Biographies CI: Horiguchi Sadamitsu and Other Retainers of Nitta Yoshisada

Kanaya Tsuneuji

¶Horiguchi Sadamitsu was styled Saburō (Note: following the Taiheiki). He was a native of Kōzuke province. His grandfather, Iesada, was the third son of Nitta Masayoshi, and the family had originally taken Horiguchi as its surname. His father, Sadayoshi, served as Sama-no-gon-no-kami, Provisional Director of the Bureau of Horses of the Left (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku), and as Tōnin, Chief, of the Mushadokoro, the Warriors' Office (Note: following the Kenmu Ninen-ki). Sadamitsu was Ōi-no-suke and Mino-no-kami, Governor of Mino (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). When Nitta Yoshisada raised his banner, Sadamitsu followed him as a commanding general; in the attack on Hōjō Takatoki he advanced against the Kobukuro Pass and cut down Akahashi Moritoki. Kamakura was thus finally pacified (Note: following the Taiheiki). When Yoshisada faced Kō-no-Moroyasu across the Yahagi River, Sadamitsu fought fiercely and defeated him (Note: following the Baishōron).

¶In the first year of Engen (1336), when the emperor once more made a progress to the Enryakuji, Ashikaga Takauji falsely professed submission and begged that the emperor return to the capital. The emperor secretly consented. Just as the imperial carriage was about to set out, Fujiwara-no-Saneyo sent a courier at full speed to give warning, but Yoshisada still did not believe it. Sadamitsu said to Yoshisada: "This morning I saw Eda Yukiyoshi and Ōdate Ujiaki hurrying toward the Central Hall, and their gait was not as it usually is; in my heart I wondered at it. Now that this report has come as well, there must surely be a reason. Pray let me go and see." He then galloped to the temporary palace, where the attending ministers were guiding the procession and bearing the Three Sacred Treasures. Sadamitsu made a slight bow, clung to the shafts of the carriage, and pleaded in tears:

¶"The carriage is already prepared to depart, yet your servant Yoshisada has not been told even where Your Majesty is going, and only rumors reach the world outside. It is said that Your Majesty has heeded Takauji's cunning scheme, and that the six armies are all to return together to the capital. What crime has Yoshisada committed, that he should be cast aside in a single morning like this? In the early days of Genkō, when a rebellious minister gave free rein to his wickedness, the imperial carriage was shaken by turmoil. Yoshisada roused himself, hated the enemies of the court, received the edict of chastisement, and struck down the rebels. Within ten days he had destroyed the rebel host entirely, pacified the realm, and relieved the Son of Heaven of his anxiety. Such was his speed. Among the generals who have served Your Majesty, is there one who surpasses Yoshisada in merit for the Restoration? When Takauji betrayed your favor and raised rebellion, Yoshisada again gathered a righteous army and many times undertook great campaigns. He shattered strong formations and broke keen spearheads, and more than once he found a single chance of life among ten thousand deaths. In all, those he has lost, before and after, number one hundred and thirty-two of his kinsmen and more than eight thousand of his own retainers (Note: the Imagawa, Hōjō, and Nanto texts give "one hundred and thirty-two" as "one hundred and sixty-three," and the Imagawa, Hōjō, Saigen'in, and Nanto texts give "eight thousand" as "ten thousand." Which is correct is not known). In the end he drove the evil band beyond the sea, and the capital region was at peace. Yet of late rebellions have followed one upon another, and the flames of the rebels have flared up again. The imperial army is repeatedly defeated, and no aid comes from outside. This must be solely because Your Majesty's sacred virtue has not yet spread to all the people, and great good faith has not been shown to men. What crime has Yoshisada committed? If Your Majesty says that the carriage of the return to the capital today can no longer be stayed, then I beg that you summon the fifty-three living members of Yoshisada's house, grant that they all die here before this carriage, and only then set out."

¶His words were fierce, and voice and tears poured forth together. The emperor showed signs of shame, and in the end entrusted the Crown Prince to Yoshisada, who set out northward for Echizen. Sadamitsu followed him. When Minamoto-no-Akiie, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacification Headquarters, marched west at the head of the Mutsu troops, Sadamitsu happened to be at Neo-Tokuyama in Mino; he led one thousand men and hastened to join him. Nothing is known of his later fortunes (Note: following the Taiheiki).

