Biographies CXXXIV: The Shogunal Retainers, Part XVII

Hatakeyama Kunikiyo

¶Hatakeyama Kunikiyo's ancestor six generations back was named Yoshizumi and was a son of Ashikaga Yoshikane, Sama-no-kami, Director of the Left Stables (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Hōjō Tokimasa once killed his own son-in-law, Hatakeyama Shigetada, and gave Shigetada's daughter in second marriage to Yoshizumi, together with Shigetada's domain; hence the family took the name Hatakeyama (Note: following the Hatakeyama Keizu). His father was named Ieguni and was Governor of Owari (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Hatakeyama Keizu). Kunikiyo served successively as Sakon'e-no-shōgen, Lieutenant of the Left Palace Guards, Governor of Awa, and Sakyō-no-daibu, Master of the Left Capital Office, and became Shuri-no-daibu, Master of the Office of Palace Repairs (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Taiheiki). In the second year of Kenmu (1335) he followed Ashikaga Tadayoshi and held off Nitta Yoshisada at Sagisaka in Yahagi. In the following year (1336) he followed Ashikaga Takauji in the fighting at Kyoto, went on with Takauji in his flight to Tsukushi, and together with Tadayoshi attacked and defeated Kikuchi Taketoshi. He also followed Takauji in the attack on the Enryakuji and distinguished himself, and was made Shugo, Military Governor, of Kii province (Note: following the Taiheiki). In the first year of Engen (1336) he attacked Ōtsuka Koremasa at Yagi but could not prevail (Note: following the document on the reverse of the Wada genealogy).

¶In the fourth year of Shōhei (1349) he relieved the fort at Ishikawa in Kawachi in place of Kō-no-Moroyasu and confronted Kusunoki Masanori. Kunikiyo's kinsman Naomune, together with Uesugi Shigeyoshi, was jealous of Kō-no-Moronao and slandered him to Tadayoshi. Tadayoshi believed this and plotted to destroy the Kō clan. The plot leaked, and Moronao in turn deposed Tadayoshi and killed Naomune and Shigeyoshi. Soon afterwards, Takauji's illegitimate son Tadafuyu took up a position in Higo, and Moronao urged Takauji to put him down in person, while Moronao himself led the rear army. Tadayoshi took advantage of this opening to flee to Yamato and sought refuge with a certain Ochi. Kunikiyo abandoned his camp at Ishikawa and hurried to Tadayoshi's side with more than a thousand men. In the sixth year (1351), Tadayoshi ordered Momonoi Naotsune to attack Takauji and Yoshiakira at Kyoto. Takauji's army was defeated and fled toward the western seas. Tadayoshi then sent Ishidō Yorifusa to pursue them, but he fought at the Kōmyōji in Harima and was in turn surrounded. Kunikiyo went to his relief with more than three thousand horsemen. Takauji lifted the siege and withdrew, intending to go to Hyōgo. Kunikiyo and Yorifusa met at the Mikage shore, where the enemy army bore down on them with great shouts. Kunikiyo kept his men in ambush shooting arrows without pause, so that Takauji could not hold out; he fled with Moronao and the others and shut himself up in Matsuoka castle, which seemed about to fall. Just then Aiba Ujinao (Note: the name Ujinao follows the Entairyaku) secretly came out by way of the slope, visited Kunikiyo's camp, and proposed peace. Kunikiyo answered him: "Lord Nishikikōji (that is, Tadayoshi) has constantly sent me letters admonishing me thus: 'I raised troops not out of hatred for the Shogun as an enemy, but only to chastise Moronao and his brother a little. You must understand this intention well, and even in battle you must not rashly harm the Shitsuji, the Shogunal Deputy (Moronao), and his brother.' Those letters are still here." So saying, he showed several of them. Ujinao returned and reported this, and peace was thus concluded. Moronao and Moroyasu came out in surrender but were killed on the road (Note: following the Taiheiki). Afterwards discord arose again, and Kunikiyo followed Tadayoshi in flight to Echizen; together with Hosokawa Akiuji and Momonoi Naotsune he defended against Takauji at Hassōyama, but without success. Kunikiyo and Akiuji urged Tadayoshi to make peace once more, and Tadayoshi was inclined to go and meet Takauji, but Naotsune blocked him and the plan was dropped. Kunikiyo and Akiuji, angered that the peace had not come about, left Tadayoshi and followed Takauji (Note: following the Entairyaku and the Tenshō-bon Taiheiki) and attacked Tadayoshi at Sattayama. Tadayoshi was defeated and fled to Izu. Takauji sent Kunikiyo, Nikki Yoriaki, and others to lure Tadayoshi out; he was confined at Kamakura and finally poisoned (Note: following the Taiheiki). Earlier, Takauji had placed his second son Motouji at Kamakura as Kantō Kanrei, Deputy of the Kantō. When Takauji defeated Nitta Yoshimune and returned to Kyoto, he left Kunikiyo behind as Kamakura Shitsuji, Deputy at Kamakura (Note: following the Kitsurekawa Keizu). Later he shaved his head and took the name Dōsei (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Hatakeyama Keizu, the Kitsurekawa Keizu, and the Taiheiki).

