Short Biography of Miyoshi Nagayoshi （２）Consolidating Power

The chronicle of Miyoshi Nagayoshi's life is one beset by the turmoil of the Sengoku era, when daimyo shifted allegiances as nimbly as leaves adrift on an autumn wind. In recounting this unsettled time, I have relied principally on the research of Nagae Shōichi, whose volume 'Miyoshi Nagayoshi' was published in 1989 by Yoshikawa Kōbunkan. Though I have endeavored to elucidate certain matters from my own studies where needed. 

It has been no simple task to find the time to properly set down the second part, such are the many demands on a scholar's attention. Yet Nagayoshi's tale is one deserving of greater examination, for he was a man whose life was intricately woven into the tapestry of those tumultuous years. While this present work merely skims the surface, I hold ambitions to pursue a deeper inquiry into this fascinating figure when opportunity permits.

The churn of the Sengoku period lends an air of chaos to Nagayoshi's biography, as warlords upended long-standing bonds and formed new alliances with startling regularity. But such was the nature of that age, where conflict raged unceasing and even the mightiest houses rose and fell with dizzying swiftness. It is my humble hope that in relating these events, some greater understanding may be granted to those inclined to study that most unsettled of epochs.

Consolidating Power

The year 1539 found Miyoshi Nagayoshi residing at Koshimizu Castle in Settsu, but in its opening days he undertook a journey to Kyoto to meet with Hosokawa Harumoto. It was during this encounter that Harumoto bestowed upon Nagayoshi a falcon - a bird originally gifted to Harumoto by none other than Oda Nobuhide of Owari, sire to the famed Oda Nobunaga. 

Ten days thereafter, as Nagayoshi played host to a drinking party, he seized the opportunity to petition for the governorship of Kawachi province. This title had once been held by his own late father, only to be wrested away by the very man who brought about his father's demise - Miyoshi Masanaga. Though Nagayoshi pleaded his case with great vigor, Harumoto denied the request, leading the determined Nagayoshi to appeal directly to the Shogunate then headed by Ashikaga Yoshiharu.

In this instance, the Shogunate favored Nagayoshi's claim, installing him as rightful governor of Kawachi. This pronouncement further stoked the enmities between Nagayoshi, Masanaga, and Harumoto - the latter of whom Masanaga sought counsel from in the wake of the proclamation. For Nagayoshi, the appointment both strengthened his position and deepened the ill feelings amongst the embroiled parties.  

In hopes of brokering peace between Harumoto and his new vassal Nagayoshi, Yoshiharu enlisted the aid of Rokkaku Sadayori, governor of Omi province. Yet these overtures for reconciliation proved fruitless. The new year of 1540 saw Nagayoshi march into Kyoto at the head of 2,500 soldiers, having secured the support of Shōnyo, head priest of Ishiyama Honganji. In response, Harumoto withdrew from the capital on the 17th of the 6th month, retreating to Takao where he was joined by kinsmen Hosokawa Mototsune and Harukata to muster their strength.

As conflict loomed, Yoshiharu called upon various daimyo like Hatakeyama Yoshimasa and Takeda Motomitsu to ready themselves for war. Though the Shogun and Rokkaku Sadayori continued efforts to mediate between Nagayoshi and Masanaga, the situation remained fraught. Fearing for their safety, Yoshiharu dispatched his wife Keiju-in and heir Yoshiteru to seek refuge in Yase, north of the capital.

Spurred by the unrest gripping Kyoto, Yoshiharu entrusted the keeping of order in the city to Nagayoshi's capable hands. This illustrates the difficulties typifying the Sengoku period when, lacking a strong central authority, the Shogun was compelled to rely heavily upon vassals to maintain stability. Here Yoshiharu chose to favor the upstart Nagayoshi over his own primary vassal Harumoto, no doubt weighing Nagayoshi's demonstrated leadership. Moreover, in seeking to mediate between his conflicted vassals, the Shogun turned to yet another vassal in Rokkaku Sadayori - underscoring the decentralized nature of power and individuals acting independently in that turbulent age.

The fourth month of that year saw Miyoshi Masanaga withdraw from the fray, retreating to his estates in Tamba province to the northwest of the capital. Yet his respite would prove brief, for soon he returned to Kyoto at the beckoning of Hosokawa Harumoto. In the wake of failed peace negotiations, a minor clash erupted on the 14th of the 7th month between the forces of Nagayoshi and Masanaga near Myōshinji Temple. Wary of potential hostilities from such powerful overlords as the Rokkaku and Takeda, Nagayoshi was reluctantly compelled to accept terms of peace on the 28th, prompting his withdrawal from Yamazaki at the border between Settsu and Yamashiro provinces.  