¶His son, Sadasuke, was Kamon-no-suke (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Taiheiki). He lived in hiding at Katata. When Ashikaga Yoshiakira fled to the east, Sadasuke led five hundred men to meet him at Mano-no-ura and killed Sasaki Hidetsuna. Nothing is known of his later fortunes either (Note: following the Taiheiki).

¶Ichinoi Sadamasa was Sadamitsu's uncle; he served as Ōkura-no-taifu, and was always with Yoshisada in the field. In the early years of Kenmu he served in regular attendance at the Mushadokoro (Note: following the Kenmu Ninen-ki). Later he fell in battle at Kanegasaki castle together with his son Masaie (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

¶A kinsman, Ujimasa, was Hyōbu-no-taifu. When Wakiya Yoshisuke raised troops in Echizen, Ujimasa happened to be at Iyama castle; he advanced with five hundred men, attacked, and took eleven castles, including Kōge and Tsurusawa, receiving the surrender of more than a thousand men. He then joined forces with Yoshisuke and drove back Ashikaga Takatsune. Soon afterward, when Yoshisuke fled to Mino, Ujimasa planned to join with the monks of Heisen-ji and raise an army, but they would not respond (Note: following the Taiheiki). He therefore led thirteen horsemen and, in broad daylight, passed between the enemy's forts (Note: following the Taiheiki in the Hōjō, Saigen'in, and Nanto texts) and entered Takanosu castle. When the castle fell, his whereabouts became unknown (Note: following the Taiheiki).

Eda Yukiyoshi

¶Kanaya Tsuneuji was a kinsman of Nitta Yoshisada and served as Jibu-no-taifu and Shuri-no-daibu. In the early years of Kenmu he followed Yoshisada in attacking Ashikaga Takauji and won distinction. When the emperor made his progress to Yoshino, Tsuneuji raised troops in Harima, led the clans of Yoshikawa, Takada, and others, and blocked the northern road at the stronghold of Niu, answering the imperial army. Afterwards he went to Iyo with Wakiya Yoshisuke; when Yoshisuke died of illness, Hosokawa Yoriharu led a naval force to attack Kawae castle. Yoshisuke's men chose Tsuneuji as their commander and sent out five hundred warships to relieve it. They met the enemy at sea; the enemy's vessels were all fitted with towers and parapets and shot down upon our force from above. Tsuneuji met them in swift small boats. As the fighting grew hot a violent wind arose and parted our ships and the enemy's, east and west. At length, when evening came and the wind dropped, the generals took counsel to turn the ships back and return to Iyo. Tsuneuji would not agree, and said: "Now that Lord Wakiya has departed this world, the great cause is gone. What would it matter if we lived on? We have only to fight to the blood and resolve on death." He then sailed on to Bingo, attacked and took Tomo castle, and held the island of Taigashima. Three thousand enemy troops came against him and fought for ten days, each side winning in turn. Before long Yoriharu had already taken Kawae castle and was advancing to attack Ōdate Ujiaki's Seta castle. Kōno Michisato and others therefore planned to send reinforcements and relieve Ujiaki. At that time Tsuneuji still had two thousand men, but he reflected that "though troops be many, they are of no use if their hearts are not one; nothing is better than a few picked men." He chose those who fought well, obtained three hundred, had them all inscribe mandalas as their badges, and set out on an inauspicious day. Seven thousand enemy troops met them at Senchōbara. Tsuneuji spurred his horse and charged, and the enemy host broke. He himself fought furiously, crossing blades more than ten times and cutting down seven hundred of the enemy. Many of his own men died as well, and in the end he could not kill Yoriharu. Tsuneuji gathered his remaining troops and, together with Michisato and seventeen horsemen including Tokudanjō, Hiyoshi Ōkura, and Sugihara Yoichi, broke through the encirclement and escaped to Bingo (Note: following the Taiheiki). In the sixth year of Shōhei (1351), Ashikaga Yoshiakira fled east. Tsuneuji led more than fifty men to Yawata, intending to enter the capital. Several hundred enemy troops fell upon them; he defended, but could not prevail, and cut open his belly and died. Those who died with him numbered more than thirty (Note: following the Bōgen Hōin-ki).