¶In the thirteenth year (1358), the local magnates of Musashi and Kōzuke were about to raise an army around Wada Yoshioki, and Kunikiyo lured Yoshioki out by a stratagem and killed him. By this time Takauji had already died, and his eldest son Yoshiakira had newly succeeded to the headship of the house; people were uneasy, and all thought that Yoshiakira and Motouji would in the end fall out. Kunikiyo despised the two of them and, taking advantage of this to look for an opportunity, thought to move troops and wield authority at will. He persuaded Motouji, saying: "Lately it is said in the world that the Shogun's brothers cannot agree and that armed disorder is sure to come. If you lend me troops, I will attack southward and dispel the suspicion." Motouji approved. In the fourteenth year (1359) he ordered the mobilization of troops from the eight provinces of the Kantō. Kunikiyo first sought to win men's hearts: he flattered the officers and men, spoke to them in humble words to show his sincerity, and secretly gave generous rewards. The officers and men all responded, and so he led a great army to Kyoto. Its strength was proclaimed as two hundred thousand (Note: the Entairyaku gives several tens of thousands). The weapons were fine and new, and the army's bearing was truly splendid. The powerful men of the provinces all came to watch on both sides of the road, and even the Anzaisho, the temporary court residence, was shaken. Kunikiyo parted ways with Yoshiakira and attacked southward. In the following year (1360), Yoshiakira halted his army at Amagasaki, while Kunikiyo advanced his camp to Tsutsuyama and pressed the imperial army, and more than five hundred imperial horsemen surrendered. He repeatedly skirmished with the imperial army, let his troops loose to plunder, and finally took several castles. Kusunoki Masanori withdrew into Kongōsan, and Kunikiyo then withdrew with Yoshiakira and returned to Kyoto.

¶Now, from the time he first went west, Kunikiyo had been jealous of Nikki Yoshinaga's arbitrary wielding of power and had secretly plotted to remove him. At this point he drew in Hosokawa Kiyouji and others, who were on bad terms with Yoshinaga, and through drinking parties day and night grew gradually closer to them. He then persuaded them, saying: "Today I am drinking with you all, and what is there to hide? In truth I came west in order to put Yoshinaga to death. His conduct is to disregard the gods and Buddhas, to indulge in hunting and fishing, to belittle the Bakufu, and to violate the laws. At the time of the earlier attack on Yoshino as well, he grieved when our side won and rejoiced when we lost. What is the meaning of such a heart? I wish to remove this man for the Shogun's sake." All who were present agreed to the plot. Just then Wada Masatada and Kusunoki Masanori raised troops and were about to attack Konda, so Kunikiyo, using defense as a pretext, led seven thousand troops together with the conspirators and rushed first to the Shitennōji. Masanori and the others withdrew at once. Since Kunikiyo had never intended to fight the imperial army, he simply encamped within the temple. After a few days he finally turned his troops back and attacked Yoshinaga. By the time he reached Kyoto, Yoshinaga had already fled to the eastern provinces. Soon, however, the imperial army rose again and attacked the castles of Kii, Izumi, and Kawachi, so that the capital region was in uproar and for a time in great turmoil, and the blame for it fell on Kunikiyo. Kunikiyo liked to wear a fox pelt at his waist, so the people of the time hated him and composed a "Song of the Fox's Enchantment" to satirize him. The sound of actors and children singing it filled the streets. Fearing that misfortune would fall upon him, he secretly fled and returned to Kamakura. Yoshinaga's subordinate, a certain Saigō, Shugodai, Deputy Military Governor of Mikawa, together with Kira Mitsusada raised troops at Yahagi, and a certain Ogawa of Owari and others responded by building a fort at Ogawa and blocking Kunikiyo's road home. Kunikiyo, with difficulty, was at last able to get back. Now, when Kunikiyo attacked southward, his officers and men had run out of supplies and provisions, and many had fled home. On reaching Kamakura, Kunikiyo confiscated all of their landholdings. When the officers and men petitioned, he would not hear them. If an official in charge happened to raise the matter, he dismissed and punished him each time. In the sixteenth year (1361), more than a thousand officers and men went together to Motouji and asked for Kunikiyo's dismissal. Motouji then enumerated Kunikiyo's offence of having stirred up internal strife and banished him. Kunikiyo set out for Izu with his younger brothers and more than three hundred followers; when he lodged at Odawara on the way, Dohi Kamon-no-suke attacked him, but Kunikiyo drove him off. He entered Izu and, with his two brothers, divided his forces among the three castles of Mito, Kanayama, and Shuzenji (Note: the Hōjō-ke-bon writes "Mito" with other characters; the Hōjō-ke-bon and the Nanto-bon write "Kanayama" as "Nagahama"). In the following year (1362), Motouji sent the Taira Ikki, the Taira League, to attack with thirty thousand men. The Taira Ikki fell into a quarrel, for certain reasons, with Katsurayama Bitchū-no-kami. Kunikiyo's retainers Yusa, Jinbō, and others perceived this and attacked them by night. The enemy, suspicious and fearful of one another, withdrew without fighting. Motouji himself took the field at Hakone and had Nitta Yoshikazu (Note: the name Yoshikazu follows the Kitsurekawa Keizu) lead troops to attack. Kunikiyo's position was exhausted; he set fire to the castles of Mito and Kanayama and took refuge in Shuzenji. Kunikiyo had served as Shitsuji for more than ten years, and his sister was Motouji's wife, so his power had been very great and there was no officer or man in the Kantō who did not bend before him. Yet on the day he raised his army, not a single man hurried to his aid in his danger. Even close old acquaintances mostly deserted him. Provisions grew scarcer by the day, and he feared that if he fled he would have nowhere to take refuge. He lamented, saying: "I regret having killed Nitta Yoshioki." So for several months he held the castle firmly. Motouji falsely sent an envoy urging surrender, and Kunikiyo at last put on a monk's robe and surrendered, sending his younger brother Yoshifuka to Motouji's camp while he himself stayed at the provincial office of Izu for some days. Motouji intended to strike Kunikiyo and the others by surprise and kill them, and sent troops to block the roads. At night someone told Kunikiyo: "Tomorrow morning an unexpected disposition will be made." Kunikiyo at once signaled with his eyes to his younger brother Yoshihiro (Note: the name Yoshihiro follows the Sonpi Bunmyaku; the Tenshō-bon gives "Kunihiro" and the Mōri-ke-bon gives "Yoshikuni"), and, pretending to go out somewhere nearby, had a single servant carry a load of heavy baggage and fled on foot into a Buddhist temple at Fujisawa. The monks of the temple prepared two horses and two monks for him, and he rode day and night to Kyoto and hid in a Buddhist temple at Shichijō. He then left there and lived at Uji, and relied on Kusunoki Masanori to ask for permission to submit. Masanori rejected him and did not pass the request to the court (Note: the Saigen'in-bon says that the court deliberations would not allow it). In the end he wandered between Yamato and Yamashiro and died of starvation (Note: following the Taiheiki). His son Yoshikiyo became Sakon'e-no-shōgen (Note: following the Hatakeyama Keizu), and Governor of Awa and Mutsu. His younger brother was Yoshifuka (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Hatakeyama Yoshifuka

