Stories of the Japanese 01456 [Muromachi/Saigoku/Eve of the Great Rebellion] The Return of Kyogaku of Daijoin

[⑤ The Conflict Between the Former Southern Court Faction and the Former Northern Court Faction in Yamato Province - Continued]
The shogunate retroactively approved Kyogaku's entry into Jishin-ji Temple, but that did not mean they permitted his return as the head of Daijoin Temple. Therefore, Kyogaku resorted to a forbidden move. That was the method of "conducting a restoration campaign with the cooperation of the Southern Court faction and the Ochi clan, who were united in their anti-Yoshinori stance." For Kyogaku, the Ochi clan was a party he had once opposed, but now that Hatakeyama Mochikuni had been restored to power, the Ochi clan held more influence in Yamato than the Tsutsui clan, so he must have thought they were the ones to rely on.
The disciples of Daijoin compiled a resolution stating,
"The current head, Jinson, is only 12 years old and has been forced into decline. We sincerely wish for the return of Kyogaku."
and submitted it to the shogunate. The shogunate could not ignore the opinion of the disciples, and reluctantly, on November 15, 1441 (the first year of Kakitsu), they restored Kyogaku as the head of Daijoin.
However, according to historian Jiro Yasuda, this resolution, which was supposedly written by the disciples, is in Kyogaku's own handwriting, and it is clearly a forgery. Through such skillful social maneuvering, Kyogaku successfully returned to Kofuku-ji Temple.
Naturally, Jinson, who had become the head of Daijoin as Kyogaku's successor, was deeply bewildered. However, there was no way a 12-year-old Jinson could go head-to-head with the battle-hardened 47-year-old Kyogaku.
The disciples were equally bewildered. Since they could not just kick out the incumbent Jinson simply because Kyogaku was returning, the disciples had no choice but to work to get the two to get along by positioning Kyogaku and Jinson in a "teacher-student relationship."
Thus, Kofuku-ji Daijoin, led by Kyogaku, became an anti-Tsutsui faction by aligning with the Ochi clan. The power map of Yamato changed significantly and became as follows:
Northern Court Faction → Yoshinori Faction: Tsutsui clan, Shinjoin Kosen
Southern Court Faction → Anti-Yoshinori Faction: Hatakeyama Mochikuni, Ochi clan, Toyota clan, Hashio clan, Daijoin Kyogaku
In this way, the confrontation between Kyogaku and Kosen began in earnest. The spark that ignited this conflict was the issue surrounding the "Sekisho Daikan-shoku" (the position of barrier official), which was responsible for collecting barrier tolls.
Until then, the position of barrier official in Yamato Province had been monopolized by the Tsutsui clan, and at this point, Shinjoin Kosen was appointed to it. However, because Kosen was pocketing the barrier tolls instead of paying them to Kofuku-ji, Kyogaku, angered by this, appealed to the shogunate to dismiss Kosen.
However, Kyogaku's appeal backfired. On November 1, 1442 (the second year of Kakitsu), Kosen took the intimidating action of using troops to occupy all of the Seven Great Temples of Nanto (Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji, Gango-ji, Daian-ji, Yakushi-ji, Saidai-ji, and Horyu-ji).