The Rise of the Samurai VI

The samurai were the result of centuries of corruption from the oldest clan in Japan, the Fujiwara. The Fujiwara held complete control of the government of ancient Japan, even at one-point controlling the emperor. Through this power abuse rose the Taira and Minamoto who eventually took over and then fought a civil war between themselves with the Minamoto coming out on top.
 A Daimyo could not become Shogun unless he had lineage dating back to the Minamoto clan, The Oda did not have this. One such clan that did have this lineage was the Mori clan of Western Japan. The Mori were famed seamen and through the leadership of their great lord Mori Motonari, they became the most powerful clan of Western Japan.
 
 Topics Covered
 Ancient Japan
 The Fujiwara Clan
 The Rise of the Taira and Minamoto
 The Genpei War
 The Kamakura Shogunate
 Part II
 Oda Nobunaga Destroys the Ashikaga Shogunate
 The History of the Mori Clan
 Mori Motonari
 The Battle of Miyajima
 The Mori Declare War On the Oda

Transcript

MORI CLAN EPISODE VI

Japan first entered written history by about 600 AD, they borrowed much of their culture and ideas from the celestial empire and superpower, China.

 At this time the emperors of Japan, House Yamato, descendants of the gods, held power. Another idea Japan copied from their Chinese brethren (y’know, CELESTIAL empire)

Another clan, the Fujiwara were also alleged descendants from the gods, for generations they had administered the rites for Heaven and Earth, harmonizing the space between men and the gods.

The Fujiwara were the first great clan of Japan outside of the royal family.

The Fujiwara began marrying their daughters to the emperors leading to the emperor becoming less powerful and filing more imperial court positions, which eventually led the Fujiwara to be the decision makers of the ancient Japanese government.

While taking more political power the Fujiwara also started dominating the economy and religious areas privatizing agriculture and taking control of Buddhist temples

This impoverished the ancient Japanese state and led to an elite class of Fujiwara family members having near complete control

The Fujiwara grew so powerful that they could enthrone loyal or dethrone disloyal emperors to their clan. One historian referred to them as “hereditary dictators”

By 710 there weren’t Samurai in Japan, just a subwarrior class and the Fujiwara aristocracy.

In 794 the capitol moved from Nara to Kyoto starting the heian period. The Heian period was a long peace that lasted nearly 400 years, in addition to peace this was an era of cultural sophistication and elite decadence, as well as decreased centralized authority

Provincial governors began to flout their duties due to the weakening of centralized government, taking private land and enriching themselves. Through heavy taxes and widespread corruption 

Many of the famous samurai clans began to arise during this time. Princes of the Royal family who had not been given courtly titles, started going to the provinces. There they were given a last name which created the clans. Including taira and Minamoto

True royals who had not been given a last name were not severed from royal family 

These exiled princes took power over the provincial governors. Giving them access to powerful warriors in the rough countryside, in the capital and major cities the elite were decadent and effeminate.

Warriors on horseback were the elite warriors, they often times fought with bows and arrows

Between the 10th and 11th centuries the Fujiwara really began to become weak, as food production decreased and the population exploded. This led to the provincial governors and newly established clans to begin attacking each other for survival and power. Two of the most important clans the Taira and Minamoto began attacking the Fujiwara clan in the countryside

By 1068 the first emperor in almost 2 centuries without a fujiwara mother took control

by 1158 a succession dispute led to violence between the Fujiwara and great Taira and Minamoto clans, in the end the Fujiwara were destroyed along with the old system of government. Warrior families now commanded the court. Or as they are better known, samurai 

In the beginning the taira were the most dominant, defeating the Minamoto, however the Minamoto were not destroyed like the Fujiwara, they survived running off into the mountains 

the Taira became arrogant, while the Minamoto began aligning themselves with the other samurai families. This started the Genpei war which happened 1180-1185

The Genpei war was the first prolonged conflict to reach the capital in generations 

The Minamoto were eventually successful leading to the rise of the samurai

Samurai Rule would persist for 7 centuries, until the modern era

The Minamoto formed the Kamakura Shogunate (Their capital was based in the city of Kamakura, near modern day Tokyo) The city of Kamakura was located in the rich Kanto plain, for most of the Sengoku Jidai the Hojo clan held this region.

Most daimyo were unable to become shogun unless they had lineage back to the Kamakura Shogunate descendants of the Minamoto clan, 

--- TALK ABOUT YASUKE AND HIS TIME WITH NOBUNAGA---

Clans like the Takeda, Imagawa and Tokugawa had the historical lineage to do this however The Oda clan and other Gekokujo families (like Toyotomi Hideyoshi) could not claim this

This didn’t matter to Oda Nobunaga who believed power could be gained through brute force alone, and by the look of Japan in the late 1570s it seemed he might be right

Oda Nobunaga while fighting his Samurai enemies was still fighting his greatest enemy, one from within, the Ikko-Ikki warrior monks. After Nobunaga’s destruction and slaughter of the monks and children of Mt Hiei in 1573, he returned to Nagashima for a second time, personally leading a sizale force with many arquebusiers. However, a rainstorm rendered his arquebuses inoperable while the Ikkō-ikki's own arquebusiers could fire from covered positions. Nobunaga himself was almost killed and forced to retreat. the second siege of Nagashima was considered his greatest defeat.

That same year after the death of Takeda Shingen, Oda Nobunaga turned his attention to Ashikaga Yoshiaki who not only had formed a secret alliance against him but was now openly declaring hostility against the Oda. Despite the Emperors opposition Nobunaga took up arms against Yoshiaki and drove him out of Kyoto effectively ending the centuries old Ashikaga Shogunate. 