¶Hatakeyama Yoshifuka was styled Saburō (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Hatakeyama Keizu). He served as governor of Owari, Noto, Etchū, Kawachi, Kawa-Izumi, and Settsu (Note: following the Hatakeyama Keizu). Before long he became Shugo of Izu and followed Kunikiyo in living at Kamakura. When Kunikiyo was banished, he followed him in flight to Izu. In the following year, Motouji summoned Yoshifuka and falsely restored him to the post of Shugo of Izu. When Yoshifuka went to Motouji's camp at Hakone, he suddenly heard that Kunikiyo had fled; greatly alarmed and not knowing what to do, he went to Yūki Naomitsu and begged him to save his life. At that moment Motouji was breaking camp to return, so Naomitsu put Yoshifuka into a large nagamochi, a long chest, made holes in the bottom to let in air, and had it carried along behind the armor chests, and so got him out. Afterwards he lived in Kyoto; Ashikaga Yoshiakira pardoned his offence, appointed him Shugo of Echizen, and with the other commanders he attacked Ashikaga Takatsune at Shinayama. A few months later Takatsune died, and his son Yoshiyuki came out and surrendered, so Echizen was pacified. In that post Yoshifuka achieved considerable good government (Note: following the Taiheiki). He died in the fifth year of Tenju (1379) (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Hatakeyama Keizu), at the age of forty-nine (Note: following the Jōrakki). Now, when Yoshifuka heard that Kunikiyo had fled, he secretly made a plan of escape. His retainer Yusa Shōa perceived this and, wishing to keep people from noticing, deliberately drank with those around him, played at wrestling, and laughed with them, so as to hide the traces. When Yoshifuka's party was already far away, the matter gradually leaked out, and soldiers came suddenly to seize Shōa. Shōa then put on a monk's robe and fled, but was recognized on the road and went into a lodging and killed himself (Note: following the Taiheiki). Konda Shōi was also a retainer of Yoshifuka and fled as far as Suruga, where he was captured by Imagawa Noritada. His son Yasaburō asked to die in his stead; Shōi saw this and said that the boy was not his son. Yasaburō nevertheless insisted and would not stop, and Noritada, moved by some thought, released them both (Note: following the Mōri-ke-bon and the Tenshō-bon Taiheiki). Yoshifuka's sons were Motokuni and Fukaaki (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Nikki Yoriaki