Ōdate Ujiaki

¶Eda Yukiyoshi was styled Matajirō (Note: the Taiheiki gives Saburō). His ancestry goes back to Nitta Yoshishige. His father was named Ariuji (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku. The name Eda follows the Taiheiki. In this work Yukiyoshi is called Serada, but there was another man, Eda Saburō Yukiuji, whose forebear Mitsuuji was a cousin of Yukiyoshi's grandfather and first took the name Eda. Which is correct is not known). When Nitta Yoshisada raised his banner, Yukiyoshi followed him, attacked Kamakura, and won distinction (Note: following the Taiheiki). In the early years of Kenmu he became Tōnin of the Mushadokoro and was appointed Hyōbu-no-shō. When Ashikaga Takauji threatened the capital, Kuge Tokishige and others of Tanba answered him and held Ōeyama. Yukiyoshi led three thousand men to attack them, killed Tokishige's younger brother Nagashige, and the rest scattered in flight. He then accompanied the emperor back to the Enryakuji and, with the other generals, guarded Higashi-Sakamoto. At the battles at Onjōji and in the capital he likewise won distinction. When Takauji fled west, many in the western provinces answered him. The court council ordered Yoshisada to attack them, but Yoshisada fell ill, and so Yukiyoshi and Ōdate Ujiaki were sent ahead with two thousand men and routed Akamatsu Norimura at Muroyama. Yoshisada then set out, advanced and besieged Norimura in Shirahata castle, and detached his younger brother Yoshisuke, Yukiyoshi, and Ōida Ujitsune to attack Funasakayama castle, which they took. Yukiyoshi, exploiting his victory, entered Mimasaka and divided his forces to besiege Bodaiji castle on Nagi-no-sen. Before long Takauji came up east by sea and land to seize the key positions and sent a messenger to recall Yukiyoshi, who then lifted the siege of the three castles. He joined Yoshisada at Yamazato and defended against Takauji at Hyōgo; having lost the advantage, he fell back, again accompanied the emperor to the Enryakuji, and won distinction defending against the enemy at Higashi-saka. He followed Yoshisada in many sorties to contest the capital, but could not win. When the emperor returned to the capital, Yoshisada, bearing the Crown Prince, went to Echizen, but Yukiyoshi, together with Ōdate Ujiaki, accompanied the emperor's return and entered the capital. There he went over to Takauji's side, but was instead seized and confined. When the emperor again went to Yoshino, loyalist troops rose on every side. Yukiyoshi slipped away to Tanba, plotted with Adachi, Honjō, and others, and raised troops at Kōzanji in answer to them (Note: following the Taiheiki). Nothing is known of his later fortunes.

Ōida Ujitsune

¶Ōdate Ujiaki's grandfather, Ieuji, was the first to take Ōdate as a surname; he was the second son of Nitta Masayoshi (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). His father, Muneuji, was the first to hasten to Nitta Yoshisada when he raised his banner, and attacked Kamakura. Muneuji led the left wing and, with Eda Yukiyoshi, entered by the Gokurakuji Pass and defeated Ōsaragi Sadanao, but fell in the field. Ujiaki became Sama-no-suke and, with his elder brother Kōuji (Note: the Sonpi Bunmyaku says younger brother), followed Minamoto-no-Akiie and entered the Enryakuji as reinforcements. Kōuji attacked and took Sasaki Ujiyori's Kannonji castle and killed five hundred of the enemy. When they reached Sakamoto, Akiie meant to rest the horses for a day or two. Ujiaki said: "The horses have come a long way and are weary; if they are rested again, their legs will grow heavy and be of no use. Moreover, when the enemy hear that we have arrived, they will attack in haste when we least expect it. It would be better to wait for dawn, raise a great shout from all four sides, and strike when the enemy are unprepared. We shall surely win." Akiie and the other generals thought this right, and so advanced and took Onjōji. When Yoshisada was about to pursue Ashikaga Takauji to the western provinces, he happened to fall ill, and so sent Ujiaki and Eda Yukiyoshi ahead with more than two thousand men to rout Akamatsu Norimura at Muroyama, and the army was greatly heartened. When the news came, Yoshisada led his troops west; later, with Yukiyoshi, Ujiaki accompanied the emperor's return and entered the capital, and went over to Takauji's side. When the emperor went south to Yoshino, Ujiaki slipped away and presented himself at the temporary palace. He became Shugo, Protector, of Iyo, and on arriving at his post joined forces with the Doi and Tokunō clans in the campaign (Note: the entry "Risings of the Imperial Side in the Provinces" in this work says that Ujiaki fled to Iyo. Here the entry on Wakiya Yoshisuke's going to Iyo is followed). When Wakiya Yoshisuke died, the imperial forces in Iyo collapsed one after another. Ujiaki was then holding Seta castle and was besieged for more than ten days. Earlier, most of the castle's picked troops had fallen in Kanaya Tsuneuji's battle, and its provisions were exhausted as well. When the enemy had already reached the castle, Ujiaki led seventeen of his own men, fought fiercely and drove them back, then returned to the castle, cut open his belly, and died (Note: following the Taiheiki).

