Biographies CXVII: The Shōguns' Families, Part IV: Ashikaga Motouji, Ashikaga Ujimitsu, Ashikaga Mitsukane

Ashikaga Motouji

¶Ashikaga Motouji bore the childhood name Kamewakamaru (Note: Kamewaka is also written Kōō) and was a son of Takauji. In the fourth year of Shōhei (1349), Takauji made Motouji Kantō Kanrei, Deputy of the Kantō, and had him reside at Kamakura. As he was still a child at the time, Uesugi Noriaki and Kō-no-Morofuyu were appointed as his shitsuji, stewards, to assist him (Note: following the Kitsuregawa Keizu). When Ashikaga Tadayoshi submitted to the Ashikaga cause, Noriaki answered him from afar and fled to Kōzuke. Morofuyu, bearing Motouji with him, set out to attack Noriaki, but his force was only five hundred men, none of whom wished to follow the campaign, and on the road they seized Motouji and carried him back to Kamakura. Morofuyu fled to Kai and held Suzawa Castle, but he was attacked by Suwa Takatane, the shrine priest of Suwa, and killed himself (Note: following the Taiheiki; the name Takatane is from the Kinshōin text). Soon afterwards Takauji seized Tadayoshi and came to Kamakura, and although Motouji pleaded without ceasing for his uncle's life, Takauji would not listen. Distressed by this, Motouji fled to Awa. Takauji sent men to call him back (Note: the Enta Ryaku, the Taiheiki, and the Kitsuregawa Keizu are consulted together). He was appointed Sama-no-kami, Head of the Left Stable Bureau, by the Retired Emperor Sukō (Note: following the Taiheiki), and later was transferred to Sahyōe-no-kami, Commander of the Left Gate Guards (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the seventh year (1352), Takauji went to the field in person and met Nitta Yoshioki, Yoshimune, and Wakiya Yoshiharu at Kanaigahara. Soon afterwards Yoshioki and Yoshiharu pressed upon Kamakura; Motouji, hearing that the enemy was at Miura, sent Nan Sōkei with troops to strike them, but Sōkei returned without having seen the enemy army. Suddenly Yoshioki and Yoshiharu fell upon the city, and before the soldiers had put on their armor, Motouji came out to fight; he was routed and fled into Takauji's camp at Ishihama. Takauji fought Yoshimune at Kotesashigahara and defeated him. Yoshioki and Yoshiharu abandoned Kamakura and withdrew, and shut themselves up in Kawamura Castle. Takauji and Motouji attacked it and put them to flight. The following year, Takauji returned to the capital and left Hatakeyama Kuniyoshi behind as Motouji's shitsuji. When Takauji died, Yoshioki planned to take advantage of the mourning and attack Kamakura again. Motouji was troubled by this and had Kuniyoshi lure Yoshioki out and kill him, and he himself went as far as Irumagawa and made a great display of military might. The eastern provinces fell quiet. At that time his elder brother Yoshiakira had newly succeeded to the post of shōgun, and everyone said, "Motouji has long been in the Kantō and holds the command of troops; Yoshiakira will surely suspect and shun him." Hatakeyama Kuniyoshi therefore asked leave to raise troops for an attack on Yoshino, in order to avert that suspicion. Motouji thought this reasonable and attached the great host of the eastern provinces to him. Kuniyoshi went up to the capital and made his petition to Yoshiakira. Yoshiakira was pleased, and together they stormed the emperor's temporary palace and came home. In the army Kuniyoshi punished more than a thousand men who had gone home without leave, and confiscated their stipends and lands. The men appealed to Motouji with bitter complaints, and the clamor was fierce, so that they were all but on the brink of rebellion. Motouji therefore sent a man to rebuke Kuniyoshi, saying: "In your recent campaign you gave out that it was to attack Yoshino, but in truth you meant to kill Nikki Yoshinaga. Now again, on your own authority, you have confiscated the stipends and lands of soldiers and heaped up their resentment and anger. Is this not to provoke a mutiny and throw the realm into disorder? Your offenses are already many. You ought to accept dismissal at once, and not delay and hesitate, and so bring execution upon yourself." Kuniyoshi thereupon fled to Izu and held Shuzenji Castle. Motouji sent out more than three hundred soldiers to attack him, but was himself defeated; he then sent Nitta Yoshikazu to lead troops against him, and went in person to Hakone. Kuniyoshi begged to surrender, and Motouji withdrew his troops and returned. At this time Uesugi Noriaki was hiding in Shinano; Motouji pardoned his offenses and summoned him, ordered that he be appointed Governor of Echigo in place of Haga Zenka, and called him back along the road to serve once more as shitsuji. Zenka sent out troops and barred his way at Itahana in Kōzuke; Motouji, furious, resolved to lead his own troops and attack Zenka at Utsunomiya. He met Zenka's sons Takasada and Takaie at Wakabayashino in Musashi and joined battle. Motouji was valiant and strong, and skilled in wielding a long sword. After fighting for several hours his blade was notched like a saw, but in the end he cut down Takaie; he withdrew to rest his troops, and on hearing that his favorite captain, a certain Kido, had been killed in battle, he wept bitterly and said: "He always promised that he would share life and death with me. Now that he is already dead, how can I forget those words and cling to life?" He took up his sword and advanced, and all rallied to follow him, and the fighting grew fiercer still. Motouji's horse was wounded and fell; the enemy soldiers saw this and pressed forward, each trying to be first, and surrounded him. Motouji swung his sword and cut them down, and none could stand before him. Ōtaka Shigenari rode up, saw his valor with his own eyes and praised it, and gave Motouji his own horse. Motouji said happily: "Long ago, in the wars between the Minamoto and the Taira, Gotō Morinaga rode off on his lord's horse. What you have done is the very opposite. Should we not call your surname 'Ōgō,' Great Valor?" (Note: gō and kō are close in sound). Iwamatsu Naokuni urged Motouji to exchange armor with him, and the enemy soldiers took Naokuni for Motouji and rushed upon him in a body. Night fell just then, and the enemy withdrew. Motouji pursued and defeated them utterly. He advanced and encamped at Oyama, meaning to attack Utsunomiya Ujitsuna. At that moment Ujitsuna came into the camp to apologize, and also reported that Zenka had already fled in fear of punishment. Motouji accordingly returned to Kamakura (Note: the Taiheiki and the Kitsuregawa Keizu are consulted together). In this campaign he captured Takasada's son Hachirō, but pitying his youth and weakness he set him free. People praised his magnanimity (Note: following the Taiheiki). In the nineteenth year (1364) he was granted Junior Third Rank (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin; the Kitsuregawa Keizu gives the fifth year). In this year Andō Kurō and more than twenty others committed offenses, and he had them put to death within the city. Until then the generals had grown proud, relying on their merits, and many of them were apt to harbor thoughts of rebellion; from this time on there was none who did not tremble in fear (Note: the Taiheiki and the Kitsuregawa Keizu are consulted together). In the twenty-second year (1367) Motouji died, at the age of twenty-eight (Note: following the Taiheiki, the Jōrakki, the Sonpi Bunmyaku, and the Kitsuregawa Keizu). His Buddhist name was Dōkin, and he was styled Zuisenji (Note: following the Nan-Taiheiki, the Sonpi Bunmyaku, and the Kitsuregawa Keizu).

