinces to secure the supply route, then send several thousand men to hold Mount Hiei and threaten Kyoto day and night. This is a plan to sink deep roots and make the foundation firm. But when the monks see that our troops are few and have arrived suddenly, I fear they may change sides. We should first send a letter and probe where they stand." Yoshisada thought this very sound. Takanori at once took up his brush and wrote the letter, finishing it on the spot, and had it delivered. Enryaku-ji also answered with a letter in reply.

¶After some time Yoshisada was killed in battle, and Takanori followed Wakiya Yoshisuke to Iyo. When Yoshisuke died of illness, he fled back to Bizen, and in poverty hid himself. In the sixth year of Kōkoku (1345), at Kōzuke, he planned to summon Wakiya Yoshiharu and raise troops. Before this, Ogino Tomotada had surrendered to Ashikaga Takauji but bore a grudge against Takauji over some matter. Takanori therefore allied with Tomotada, and they agreed on a time to rise together. Takauji heard of this, sent out troops, and attacked Tomotada at Kōzan-ji castle and Takanori at Kojima. Tomotada came out and surrendered; Takanori, realizing that the plot could not succeed, finally bore Yoshiharu away, secretly entered Kyoto by sea, and called together a thousand old acquaintances.

¶Takanori thought, "If people are gathered and made to live in one place, the enemy will surely detect them." He therefore dispersed them in the outskirts, and they agreed on a time to attack Takauji in a night raid. On the day before the appointed date, Takauji learned of it from a spy and sent troops to attack a band who were hiding at Mibu. The men climbed onto the roofs and shot arrows like rain, but when the arrows were gone, they all killed themselves. The remainder heard of this and scattered. Takanori too fled to Shinano with Yoshiharu, and later shaved his head and took the name Shijun (Note: the Saigen-in text says Tadatsugu).

¶In the seventh year of Shōhei (1352), the emperor went on progress to Otokoyama intending to retake Kyoto. He summoned Takanori and commanded, "Go to the provinces of the northeast, raise troops, and come as reinforcements. Whether we achieve merit and accomplish great deeds depends on this one undertaking." Takanori at once set out and persuaded the generals, saying, "Now the temporary palace is in dire peril and no reinforcements are coming. If by any chance the emperor falls into the rebels' hands, the great cause of the realm will be beyond remedy. We must go to his rescue quickly."

¶On this, Nitta Yoshimune and Oyama Shirō (Note: "Shirō" follows the various variant texts), Utsunomiya Kimitsuna, Momoi Naotsune, Uesugi Noriaki, Kira Mitsusada, Sekitō Yoshifusa, and others sent out troops and went to the rescue. But before they arrived, Otokoyama had fallen (Note: following the Taiheiki).

¶After this, Takanori's whereabouts are not known.

Doi Michiharu

¶Doi Michiharu was styled Jirō. Tokunō Michitoki was styled Yasaburō (Note: the name "Michitoki" follows the Kinshō-in text). Both were men of Iyo and belonged to the Kōno clan. (Note: the clans of Doi, Tokunō, Nii, Takechi, Imai, Matsuki, Naniwae, Tokunaga, and Takechi were all names taken by branches of the Kōno clan. Examining the Kōno Kafu and the Yoshōki now, the names of these two men are not recorded, but there is a man named Tsushima-no-kami Michimori, whose first name was Michiharu; he is a different person. Furthermore, according to the Inaba Keizu, Tokunō Michitoshi was the eldest illegitimate son of Michinobu; Michitoshi begot Michimura, Michimura begot Michitsuna, and Michitsuna begot Michikata. The Yoshōki says that Michitsuna was styled Matatarō, and in the Genkō years was granted the office of Bingo-no-kami, which his ancestor Michinobu had held, and renamed himself of the Kōno clan. His descendants died one after another, and in the end the line was cut off. Considering this, these two men are probably sons of Michitsuna and younger brothers of Michikata. But as there is no other solid evidence, this is recorded for the moment to await later examination.)

