Stories of the Japanese 01231 [End of the Northern and Southern Courts Period] The Meitoku Rebellion: Ujikiyo Dies
I do have a desire to increase my followers, but I don't want to change my titles or body text to a lighter tone just to make the blog catchier, so I feel like it's fine just the way it is.
Ujikiyo Yamana was fighting Yoshihiro Ouchi at Oshikoji Omiya. The Yoshihiro army had been fighting continuously since the start of the battle, and their exhaustion was clearly visible.
At this time, Tokihiro Yamana, who had joined the Shogun's personal guard, rode out to Oshikoji Omiya with only 53 cavalrymen to fight his uncle, Ujikiyo. Tokihiro knew that if he did not achieve results here, he would remain unemployed, so he naturally put his heart into the fight.
During the battle, even though his 53 cavalrymen were reduced to just 9, Tokihiro's army fought well. In particular, Danjo Kakiya and Hyogonosuke Sukera were cutting down enemy soldiers. When Ujikiyo gave the order,
“Are you not letting many of your men be killed by those two enemies? Take them down!”
the soldiers surrounded the two. Kakiya and Sukera fought off the enemy, but they were eventually killed after being surrounded by five men. It is said that Tokihiro himself, who was in a relatively safe area within the Ouchi army, shed tears upon learning of the deaths of his two brave retainers. Because of the performance of Tokihiro's army at this time, he would later come to be highly regarded within the shogunate.
News reached Yoshimitsu, who was taking a short break after driving away Mitsuyuki's army, that Yoshihiro was struggling. When Yoshimitsu called out,
“Now is the time for the personal guard to step in. Is there anyone who will fight Ujikiyo?”
Norinori Isshiki raised his hand. The Isshiki forces, along with the army of Yoshishige Shiba, headed to Oshikoji Omiya to support the struggling Ouchi army.
Because the nearly unscathed Isshiki and Shiba armies had newly arrived, even Ujikiyo's army was pushed back. Ujikiyo was surrounded by the Isshiki forces as he tried to escape and was killed by Norinori Isshiki.
Thus, the Meitoku Rebellion, which would decide the fate of the nation, was settled in just one day.
At the start of the new year, on January 4th of the 9th year of Genchu / 3rd year of Meitoku (1392), Yoshimitsu conducted the rewarding of meritorious retainers. The 11 provinces held by the Yamana family were distributed among the shogunate retainers.
・Tanba Province, held by Ujikiyo, went to Yorimoto Hosokawa
・Tango Province, held by Mitsuyuki, went to Mitsunori Isshiki (1368–1409)
・Mimasaka Province, held by Yoshiari, went to Yoshinori Akamatsu
・Izumi Province, held by Ujikiyo, and Kii Province, held by Yoshiari, went to Yoshihiro Ouchi
・Tajima Province, held by Ujikiyo, went to Tokihiro Yamana
・Hoki Province, held by Mitsuyuki, went to Ujiyuki Yamana
・Oki Province and Izumo Province, held by Mitsuyuki, went to Takayoshi Kyogoku
・Yamashiro Province, held by Ujikiyo, went to Motokuni Hatakeyama
Not only were the territories of Ujikiyo and Mitsuyuki, the main forces of the rebellion, confiscated, but even the territory of Yoshiari, who had not directly participated in the battle, was taken away. On the other hand, Ujiie Yamana, who had remained neutral, was spared from having Inaba Province taken away. With this, the Yamana family went from holding 11 provinces to just three.