¶Nikki Yoriaki was styled Jirō Saburō, and his ancestors descended from Ashikaga Yoshikiyo. Yoshikiyo's grandson Sanekuni lived at Nikki in Mikawa province and was called Nikki Tarō. Yoshikatsu, Sanekuni's great-great-grandson, begot Yoriaki, who served successively as Governor of Suō and Iga, Sakyō-no-daibu, and Hyōbu-no-taifu, Senior Assistant Minister of Military Affairs (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Baishōron, and the Taiheiki). When Ashikaga Takauji raised his army, Yoriaki always followed his forces together with his younger brother Yoshinaga. When Takauji raised the standard of revolt, Yoriaki fought Nitta Yoshisada at Sagisaka in Yahagi but without success. Soon afterwards he followed Takauji in defeating the imperial army at Takeshita and so entered Kyoto. When Takauji fled to Tsukushi, he sent Yoriaki on the way to Tanba, where, together with Kuge, Nagasawa, Hagino, Hōkabe, and others, he held the castle at Kōzanji (Note: following the Taiheiki). When Takauji entered Kyoto again, Yoriaki, together with Imagawa Yorisada, led the troops of Tanba and Tajima and reached Kyoto as the vanguard. When Yoshisada attacked Takauji's camp at Tōji, Yoriaki, together with Uesugi Shigeyoshi and others, drove him back (Note: following the Baishōron). When Nitta Yoshiaki occupied Kanegasaki, Yoriaki led the troops of Tanba and Mimasaka and set out to attack it from Shiotsu. In the Shōhei years, he followed Kō-no-Moronao and fought Kusunoki Masatsura at Shijōnawate, and also fought Momonoi Naotsune at Shirakawa. When Takauji fled west and left his son Yoshiakira at the Sekiganji, he had Yoriaki and Yoshinaga assist him. He followed Yoshiakira into Kyoto, but at this time Takauji and his brother Tadayoshi were privately at odds, so Yoriaki and his brother, together with Hosokawa Yoriharu, Toki Yorinori, Sasaki Takauji, Ishidō Yorifusa, Uesugi Noriaki, Momonoi Naotsune, and others, each divided into factions and fled back to their own provinces. Yoriaki, giving the excuse of bathing at a hot spring, fled to Arima, and Yoshinaga fled to Ise. When Takauji went east to attack Tadayoshi, Yoriaki and his brother followed him, attacked Tadayoshi at Sattayama, and put him to flight. They also followed Takauji and fought Nitta Yoshimune at Kotesashigahara, where they won merit. Ashikaga Tadafuyu was about to attack Takauji, and Yamana Tokiuji responded. At this time Yoriaki was Takauji's Shitsuji, and as Shugo of Tanba was at Sano castle. Tokiuji passed beneath the castle at the head of his troops, but Yoriaki, fearing his keen edge, did not sally out. Takauji fought Tadafuyu and Momonoi Naotsune at Kyoto. Yoriaki led three thousand troops from Tanba and Tango and made camp at Arashiyama. Yoriaki was timid, merely watched how events went and would not advance; afterwards he followed Yoshiakira in the attack on Yoshino (Note: following the Taiheiki). In the thirteenth year (1358), he shaved his head and took the name Dōkei (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the following year (1359) he died (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Entairyaku), at the age of sixty-one (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). His son Yoshitada (Note: another account in the present work makes him a son of Yorinatsu) became Nakatsukasa-no-shōyū, Junior Assistant Minister of Central Affairs, and Hyōbu-no-taifu (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Taiheiki), and was appointed Shugo of Tanba. When Yamana Moroyoshi sent Kobayashi Shigenaga to take Tanba, Yoshitada took the field at Waku and sent urgent word to Yoshiakira. Yoshiakira sent several commanders to help him, and Shigenaga withdrew without fighting (Note: following the Taiheiki; the sending of urgent word follows the Tenshō-bon). Now Yoriaki had adopted Yorinatsu, a son of Hosokawa Kazuuji, as his own son (Note: another account in the present work makes him a son of Kiyouji); he was styled Saburō and became Sakyō-gon-no-daibu and Nakatsukasa-no-shōyū. Yoriaki's younger brother was Yoshinaga (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Nikki Yoshinaga

