Stories of the Japanese 01305 [Muromachi/Yoshimochi Period] Mochiuji's Hunt for Remnants
Sometimes I think, 'Perhaps I don't need to bother writing the names of people who only appear once,' but then I think that their graves might be somewhere, and a reader might feel moved to discover, 'So this was the grave of such a person in my neighborhood,' so I dare to include even minor figures.
Yoshimochi tried to let the various daimyo who participated in the Zenshu Rebellion off as lightly as possible, but he took a stern stance only toward Yoshitsugu and his close associates.
On February 13, 1418, Hino Mochimitsu, a close associate of Yoshitsugu, was executed in Kaga. Since this Hino Mochimitsu was the younger brother of Yoshimitsu's legal wife, Uramatsu Yasuko, the relationship between Yasuko and Yoshimochi became extremely strained thereafter. In the first place, since Yasuko did not bear any children, she and Yoshimochi were mother and son by marriage, and they may not have had a very good relationship to begin with.
Furthermore, on February 30 (since it was the lunar calendar, the 30th could exist even in February), Yamashina Noritaka, another close associate of Yoshitsugu, was executed in Kaga. Noritaka was originally a close associate of Yoshimochi and was sent out with instructions to serve Yoshitsugu, but having served Yoshitsugu with all his heart, he likely met this tragic end as a result.
Around the same time, the relationship between Shogun Yoshimochi and Kamakura Kubo Mochiuji also deteriorated rapidly.
I have already mentioned the dispute over the Kai Shugo position, where the Shogunate intended to appoint Takeda Nobumoto, while Mochiuji intended to appoint Hemmi Aritada. In the end, Mochiuji gave in and reluctantly accepted Takeda Nobumoto's appointment as Kai Shugo, but when Nobumoto tried to head to Kai, the local kokujin (local samurai) formed an ikki (uprising) and attacked him. Mochiuji was likely pulling the strings behind the scenes.
On April 28, Mochiuji dispatched Ougigayatsu Uesugi Mochisada (1402–1419) to Kozuke Province to defeat the Iwamatsu clan, who were remnants of the Zenshu faction.
Furthermore, on May 10, Mochiuji ordered Naganuma Yoshihide to attack Oguri Castle (Chikusei City, Ibaraki Prefecture), where Momoi Nobuyoshi (?-1423) and Oguri Mitsushige (?-1423), also considered remnants of the Zenshu faction, were holed up. This was suppressed by June 13.
And on May 26, he ordered Isshiki Sakon-daifu Shogen to suppress the Kazusa Hon-ikki (the main uprising in Kazusa) that had followed Zenshu. The members of the Kazusa Hon-ikki gathered at Heisanjo (Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture) to resist, but it fell on May 28.
Meanwhile, as for Yoshimochi, on June 6, citing that 'Yamana Tokihiro, Toki Yasumasa (?-1418), and Hatakeyama Mitsunori were involved in the Zenshu Rebellion,' he suspended Yamana Tokihiro from service (later pardoned) and stripped Toki Yasumasa's son, Mochiyori (?-1440), of his position as Ise Shugo and confiscated his territory. Hatakeyama Mitsunori escaped punishment.
In this way, while Mochiuji was acting with the intention of wiping out every last remnant of the Zenshu faction, Yoshimochi was responding not with military suppression but with dismissals and financial penalties, and in some cases, pardons.
Mochiuji made efforts to prevent the deterioration of relations with the Shogunate, such as sending an envoy to the Shogunate on June 13 to celebrate Yoshikazu's coming-of-age ceremony, but what will happen to the future relationship between the capital and the provinces (the relationship between the Shogunate and the Kamakura-fu)?
Chiba Prefecture (Kazusa and Awa) seems to have few well-maintained historical sites, and there don't seem to be many castle ruins worth seeing. I wonder why that is.