¶Michiharu was appointed Bingo-no-kami. When Emperor Go-Daigo was at Mount Funagami, Michiharu and Michitoki both raised troops and took Tosa. Hōjō Tokinao, the Nagato Tandai, came to attack with more than three hundred warships. Michiharu and Michitoki fought him at Hoshigaoka and utterly defeated him, the dead and wounded being beyond counting. Tokinao fled. As a result, all the soldiers of Shikoku came over to our side.

¶Michitoki prepared ships and meant to retake Kyoto. Just then the armies had already recovered Kyoto and the emperor's carriage had returned to the palace. Michiharu and Michitoki therefore went to meet the emperor at Hyōgo and attended him from there.

¶At that time Akahashi Shigetoki, a remnant of the Hōjō clan, was holding Tateeboshi castle in Iyo. Michiharu and Michitoki attacked and pacified it, and soon returned to Iyo. When Ashikaga Takauji attacked Kyoto, Michiharu and Michitoki sent out more than three hundred warships and entered to give aid, met Ashikaga Tadayoshi at Toshima-gawara, fought fiercely, and drove him to flight.

¶When Takauji again threatened the capital, Michiharu and Michitoki followed Wakiya Yoshisuke and fought hard to defend at Minatogawa, but it went badly, and they attended the carriage into Enryaku-ji. When Takauji's troops came to attack, Michiharu and Michitoki, together with Nishina Ujishige, Kasukabe Tokikata, and others, set camp at Shiratori-oka, defended against them with merit, and then went on to attack Takauji, but it went badly and they returned.

¶When Nitta Yoshisada, bearing the Crown Prince, went to subdue the northern provinces, Michiharu and Michitoki followed him together with their kinsman Michinawa (Note: some texts write "nawa" as "mashi" or "masa"). Michitoki and Michinawa served as the rear guard with three hundred horsemen. On the march they reached Shiozu and happened upon a heavy snowfall, and lost touch with the van. The enemy troops suddenly came upon them, the men and horses of Michitoki and Michinawa were frozen and starving and could not fight, and in the end they all planted their swords in the ground and fell upon them and died. Michiharu followed the Crown Prince and resided in Kanegasaki castle. On the day the castle fell, he led troops and for several hours defended one side of it, and wounded and spent, then, together with thirty-two of his kinsmen, committed seppuku and died (Note: following the Taiheiki). Michiharu and Michitoki were of unmatched valor and kept their loyalty to the very end, so people all sighed over them and mourned them (Note: following the Kinshō-in text of the Taiheiki).

¶Michiharu's son Michisato (Note: some texts write "sato" as "ya" or "ri") was appointed Bizen-no-kami, and together with Danjō so-and-so, the son of Michitoki, being brave and skilled in war, led and encouraged their clan and held the province against the enemy. In the Kōkoku years, Wakiya Yoshisuke came to Iyo in obedience to an edict. Michisato, Danjō, and others, together with Ōdachi Ujiaki, Kanaya Tsuneuji, and others, took Yoshisuke as their commander in chief, and pressed ever more forward their plans for restoration. But Yoshisuke died of illness, and Hosokawa Yoriharu came to attack Kawae castle. Michisato, Danjō, and the others followed Tsuneuji and went by warship to the relief. On the way they met enemy troops, fought without advantage, turned course and took Tomo castle in Bizen, blocked Ōkajima (Note: the Saigen-in text says "Ōikijima"), and held it. The enemy attacked again and they fought for more than ten days. When they heard that Yoriharu had already taken Kawae castle and was about to attack Ōdachi Ujiaki at Seta castle, they urged Tsuneuji to go to his rescue, and so selected about three hundred picked soldiers to follow him, and fought Yoriharu at Senchōbara. Being few against many, the soldiers were nearly all lost. Only Michisato, Danjō, and a dozen or so others, together with Tsuneuji, broke through the encirclement and escaped to Bingo (Note: following the Taiheiki). After this their whereabouts are not known.