¶Nikki Yoshinaga was styled Jirō Shirō and served successively as Governor of Echigo, Uma-no-gon-no-kami, Provisional Director of the Right Stables, Shuri-no-suke, Assistant Master of the Office of Palace Repairs, and Ukyō-no-daibu, Master of the Right Capital Office (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku; see also the Taiheiki and the Baishōron). When Ashikaga Takauji fought Kikuchi Taketoshi at Tatarahama, Takauji's army was not fully provided with armor and horses, and Ashikaga Tadayoshi gave Yoshinaga the armor that had been presented by Munakata Masasuke, the chief priest of the Munakata shrine (Note: the name Masasuke follows the Konshōin-bon). Yoshinaga put it on, fought hard at the very front, and cut down several men with his own hand, whereby the army's spirit rose a hundredfold. Taketoshi fled in defeat, and Yoshinaga and Isshiki Yoriyuki pursued him as far as Higo (Note: the name Yoriyuki follows the Sonpi Bunmyaku). When Taketoshi had fled, Yoshinaga advanced, attacked Uchikawa Yoshinao's castle at Yatsushiro, and put him to flight. When Takauji attacked Kyoto, Yoshinaga and Yoriyuki remained in Tsukushi to guard it and soon returned to Kyoto (Note: following the Baishōron; see also the Taiheiki). When Takauji faced Nitta Yoshimune and others at Kanaigahara, Yoshinaga divided three thousand troops of his own command with Yoriaki and hid them in the thickets. When Takauji's army soon fled, Nitta Yoshioki and Wakiya Yoshiharu loosed their troops in a thorough pursuit. Yoshinaga then suddenly rose up and fought furiously; Yoshioki and the others hastily formed a fish-scale formation, but Yoshinaga also ordered his ranks and met them, and the enemy killed were very many. Yoshioki and Yoshiharu fled in defeat. From the time Takauji raised his army, Yoshinaga repeatedly won merit in battle, became Shugo of four provinces including Mikawa, Ise, and Iga, and his holdings numbered several hundred places. By nature he was violent and cruel, rewarded and punished as he pleased, and was extremely arrogant. Once, when he visited the Tsurugaoka Hachiman shrine, he killed a man inside the shrine hall. He also killed a jinin, a shrine servitor, of the Otokoyama Hachiman shrine. When he was in Ise, he forcibly seized the three districts of the Kanbe, the shrine households. The Saishu, the chief priest, petitioned about this at Kyoto, and the Retired Emperor Gokōgon ordered Takauji to send a letter reproaching him and demanding their return. Yoshinaga, enraged that the Saishu had complained of him, indulged himself in hunting and fishing at will on Mount Kamiji and along the Isuzu River and paid no heed whatever (Note: following the Taiheiki). While in Kyoto he took over Hosokawa Kiyouji's residence lot; Kiyouji, enraged, was about to attack him, but Takauji mediated and the matter was settled (Note: following the Entairyaku). He was also angered that Hoshino Yukiaki, a man of Mikawa, had on his own initiative attached himself to Kiyouji in his home province, and confiscated his holdings. He further plotted to seize the holdings of Toki Yorinori and Sasaki Ujiyori. For these reasons the commanders hated Yoshinaga. Just then, when Ashikaga Yoshiakira was to attack Yoshino, he had Yoshinaga lead three thousand troops and take the field at Nishinomiya (Note: the Entairyaku says five hundred troops). Hatakeyama Kunikiyo also led his troops west, but he had long been jealous of Yoshinaga and was scheming to bring him down. Yoshinaga, for his part, wanted to monopolize the credit; he disliked Kunikiyo's flourishing troops and wished for his failure. When he heard that Kunikiyo's vanguard had fought at Ryūmonzan, he clapped his hands and laughed, saying: "If your whole army were to flee naked, that too would be rather amusing." Soon afterwards Kunikiyo returned to Kyoto and secretly gathered the commanders and plotted to kill Yoshinaga. Just then the imperial army attacked Konda castle, so Kunikiyo, using reinforcement as a pretext, went with the commanders to the Shitennōji and discussed turning back to attack Yoshinaga. Yoshinaga heard of this and persuaded Yoshiakira, saying: "I hear that Kunikiyo and Kiyouji are dividing their troops and coming from the Shitennōji. They are using me as a pretext to plot rebellion. Please let me prepare against them." Yoshiakira said: "That must be a baseless rumor. If it is true, I will join you in putting them to death, and who could resist?" Yoshinaga was greatly pleased, gathered troops, obtained more than seven thousand men, and said: "Even with a hundred thousand troops, Kunikiyo's men cannot be that formidable." He had his nephew Yorinatsu lead more than two thousand men to guard Shijō-Ōmiya. He sent his younger brother Yorikatsu to Tōji with more than a thousand men and had them set fire to the townhouses. He himself also ordered his ranks and stood ready. Fearing that Yoshiakira might secretly communicate with Kunikiyo, he led troops with Yorinatsu to guard Yoshiakira's residence. He forbade entry and exit, handled matters on his own authority, and sought a rinji, an imperial edict, and kyōsho, directives, to attack Kunikiyo and Kiyouji. That night Yoshiakira, in consultation with Sasaki Takauji, slipped out secretly. At dawn, Yoshinaga and Yorinatsu asked Yoshiakira to appear before the officers and men, but, finding him gone and wondering at it, they closed the gates and searched on a great scale without finding him. By this the people's hearts turned away and wavered, and all ran off, so that only some three hundred remained. As the enemy army gradually drew near, Yoshinaga did not know what to do and fled by back roads to Ise. Yorikatsu fled to Tango and Yorinatsu to Tanba. A certain Ogawa and a certain Higashi-Ikeda, men of Owari, held the Ogawa estate. The Shugodai of Mikawa, a certain Saigō, and Kira Mitsuzane took position at Yahagi, and all responded to Yoshinaga, but all were defeated one after another. Ishidō Yorifusa gathered the troops of Iga and Ise and set up Yoshinaga's uncle Yoshizumi (Note: the name Yoshizumi follows the Mōri-ke-bon; that he was Yoshinaga's uncle follows the Sonpi Bunmyaku, which gives the name as Yoshitō) as commander, and encamped at Katsuragiyama in Ōmi and fought Sasaki Ujiyori and others. Yoshizumi was defeated and surrendered. Yoshinaga, in Ise, had held more than three thousand troops, but by this time deserters were very numerous, and he held only Nagano castle with some five hundred men. Sasaki Ujiyori and Toki Yorinori attacked, and the two sides confronted each other for two years. Yoshinaga's army grew shorter of provisions by the day, and many of his kinsmen surrendered. He therefore sent an envoy to Yoshino and submitted. In the twentieth year (1365), he again asked to surrender to Yoshiakira. Yoshiakira, remembering his former services, pardoned his offences and let him return to Kyoto (Note: following the Taiheiki). Afterwards he shaved his head. He died in the second year of Tenju (1376) (Note: following the separate record of the Gogu-maiki). His son Mitsunaga became Uma-no-suke, Assistant Director of the Right Stables (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Ishidō Yorifusa