Though he aspired to the deputyship of Kawachi, this prize eluded Nagayoshi's grasp. Come the 8th month, he fell back to the relative safety of Settsu Koshimizu Castle, northeast of Osaka. A departure from his forebears who often sought refuge on Shikoku during periods of strife in the Kinai region, Nagayoshi instead made Settsu his permanent base of operations. He assumed the mantle of governor there, placing himself in direct allegiance to the Shogunate - abandoning his former loyalties to Hosokawa Harumoto. Yet such was Nagayoshi's growing influence that even the Shogun himself began to regard this ambitious vassal with wariness.

On the 22nd of the 11th month of 1540, Nagayoshi strengthened his position through the marriage with Hatanoshi, daughter of Hatano Hidetada of Tamba. This strategic union brought the considerable strength of the Hatano into his fold. The birth of their son Yoshi-oki two years later only further cemented Nagayoshi's standing, even as it deepened the rift with the increasingly isolated Harumoto.  

For in the years that followed, the relationship between Nagayoshi and his erstwhile master ebbed and flowed between enmity and cooperation. In 1541, at Harumoto's direction, Nagayoshi joined forces with Miyoshi Masanaga to campaign against those hostile to the Hosokawa clan. But their efforts were undermined by betrayal, as Kizawa Nagamasa and others turned their cloaks to ally with the enemy. With foes closing in, Nagayoshi was forced to retreat behind the walls of Koshimizu Castle. There he weathered a bitter siege before, with the aid of Masanaga and Yusa Naganori, turning the tide and crushing Kizawa's uprising - avenging the treachery with Nagamasa's death.

The closing days of 1543 saw Hosokawa Ujitsuna raise the banner of rebellion against his kinsman Harumoto, with intentions to march upon Sakai. At Harumoto's directive, Nagayoshi himself took the field on the 16th of the 8th month, engaging Ujitsuna's forces in a campaign to crush the uprising. Despite the demands of this military obligation, the multifaceted Nagayoshi also found time to indulge his penchant for poetry, participating in sundry literary contests during this tumultuous period. 

Yet by the 8th month of 1546, the shifting tides of allegiance saw Hatakeyama Masakuni and Yusa Naganori defect to throw their support behind the rebel Ujitsuna - with none other than Shogun Yoshiharu joining their cause to overthrow Hosokawa Harumoto. In a strategic gambit, Harumoto instructed Nagayoshi to make for Sakai, only for the town to find itself encircled by the combined strengths of Ujitsuna and Naganori upon his arrival. Though Nagayoshi fought tenaciously, a string of defeats befell his forces until reinforcements arrived from his kinsmen Miyoshi Jikkyū, Ataka Fuyuyasu, and Sogō Kazumasa - who had marched from Shikoku to his aid. By December, Yoshiharu had fled to Omi, relinquishing the shogunate to his heir Yoshiteru, while Nagayoshi reclaimed all the castles of Settsu province.

The turning point came in the 7th month of 1547, when Nagayoshi achieved a decisive victory over Ujitsuna and Naganori at Shariji Temple near Osaka. This triumph prompted Ashikaga Yoshiharu's return to Kyoto, where he brokered an accord with Hosokawa Harumoto and Rokkaku Sadayori - the latter bound to Harumoto through his daughter's marriage. Deprived of Yoshiharu's leadership, the flagging morale of Ujitsuna's forces paved the way for peace negotiations to commence. Though delayed, these ultimately bore fruit in April 1548 under Sadayori's mediation.

These clashes hold great historical significance, for it was Nagayoshi - acting on behalf of the Kanrei Hosokawa Harumoto - who single-handedly defeated the forces of the Shogun himself. Moreover, Nagayoshi's strategies secured the vital support of Rokkaku Sadayori, a powerful daimyo allied to Ashikaga Yoshiharu, thereby enabling peace between the warring factions. Out of the ashes of this conflict, Nagayoshi even forged a lasting friendship with his former foe Yusa Naganori, cementing their bond when he took Naganori's stepdaughter Yuzashi as his wife. Of Yuzashi's life after this, the historical record is silent - perhaps she passed away untimely, or withdrew to her familial home following Naganori's assassination in 1551, an event to which I shall attend in a later accounting.

(go to part 3: https://frederikcryns.com/blog/short-biography-of-miyoshi-nagayoshi----the-siege-of-eguchi-castle-and-masanaga-s-downfall)