Stories of the Japanese 01308 [Muromachi/Yoshimochi Period] Execution of Togashi Mitsunari
From the Muromachi period, the concept of "half-province shugo" (military governor) emerged. As the number of influential figures eligible to become shugo increased (or as family splits occurred), it became common to have one person, Mr. X, govern half of a province, while the remaining half was governed by Mr. Y.
While the aftermath of the Uesugi Zenshu Rebellion was still lingering, Shiba Yoshishige passed away on August 10, 1418, and his heir, Yoshinori, succeeded as head of the family. The power of the Shiba family continued to wane.
Regarding the long-disputed appointment of the Kazusa shugo, after lengthy negotiations, Mochiuji finally approved the appointment of Utsunomiya Mochitsuna in September. Unexpectedly, this was a concession to the shogunate.
Encouraged by this, the shogunate recommended Yamairi Tomoyoshi, a member of a branch of the Satake family, as the Hitachi shugo on October 12, but this was rejected by Mochiuji. The Yamairi family had been in conflict with the Kamakura Kubo Mochiuji because the main Satake line had been usurped by Satake Yoshito, an adopted son from the Yamanouchi Uesugi family. Since Tomoyoshi was a central figure in the anti-Mochiuji faction, it was a personnel decision that Mochiuji naturally could not accept.
However, the shogunate was no longer in a position to take a strong stance against Mochiuji. As the involvement of influential shugo in the Zenshu Rebellion was revealed one after another, Yoshimochi sought to compromise at a certain point and abandon further punishments. In contrast, Yoshimochi's close aide, Togashi Mitsunari, showed a stance of thorough investigation, which drew the ire of various daimyo. It was then that an untimely scandal involving Togashi Mitsunari was uncovered.
The scandal was exposed by a woman named Rinka no Tsubone, a former concubine of Yoshitsugu. Rinka no Tsubone came forward and claimed,
"It was Mitsunari who encouraged Yoshitsugu to rebel. He had Yoshitsugu killed because that plot was about to be exposed."
She insisted that Togashi Mitsunari was the mastermind.
On November 24, Togashi Mitsunari fled to Mount Koya as if escaping. Since Mitsunari had always been in conflict with other shugo due to his arrogant behavior, there was not a single person to defend him.
Yoshimochi transferred the position of shugo of the northern half of Kaga Province from Mitsunari to his older brother, Togashi Mitsuharu (?-1427). In other words, Mitsunari was fired. Until then, the two brothers had governed Kaga together, with Mitsuharu governing the southern half and Mitsunari the northern half, but this change made Mitsuharu the shugo of the entire province.
On February 4, 1419, the following year, Togashi Mitsunari was beheaded in Kawachi Province by Hatakeyama Mitsuie, acting under Yoshimochi's orders. It is a truly cruel story, as he was killed after being lured out with a formal order promising him a pardon.
The execution of Togashi Mitsunari was carried out to prevent the precarious balance of power between Yoshimochi and the influential shugo from collapsing. Yoshimochi likely could not stop Mitsunari, who insisted on continuing the denunciation of the influential shugo, and felt he had no choice but to kill him. Yoshimochi did not want to make enemies of Hosokawa Mitsumoto and the others, even if it meant pinning a (likely) baseless scandal on a trusted aide and killing him.
Looking at it this way, one gets the impression that Yoshimochi's power was still far from that of his father, Yoshimitsu.