¶Ishidō Yorifusa was of a cadet line of the Ashikaga. Yorishige, a foster grandson of Ashikaga Yasuuji, became Yasuuji's heir and was called Ishidō Shirō. Yorishige begot Yoshifusa, and Yoshifusa begot Yorifusa (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Yorifusa became Uma-no-kami, Director of the Right Stables, and Nakatsukasa-no-taifu, Senior Assistant Minister of Central Affairs (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Taiheiki). When Ashikaga Tadayoshi plotted to kill Kō-no-Moronao and failed, fled to Yamato, and hid with a certain Ochi, Yorifusa, together with Ochi, urged Tadayoshi to submit (Note: following the Tenshō-bon Taiheiki). Receiving an imperial edict to attack Ashikaga Takauji, he led troops, took position at Otokoyama, and watched Kyoto. When Takauji soon afterwards fled to Shosha-zan in Harima, Tadayoshi sent Yorifusa and Uesugi Tomofusa to pursue him with troops. They encamped at the Kōmyōji and faced Takauji. At this time Kō-no-Moroyasu returned from Iwami to relieve Takauji, and the army again flourished. Yorifusa asked Tadayoshi for reinforcements. Takauji suddenly attacked, but Yorifusa and the others fought hard and defeated him again and again. Tadayoshi further sent Hatakeyama Kunikiyo and Uesugi Yoshiyori as reinforcements. Takauji withdrew and camped at Hyōgo, but Yorifusa defeated him there too. Soon he followed Tadayoshi in flight to Echizen, but Takauji came attacking with his army (Note: following the Taiheiki). Yorifusa, together with Momonoi Naotsune, met him at Hassōyama in Ōmi but was defeated. Yorifusa hid in Kannonji castle (Note: following the Tenshō-bon Taiheiki). Afterwards, together with his father Yoshifusa, he followed Tadayoshi to Kamakura and defended against Takauji at Sattayama, but the army was defeated and surrendered. Yoshifusa, at Kamakura, secretly harbored a different design. Just then Nitta Yoshioki and others were about to attack Kamakura and invited Yoshifusa by letter. Yoshifusa was inclined to respond, and summoned Yorifusa and said: "At the defeat at Sattayama, I endured death and prayed for life. As a surrendered commander I have been humiliated by Nikki, Hosokawa, and the rest, and have passed my days in gloom. Now I wish to join the Nitta, win merit in the present age, and leave honor to my descendants. You should join me." Yorifusa was startled and his face changed color, and he said: "For a man who is another's retainer to harbor a divided heart is a shame to a warrior. I am deeply trusted by the Shogun and always wish to repay his favor. From of old there have been fathers and sons who took up arms against each other, but that too was each for his own lord. I cannot but report this to the Shogun. The bond of obligation between father and son will thereby be severed, and we shall never meet again." So saying he left and followed Takauji's army (Note: following the Taiheiki; the Tenshō-bon treats this as the affair of Yoshimoto). Afterwards he submitted and was granted the post of Gyōbu-kyō, Minister of Justice (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Taiheiki). When Ashikaga Tadafuyu, Yamana Tokiuji, and Hosokawa Kiyouji successively asked to submit, they were pardoned by imperial edict. Yorifusa and the Kira clan were sent to help them with troops. Together they also attacked Hosokawa Ujiharu and others in Settsu. Soon afterwards, together with Kusunoki Masanori and others, he attacked Akamatsu Mitsunori's Tadabe castle, set fire to its town, and withdrew (Note: following the Taiheiki; see also the Entairyaku). Later he rebelled again and, together with Kira Yoshizane, surrendered to Ashikaga Yoshiakira (Note: following the Mōri-ke-bon and the Tenshō-bon Taiheiki).