¶Originally Takauji had taken counsel with Tadayoshi and said: "I fear that Yoshiakira cannot bear so heavy a charge and will bring down our family's undertaking. But so long as the provinces of the Kantō do not rebel, we shall not lose the realm. I will have one son keep the Kantō in peace." For this reason he had stationed Motouji in the east. When Takauji died, many of the generals of the eastern provinces were dissatisfied with Yoshiakira and again and again urged Motouji to rebel. Motouji flatly refused and would not accept (Note: following the Nan-Taiheiki). He discharged his office well and spared Yoshiakira any anxiety about the east. When the news of his death reached the capital, all lamented it (Note: following the Taiheiki; the Nan-Taiheiki says that Yoshiakira had a deep dislike of Motouji, and that Motouji, fearing that some disaster would arise, prayed to the gods for his own death and died soon afterwards). His son was Ujimitsu.

Ashikaga Ujimitsu

¶Ashikaga Ujimitsu bore the childhood name Kon'ōmaru. When Motouji died, Ujimitsu succeeded him as Kanrei, at the age of only nine. The following year the Taira Ikki, the League of the Taira, held Kawagoe Castle, and Ujimitsu led his shitsuji Uesugi Noriaki against it and destroyed them. Disorder also arose at Utsunomiya, and he struck and pacified it. Soon afterwards Nitta Yoshimune and Wakiya Yoshiharu together raised troops in an attempt to restore the Southern Court, and Ujimitsu sent Uesugi Norimasa, Uesugi Yoshinori, and others to lead troops against them. Yoshimune was defeated and killed, and Yoshiharu fled to Dewa. In the first year of Kentoku (1370), the remnants of Yoshimune's followers rose again between Musashi and Kōzuke, and Ujimitsu sent Uesugi Tomofusa and Hatakeyama Motokuni to drive them back. In the second year of Bunchū (1373) he was granted the post of Sama-no-kami by the Retired Emperor Go-En'yū and was raised to Junior Fifth Rank Lower. In the fifth year of Tenju (1379), Toki Yasuyuki raised troops and rebelled against Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. When Yoshimitsu asked Ujimitsu to send troops, Ujimitsu dispatched Uesugi Norikata to go; but on hearing that Yasuyuki had surrendered, Norikata turned back (Note: following the Kitsuregawa Keizu). At about this time Yoshimitsu was rather neglectful of affairs of government and was gradually losing the hearts of the people. When Yoshimitsu was about to punish Toki Yoriyasu and called up troops from the provinces, Ujimitsu had Uesugi Norikata lead troops to go. On this occasion Ujimitsu thought of taking advantage of the moment to seize the realm in Yoshimitsu's place, but Uesugi Noriharu remonstrated in great distress and killed himself, and Ujimitsu gave up the plan (Note: the Kaei Sandaiki, the Nan-Taiheiki, the Kamakura Ōzōshi, and the Kitsuregawa Keizu are consulted together). The following year he became Sahyōe-no-kami and advanced to Junior Fourth Rank Lower. Oyama Yoshimasa raised troops, and Utsunomiya Mototsuna set out to put him down but did not prevail and was killed in battle. Ujimitsu thereupon sent Uesugi Norikata to attack Yoshimasa. Yoshimasa put on a monk's robe and begged forgiveness, and Ujimitsu pardoned him. In the second year of Kōwa (1382), Yoshimasa rose again. Ujimitsu marched against him in person and killed him. In the third year of Genchū (1386), Yoshimasa's son Wakainumaru rose once more and, in league with Tamura Noriyoshi of Mutsu, held Oyama Castle. Ujimitsu led troops to attack it, and Wakainumaru was defeated and fled to Mutsu. Ujimitsu sent Uesugi Noritaka to pursue him. Ujimitsu advanced as far as Shirakawa, and Noriyoshi was also defeated and killed himself, whereupon