Yoshiaki was sent into exile and became a Buddhist monk, Shaving his head and adopting a new name however he would still remain a virulent force against Nobunaga, raising forces against him more than once in order to take back his domain.

The next year Nobunaga for a third time returned to Nagashima, he began with a naval blockade and bombardment, allowing him to capture the outer forts as well as part of the Nagashima complex.

The siege of Nagashima finally ended when Nobunaga's men completely surrounded the complex and set fire to it, killing the remaining tens of thousands of defenders and inflicting tremendous losses to the Ikkō-ikki. 

The Ikko-Ikki still held strong in their massive fortress of Ishiyama Hongan-Ji which extended out with 51 outposts, Nobunaga who had designated command of the siege to his general Akechi Mitsuhide began making progress, he had used the same tactics at Nagashima, using a naval blockade to surround and break the will of the defenders.

Yoshiaki personally raised troops to lift the siege of Ishiyama hongan-Ji, which Nobunaga had been begun to starve out.

Just as it would seem Nobunaga would defeat the Ikko-Ikki, The great power from the west answered the Emperors call for aid.

The Mori clan arrived and broke Nobunaga’s naval blockade, they started sending supplies into the strongly fortified complex by sea.

MORI CLAN (MOST DOMINATN FORCE IN THE WEST)

Honshu is Japans largest Island, the Island in the middle that connects the other three significantly smaller islands together, on the western tip of Hosnhu lay Aki province. Aki province was shared between a western branch of the Takeda clan and the Mori clan, both were relatively small and weak and fell under the vassalship of the much larger Ouchi clan.

In the year 1517 a man named Motonari of the Mori clan was regent for his young nephew, who upon the death of his father had just ascended to leader of the Mori. The Takeda wished to take advantage of this young boy’s youth and inexperience to expand their territory.

The Takeda invaded the Mori for dominance of Aki and Motonari led his army of 1,000 against the forces of Takeda Motoshige who led an army of 5,000. In the battle of Arita-Nakaide The Mori led forces began to falter and fall back due to the 5-1 advantage the Takeda held. Motonari rallied his men and pleaded with them to stand their ground.

Takeda Motoshige himself advanced forward across a river separating the two armies on horseback but was struck by an arrow and killed. The Takeda broke and retreated, This was Mori Motonari’s first battle and he was victorious. Using the momentum of this battlefield victory, Motonari began expanding his territory around Aki province.

In 1523 Motonari’s young nephew passed away and the leadership of the Mori clan passed to Motonari.

Motonari using his diplomatic brilliance and political marriages of his children managed to keep the significantly small Mori clan alive by manipulating his much larger neighboring clans, the Ouchi and Amago against each other. Eventually Motonari expanded his power to the entirety of Aki province officially making him a Sengoku Daimyo

In 1555 Motonari went to war with his former overlords the Ouchi clan, Motonari’s strategic cunning was made apparent at the Battle of Miyajima, located on an Island that was entirely a Shinto Shrine. Motonari constructed a fort on Miyajima and publicly expressed his woe that the fort known as Miyao Castle would not hold out long should it be attacked. The Ouchi numbering some 30,000 troops marched out to take the Island landing on it and preparing themselves to storm the fort. 

Greatly outnumbered the Mori could raise about 10,000
 Motonari contacted some pirates and hired them to transport some of his force onto the Island in the middle of a thunderstorm hiding their movement. He then had his third son feign an attack head on of the embarked ouchi troops, having believed they were victorious over the Mori, they prepared to storm the fort of Miyao. Motonari leading his hidden troops attacked the Ouchi from behind while they attempted to storm the fort. Ouchi troops scattered at ran after being hit in their flank with many of them drowning attempting to swim back to mainland Japan, a large number of the Ouchi forces committed Seppoku having realized their defeat was imminent.

This battle showed Japan the Mori and their superior naval tactics.

By 1557 Motonari expanded his territories taking the western peninsula, conquering his former overlords the Ouchi clan. 

The same year Motonari passed the position of clan leader to his son, in reality Motonari still held complete control of the Mori. His son would pass away prematurely in the year 1563 and it caused great distress to Motonari. The title of clan leader would pass to Motonari’s grandson Mori Terumoto.

By the early 1560s Motonari was back at war with the other great neighboring power the Amago clan Motonari was victorious over the Amago. By 1568 as Nobunaga was entering Kyoto The Mori clan were the undisputed rulers of Western Japan with a large section of land and number of supporting vassals in nearby regions.

When Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki was forming his secret alliance which included the Takeda clan he famously asked for the Mori to join as well, Motonari seeing the strategic brilliance of Nobunaga decided to avoid going to war with the Oda and kept good relations.

However in 1571 at the age of 75 Mori Motonari would pass away, Nobunaga sent his condolences to the great lord of the West.

Before he passed motonari told his sons and grandsons the famous tale of the legend of the three arrows, Expand emphasizing that strength lies in unity and if infighting occurs the realm will soon fall 

The clan passed to Motonari’s grandson Mori Terumoto who had a different perspective on the Oda 

By 1576 the besieged citadel of Ishiyama Hongan-JI seemed hopeless with supplies running out morale began to break

In August the Mori fleet came crashing into the Oda blockade, with superior tactics and a superior navy they successfully lifted the blockade and opened a route for supplies allowing the Ikko-Ikki to survive.

The 1st battle of Kizugawaguchi was a success for the Mori-Ikko alliance.

The siege which had already gone on 6 years was now renewed.

The following year Nobunaga met Uesugi Kenshin in battle and was defeated, this demoralized Nobunaga who went into a state of shock after hearing about his defeat in the Battle of Tedorigawa

Nobunaga realized that he must defeat the Mori who had a domain which included a vast array of allies and vassals, comparable to his own.