Kira Mitsusada

¶Kira Mitsusada was a man of Kira in Mikawa province (Note: following the Nan Taiheiki). His high-great-grandfather Nagauji was a younger brother of Ashikaga Yasuuji and was called Kira Tarō (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). His grandfather Sadayoshi served as Sakyō-no-daibu and Kazusa-no-suke. His father Mitsuyoshi was Sahyōe-no-suke, Assistant Commander of the Left Gate Guards, and Nakatsukasa-no-taifu. Mitsusada was called Kira Saburō and served successively as Sakyō-no-daibu and Jibu-no-taifu, Senior Assistant Minister of Civil Administration (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Taiheiki). When Ashikaga Takauji planned to raise an army in support of the throne, Sadayoshi, being the elder of his kin, was first sent word by Uesugi Norifusa, and Sadayoshi gave his full support to the plan (Note: following the Nan Taiheiki; that he was a kinsman of an earlier generation follows the Sonpi Bunmyaku). The whole clan then followed him, and afterwards all followed Takauji in raising the standard of revolt. In the seventh year of Shōhei (1352), when the Emperor made a progress to Otokoyama, Mitsusada, together with Ishidō Yorifusa, led five thousand troops, entered from Suruga, and supported him. At the battle of Kaguraoka as well, they both belonged to the imperial army and fought Hosokawa Kiyouji and defeated him. In the fifteenth year (1360), when Hatakeyama Kunikiyo fled east, Mitsusada, together with the Shugodai of Mikawa, a certain Saigō, led troops to meet him at Yahagi. Just then Yoshiakira made Ōshima Yoshitaka Shugo, so Mitsusada fought him and was defeated, and finally turned and surrendered to Yoshiakira. In the sixteenth year (1361), together with the Utsunomiya and Kuroda clans, he held off the imperial army at Ōwatari (Note: following the Taiheiki). Afterwards he shaved his head and changed his name to Shōken (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Ogasawara Sadamune

¶Ogasawara Sadamune, whose childhood name was Toyomatsu, was styled Hikogorō and was a man of Shinano province. He was a descendant in the sixth generation of Nagakiyo, Sakyō-no-daibu. His father was named Munenaga and was Governor of Shinano. Sadamune was granted Junior Fifth Rank Lower and became Uma-no-suke, Assistant Director of the Right Stables, Jibu-no-taifu, and Governor of Shinano, and was appointed Shugo of Shinano (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Ogasawara Keizu; the genealogy gives Senior Fourth Rank Lower). He had charge of the government of provinces such as Hida and Tōtōmi. In the Genkō disturbance, he responded to Hōjō Takatoki and held off the imperial army. Afterwards he repented his offence and asked to be allowed to win merit, and the Emperor issued an edict ordering Sadamune to raise the troops of Shinano and Hida; he followed Nitta Yoshisada and fought at the Musashino plain and at Kamakura, winning merit in each (Note: following the Ogasawara-ke Fu). In the second year of Kenmu (1335), when Ashikaga Takauji rose in revolt at Kamakura, he again followed Yoshisada and attacked him. Later he turned away and surrendered to Takauji.

¶When the Emperor made a progress to the Enryakuji, Takauji advanced his army to attack it, and Sadamune led the troops of Kai and Shinano as far as Seta, but the monks of the Enryakuji broke the bridge and held him off. He therefore made camp at Noji and cut the imperial army's supply route (Note: the five characters of the original for "cut the imperial army's supply route" follow the Taiheiki). Wakiya Yoshisuke attacked, but Sadamune met him and defeated him and took up a position at Kagamiyama. The imperial army attacked again, and he defeated it again, withdrew and made camp at Ibukiyama, and reported this to Takauji. Just then Takauji was discussing sending troops into Ōmi to cut the imperial army's supply route, and sent Sasaki Takauji to support him (Note: following the Baishōron. According to the Sadamune Mokuanshō, Sadamune resigned the post of Shugo of Ōmi in this year. Probably Sadamune asked to resign and Takauji, as Sasaki Takauji desired the post, granted both requests; the details can no longer be known). Since Sadamune had already defeated the imperial army, he was to have charge of Ōmi for that merit, but when Sasaki Takauji arrived, he claimed that he had obtained Ōmi by his own petition to Takauji. Sadamune was greatly disappointed, abandoned the post, and went to Kyoto (Note: compare the various texts of the Taiheiki). Soon afterwards Yoshisada, bearing the Crown Prince, held Kanegasaki castle. Takauji then ordered Sadamune to raise the troops of Shinano and attack it. Sadamune, with eight hundred picked men, fought hard at great risk, but without success and withdrew. When the Chinjufu Taishōgun, Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North, Minamoto Akiie (Kitabatake Akiie), broke Kamakura and marched west, Sadamune again raised troops and pursued him. Reaching Mino, together with Haga Zenka he fought a defensive battle at Jikinowatari, but was heavily defeated and barely escaped and returned (Note: following the Taiheiki).