he turned his army back. In the fourth year (1387), Oda Gorō held Nantai Castle, and Ujimitsu sent Uesugi Tomomune to attack him. The following year Tomomune took it and wiped out the Oda. In the eighth year (1391), Yamana Ujikiyo rebelled. In the spring of the following year, Ujimitsu was about to go to Yoshimitsu's aid, but on hearing that Ujikiyo had already been put down he called it off. Yoshimitsu granted Ujimitsu the government of Mutsu and Dewa at a distance, and advanced him to Junior Third Rank (Note: this book places this in the preceding year, which is an error, and it is now corrected according to the Meitokuki). In the fifth year of Ōei (1398) he died, at the age of forty (Note: some say forty-two). His Buddhist name was Dōzen (Note: Zen is also written Sen), and he was styled Yōanji (Note: following the Kitsuregawa Keizu).

¶Ujimitsu loved wine, and whenever it rained he gathered people and drank, and invited his officials of the inner and outer households and always entertained them to their hearts' content. Once, when he was deeply drunk, he said to his attendants: "The Son of Heaven is a man. The shōgun is also a man. I am also a man. Those who serve me are also men. Yet those above know less of hardship than those below. If we were to exchange high and low, I think governing the world would not be difficult." Morimoto Nobumitsu stepped forward and said: "My lord, your words are not good. How could a man of low station bear the duties of a ruler? I beg you to strive to see things clearly. Otherwise the people cannot bear so heavy a burden." Ujimitsu was greatly pleased and rewarded him generously. Such was his readiness to accept the words of others (Note: following the Bunroku Seidan).

¶He had five sons: Mitsukane, Mitsunao, Mitsutaka, Mitsusada (Note: the original text gives "Mitsusoku"), and Mitsuhide. Mitsunao was styled Inamura-dono, and killed himself together with his nephew Mochiuji. Mitsutaka was styled Shin-Mido-dono, and killed himself together with his nephew Mochinaka. Mitsusada was styled Shinokawa-dono, and killed himself together with Mochiuji's son Yoshihisa. Mitsuhide became Bettō, Superintendent, of the Nikkō mountain temple and was appointed Ō-Mido-dono (Note: following the Kitsuregawa Keizu).

Ashikaga Mitsukane

¶Ashikaga Mitsukane was appointed Sama-no-kami and raised to Junior Fourth Rank Lower (Note: following the Kitsuregawa Keizu and the Koga Keizu). In the fifth year of Ōei (1398) he succeeded as Kanrei and was transferred to Sahyōe-no-suke, Assistant Commander of the Left Gate Guards. In the sixth year (1399) he toured Mutsu and Dewa and returned. At that time Ōuchi Yoshihiro raised troops and came to Sakaiura; Mitsukane answered him from afar and advanced his army as far as Musashi, while giving out that he was assisting Yoshimitsu. Soon, hearing that Yoshihiro had been put to death, he halted his advance. The following year Yoshimitsu gave Mitsukane the Ashikaga estate in Shimotsuke and so dispelled the suspicion of his rebellion. Mitsukane then returned to Kamakura. Soon afterwards the Utsunomiya clan raised a disturbance in Shimotsuke, but Shiba Mochiaki struck them down and presented their heads. Mitsukane rewarded him for his service and granted Ujihiro a fief. In the ninth year (1402), Mitsukane sent Uesugi Ujihiro to Mutsu to attack and pacify Date Masamune. In the sixteenth year (1409) he died, at the age of thirty-three (Note: following the Kitsuregawa Keizu). His Buddhist name was Dōan (Note: following the Koga Keizu), and he was styled Shōkōin. His sons were Mochiuji and Mochinaka (Note: following the Kitsuregawa Keizu). In the world his house was called the Kamakura Gosho, the Kamakura Residence.