¶At first, in the temporary palace at Yoshino, there was a strange bird that at night cried like a crow. The emperor loathed it and ordered the guards to shoot it, but they could never hit it. It happened that Ujiaki presented a fine hawk from Iyo, and by imperial command Fujiwara-no-Takasuke, Dainagon, Great Counsellor, kept and trained it. One day, when he flew the hawk in the countryside, it suddenly darted into a wood ahead and at once seized a bird. The bird was as large as a crane and fell to the ground whirling. Its feathers were black and its wings were some seven shaku long. Everyone said, "This must be the one that cried with a crow's voice," and beat it to death, and the strange happenings ceased at last. But the hawk, too, was injured in the breast and died (Note: following the Yoshino Shūi).

¶Ujiaki had two sons, Yoshifuyu and Ujikiyo. In his youth Ujikiyo studied at the Kaizōin in the capital. After he came of age, in the tenth year of Shōhei (1355), he went to Yoshino and served at the temporary palace. In the sixteenth year (1361) he took refuge among the men of Minamoto-no-Akiyoshi, Kokushi, Provincial Governor, of Ise, his mother's kinsman, and lived at Sekioka castle in Iga. In the second year of Bunchū (1373) he fought Nikki Yoshinaga at Suzukayama and killed Nikki Yoshinobu. He then joined Akiyoshi's troops, and together they attacked Yoshinaga, defeated him heavily, and put him to flight. Akiyoshi praised his merit, had the surname Ōdate changed to Sekioka, and gave him his own daughter in marriage (Note: following the Sekioka-ke Shimatsu). When Hashimoto Masataka raised troops in Kii, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sent Yamana Yoshimasa, Hosokawa Yorimoto, and others to attack him (Note: following the Kaei Sandaiki and the Sekioka-ke Shimatsu). Masataka asked for help, and Ujikiyo led troops and drove Yoshimasa and his men back in the mountains of Yamaguchi. As son-in-law of the Kokushi, Ujikiyo won repeated merit in battle, and the fighting men of the province, down to the Hattori, Tsuge, and other clans, all submitted; they called him "Iga-no-kami" and none addressed him by his true name. He died in the nineteenth year of Ōei (1412), at the age of seventy-six. His son was named Ujitaka (Note: following the Sekioka-ke Shimatsu).