¶His house had handed down the arts of the bow and of horsemanship for generations, and in Sadamune's time his skill reached an extremely refined level. Emperor Go-Daigo permitted him to ascend to the Emperor's presence and studied the art under him. The Emperor once wished to learn how a saddle should be set, and had Sadamune ride a horse while he himself came up to the saddle to examine it; greatly praising it, he ordered a painter to draw it as a picture and had it stored in the secret archive. On another occasion, when the Emperor was being taught his art of shooting, he said: "Skill in mounted archery is a gift from Heaven," and bestowed a document praising him as a model for warriors. For his banner he used the character "king," but later changed it to a diamond crest (Note: following the Ogasawara-ke Fu. The present work and the Ogasawara Keizu both say that Sadamune was granted Senior Third Rank at this time, but since the Kugyō Bunin and similar books do not record it, it is not adopted here). Now, the Emperor had issued an order to abolish inuōmono, dog-chasing archery, on the ground that it harmed living creatures. Sadamune considered that "foot archery and mounted archery must not be abolished one at the expense of the other in military affairs, and as training for galloping, inuōmono is the most important," and submitted a memorial to the Retired Emperor Kōmyō asking for its restoration. It was permitted by imperial command (Note: following the Ogasawara-ke Fu and the Sadamune Mokuanshō).

¶In his later years Sadamune himself wrote a family record and composed a preface to it as an admonition to his descendants. Its general sense was as follows: "Our house has handed down the arts of the bow and horse for generations. From Hyōbu (Prince Sadazumi) down to Sakyōchō (Nagakiyo), they came to form a school of their own. The methods of inuōmono, kusajishi, and the like were newly established by him. To drive away evil spirits and protect the state, and to serve the shogunal government and subdue bandits, these arts are indispensable. All my descendants must be careful and not let them be lost." Prince Sadazumi, Hyōbu-kyō, and Nagakiyo, Sakyōchō, were both distant ancestors of Sadamune. Because his descendants well kept his teaching, they made their names known through these arts generation after generation (Note: following the Ogasawara-ke Fu). Together with a certain Imagawa and a certain Ise (Note: the names of these two have not been handed down), Sadamune deliberated on the etiquette of the warrior houses and compiled it in a single book entitled the "Sangi Ittō" (Note: following the Ogasawara Denkō Shōkeizu). He deeply honored and believed in the teachings of Zen, received the Dharma from Gen Sōshō Chō, gained great understanding, shaved his head, and changed his name to Taizan. He once founded the Kaizenji in Shinano (Note: following the Ogasawara-ke Fu and the Ogasawara Keizu) and was known in the world as Kaizenji Nyūdō (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Ogasawara Keizu). He died in the fifth year of Shōhei (1350), at the age of fifty-seven. The Retired Emperor Sukō ordered the Danjōdai, the Board of Censors, to oversee his funeral, and the world regarded this as an exceptional honor. His writings include the "Shūshinroku" (Note: following the Ogasawara Keizu). He had four sons, Masanaga, Munemasa, Munemitsu, and Masatsune.

¶Masanaga was granted Junior Fifth Rank Lower, became Hyōgo-no-kami, Director of the Arsenal (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku), and Shugo of Shinano, and had charge of Hida, Echigo, Tōtōmi, and other provinces; he best carried on the work of his father and forebears. He once served Ashikaga Takauji, followed him in his entry into Kyoto, and served directly at the Musha-dokoro, the Warriors' Office. There he trained the soldiers in mounted archery. In the Engen and Shōhei years he repeatedly held off the imperial army and won merit (Note: the present work also records that the Retired Emperor Kōmyō once let a caged bird that he cherished escape and ordered Masanaga to shoot it down; Masanaga used a hikime, a humming-bulb arrow, and so took the bird without wounding it, and people praised him all the more. This story closely resembles the story in the "Azuma Kagami" of Oyama Tomomura shooting a bird, and probably the present work plagiarized it to exaggerate Masanaga's skill in archery, so it is not adopted here). Munemasa was styled Magojirō. Munemitsu was styled Hikosaburō and became Kamon-no-suke and Gyōbu-no-shōyū. Masatsune was styled Shichirō, had a reputation for valor, and became Shuri-no-suke and Danjō-no-shōhitsu, Junior Assistant of the Board of Censors (Note: following the Ogasawara-ke Fu).