Daimyo – Calling the Shots - KAZUKO NISHIMURA

Daimyo (大名) means “private lord of huge lands” but if translated into “warlords” or “feudal lords”, they are easier recognised and better understood. Yet, the origin of the word might give us a clue that a class of landowners had existed much before the Sengoku Jidai (1467 – 1600), the period of civil wars of the Japanese history, when the warlords played a key role.

Upon the breakdown of the system of public land domain in Japan after the 8th century, private landholdings of various sorts came into being. These holdings were first consolidated into estates (shōen) organised under the authority of the civil nobility and religious establishments, and they remained within the framework of the imperial government.

This period was called Heian Era (794 – 1185) and is remembered in history for three main events: 1) Early Heian was the time Japan got cultural independence from China, from where they had been acquiring knowledge and emulating the canons to structure their own government and society. Hence, it marks the flourishing of Japan’s own culture and arts, many of them still practised to these days.

2) Consequently, the capital of the Court had become an enclave of pleasure and ostentation. This indulgence created the delusion in the Court that it did not need a regular army, as everything was in order at home. Meanwhile, the domains beyond this insulate paradise were in trouble. Rebellions rose up in the provinces, the seas were swarmed with pirates, crime was rife, and disorder had engulfed the country. When at last the rulers were knocked out of their reverie by the disgruntled society, the ruling class had to rely on mercenary soldiers to keep order in the country. 3) These soldiers got organised and created a warrior class – the Samurai, who governed by the code of the Bushido, eventually replaced the aristocrats and stepped into the political arena.

Initially, the Daimyo hired the samurai to protect their own properties. But recognising their mounting influence, and a weakened central government, they sought independence to their fiefdoms and usurped the power and estates of the nobility and temples. With money and power, the Daimyo built colossal castles as fortresses, from where they commanded strong armies of samurai.

A period of constant internal conflict onset, when the sword became the law and the land the currency and measure of power. Battling between themselves the Daimyo aimed now to seize the lands of the opponents and ultimately to become the shogun.

Oda Nobunaga initiated the process of unification of the country in the 1570s. Toyotomi Hideyoshi succeeded him in 1582 and when Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointment shōgun in 1603, he completed the unification and finally, Japan was enjoying peace again. To ensure the daimyo would not raise against his government, Ieyasu brought about 200 daimyō under the hegemony of the Tokugawa family. They were required to maintain residences in Edo (Tokugawa headquarters) as well as their fiefs, and to move between the two residences, typically spending alternate years in each place, a tactic that enabled them to be closely monitored and watched by the Tokugawa spies.

In 1871, four years after the reinstatement of the Meiji Emperor, the han (feudal domain) system was abolished and replaced by prefectures, hence returning the control of the lands to the central government. Some former daimyo were appointed as prefectural governors, but the remaining were called en masse to Tokyo and converted into noble pensioners, ensuring thus the eradication of any independent base of power that could rebel against the Emperor.

Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin were two of the most prominent daimyo and archrivals of Medieval Japan

After applying a coup d’état to his own father at the age of twenty-one, Takeda Shingen became the leader of the Takeda clan and Daimyō of the Kai Province (modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture). At the age of twenty-six, he conquered the coveted Shinshū lands by defeating his powerful enemy and installed there a kunoichi academy.

When Shingen was forty-nine years old, he was the only daimyō with the necessary power and tactical skills to stop Oda Nobunaga’s rush to rule Japan. However, he died in 1573 at the age of fifty when he was engaged in a battle with Nobunaga in the Mikawa Province. Respected and admired by his enemies, one of the most lasting tributes to Shingen’s prowess was that of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who borrowed heavily from Shingen’s governmental and military innovations of Kai, after its leadership passed from Shingen to him during Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s rise to power.

Uesugi Kenshin was another powerful lord of the Sengoku Jidai . He was born Nagao Kagetora, but changed his name to Uesugi Kenshin when he inherited the Uesugi clan leadership, won by his father who was also a warlord. Kenshin was only seven years old, when his father was killed in battle. He was relocated to Rinsenji temple, where he stayed until he was fourteen, dedicating his time to Buddhist studies.

Urged by his late father’s acquaintances, the young Kenshin, aged only fourteen, defeated his ineffective older brother and gained the command of the Echigo Province (nowadays the Niigata Prefecture). Echigo was almost at the point of being torn apart by enemies, as his brother, a weak leader, had failed to exert control over the land. The young-highly astute Kenshin became the Daimyō of the Echigo Province at the age of seventeen.

Besides being hugely renowned as the most formidable warrior of the era, Kenshin was also regarded as an extremely skilful administrator who fostered the growth of local industries and trade. His government saw a striking rise in the standard of living of the population of Echigo. His death in 1578 at the age of forty-eight, marked the collapse of the second anti-Oda Nobunaga coalition.

The years spent in Buddhist monasteries, made Kenshin an enthusiastic Buddhist. Kenshin believed that he belonged to the realm of Vaisravana, the guardian of the north and one of the four protectors of the holy places where Buddha expounded his teachings. Also known in Japan as Bishamonten, Vaisravana was considered to be the god of warriors. Kenshin had built a temple at the top of Kasugayama Castle in his homage and prayed to him for victory prior to going to a battle and in exchange, had sworn him celibacy. His troops carried banners into the battles displaying the Chinese character ‘Bi’ – 毘, in honour of Bishamonten (毘沙門天).

Upon Shingen’s death, Kenshin reportedly cried at the loss of one of his strongest and most deeply respected rivals. Five major battles (Fuse in 1553, Saigawa in 1555, Uenohara in 1557, Hachimanbara in 1561, and Shiozaki in 1564.) were fought between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin in the plain of Kawanakajima (the Island Between the Rivers), located in Nagano, in the north of Shinano Province. The best known and most severe fight among them was fought on October 18, 1561 (Hachimanbara). The trigger was the conquest of Shinano by Shingen, who expelled Ogasawara Nagatoki and Murakami Yoshikiyo, who turned to Kenshin for help. The battles became one of the most cherished tales in Japanese military history, the epitome of Japanese chivalry and romance, mentioned in epic literature, pictured in woodblock printing and portrayed in movies.

Daimyo – Calling the Shots

Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin were two of the most prominent daimyo and archrivals of Medieval Japan

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