Satomi Tokinari

¶Ōida Ujitsune (Note: the Taiheiki writes "i" in Ōida with a different character) was a man of Echigo, a descendant of Nitta Yoshishige. His father, Tsunetaka, was Tōtōmi-no-kami (Note: the Ōida Keizu makes him a grandson of Tsunetaka). Ujitsune passed through the post of Danjō-no-shōhitsu to become Shikibu-no-taifu (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Taiheiki). In the early years of Genkō, Ujitsune followed Nitta Yoshisada with his father in raising troops, and won distinction in putting Hōjō Takatoki to death. When Ashikaga Takauji rebelled, he again followed Yoshisada and fought at Hakone. Then, with the other generals, he escorted the emperor's return and guarded the Enryakuji. Soon Takauji fled west and Yoshisada, by imperial edict, went to attack him, but the whole of the western provinces fell into the rebels' hands and the imperial army long achieved nothing. When Kojima Takanori raised troops at Kumayama, Yoshisada advanced and besieged Mitsuishi, and Ujitsune likewise advanced and held Fukuyama castle, though with only two thousand men. Ashikaga Takauji and his younger brother Tadayoshi advanced together by sea and land, and from the castle Yoshisada's younger brother Wakiya Yoshisuke and Ujitsune and other generals were sent to meet them. Ujitsune, with Hata Tokiyoshi and others, attacked Funasaka from both sides and took it. Yoshisuke's defenses were not in order and morale was shaken. Ujitsune encouraged the men with an appeal to loyalty, saying: "We have received orders to block the rebels' advance. How can we hear that the enemy are many and flee without fighting? This very day is the time for us to stake our lives." The men were roused anew, and their courage grew a hundredfold. On the following day Tadayoshi came to the foot of the mountain with two hundred thousand men, and banners, men, and horses filled the land for several ri. His vanguard of three thousand pressed up to the castle, but Ujitsune warned his men not to make a clamor. When the enemy raised their war cry three times, our side beat drums in answer, and the sound resounded through mountains and valleys. The enemy were startled and said, "The Genji general is truly holding well. We must not despise him because the castle is small," and then all together climbed to the attack from four sides. The garrison shot arrows down upon them, and the enemy dead and wounded were beyond counting. Ujitsune then led a thousand picked horsemen, flung the castle gate wide open, and charged with a great shout. The enemy broke, men and horses fell into the valley, and the dead lay heaped together. Ujitsune caught sight of Tadayoshi's banner and wheeled his horse toward it, but after fighting for a time he learned that it was not Tadayoshi's camp, and so came out behind the enemy. He had lost five hundred of the horsemen who followed him, and looking back he saw flames rising from the watchtower and knew that enemy troops had already entered the castle. Ujitsune said to his men, "Today's battle ends here," and gathered the remaining troops and galloped east. Fighting more than ten times as he went, he reached Mitsuishi at daybreak, and then, with Yoshisuke, led his troops to join Yoshisada at Yamazato and defended against Takauji in Settsu, but could not prevail, and sent Yoshisada back to the capital. He again accompanied the emperor's return and went up to the Enryakuji. When Yoshisada went north, Ujitsune followed him. In Echizen he fought Ashikaga Takatsune and won distinction. Soon Yoshisada fell in battle, and the imperial army lost its vigor (Note: following the Taiheiki). Ujitsune died in Echigo; his son was Tsunekage (Note: following the Ōida Keizu).

Hosoya Hidekuni

¶Satomi Tokinari was a man of Echigo and a kinsman of the Nitta house (Note: the personal name follows the Kanagawa text). He was Iga-no-kami. He followed Nitta Yoshisada in attacking Hōjō Takatoki and pacifying the land, and again followed him in attacking Ashikaga Takauji. When Yoshisada, bearing the Crown Prince, reached Kanegasaki, Tokinari held Somayama together with Wakiya Yoshiharu and others. The army of Ashikaga Takauji besieged Kanegasaki, and as the year turned, the castle fell into great hardship. Yoshiharu had Tokinari and Uryū Tamotsu and others lead five thousand men to relieve it. Imagawa Yorisada, on Takauji's side, pitched camp at Tsuruga with twenty thousand men and met them from a position of strength. Tokinari led light cavalry and directed the battle, but the fight went against him, and he finally died in battle with Tamotsu and the rest. Satomi Yoshiuji (Note: some texts of this work write "Tokiyoshi," and which is correct is not known. The Sonpi Bunmyaku makes him a grandson of Iga-no-kami Yoshinari) was Ōi-no-suke. He followed Nitta Yoshisada in attacking Ashikaga Takauji and then went to his post as Echizen-no-kami. When Kanegasaki castle fell, he took his own life together with Nitta Yoshiaki (Note: following the Taiheiki).

¶Hosoya Hidekuni was a kinsman of the Nitta house (Note: the name Hidekuni follows the Kinshōin text of the Taiheiki). He was Uma-no-suke. He followed Nitta Yoshisada to Echizen. Ashikaga Takauji had Ashikaga Takatsune pitch camp at the Echizen provincial seat in order to guard against them. Hidekuni led three thousand men, built a fort at the Kawai river mouth in Nagasaki, and pressed gradually on the enemy. Takatsune's army was defeated and fell back to hold Kuromaru castle. Hidekuni, together with Fujiwara-no-Yukizane and Funada Tsunemasa, pursued and attacked it, but could not take it. When Yoshisada fell in battle, the imperial army collapsed (Note: following the Taiheiki). Nothing is known of his later fortunes.