The Battle of Kyokoji (1562): The Miyoshi Defeat the Hatakeyama in Kawachi

The battle of Kyokoji was fought on the 20th day of the 5th month of Eiroku 5 (1562) near Kyokoji village in Takayasu District, Kawachi Province (present-day Yao, Osaka Prefecture). The Miyoshi side of Miyoshi Nagayoshi fought the Hatakeyama side of Hatakeyama Takamasa and won. It is a different battle from the Eguchi battle of Tenbun 18 (1549), which also involved the Miyoshi; both the year and the place differ.

The road to the battle

Hatakeyama Takamasa and Yasumi Munefusa began to move in the 2nd month of Eiroku 5. At the battle of Kumeda-dera in Izumi on the 5th day of the 3rd month they killed Miyoshi Jikkyu and took Takaya Castle. In reply, on the 10th day of the 5th month Miyoshi Yasunaga and others, back from Awa, made camp at Amagasaki and joined the forces of Miyoshi Yoshioki and Matsunaga Hisahide. Kyokoji was fought after the Miyoshi, who had lost a brother at Kumeda-dera, had regrouped.

The two sides

On the Miyoshi side Miyoshi Nagayoshi led the main force, joined by Miyoshi Yoshioki, Miyoshi Yasunaga, Miyoshi Nagayasu and Matsunaga Hisahide. The Hatakeyama side consisted of Hatakeyama Takamasa, Yasumi Munefusa, Yukawa Naomitsu and the Negoro-shu. The strength of both armies is unknown.

The course of the fighting

On the 20th day of the 5th month the Miyoshi army attacked Yukawa Naomitsu and the Negoro-shu, who were camped at Kyokoji. According to a letter by Odachi Harumitsu, the Negoro-shu besieging Iimoriyama Castle clashed with the forces of Yoshioki and Yasunaga. Part of the Matsura contingent on the Hatakeyama side broke and fire rose in their camp; seeing this, Nagayoshi's army sortied from Iimoriyama Castle and caught the Hatakeyama side from both directions. Yukawa Naomitsu was the first to fall, and the Kii forces collapsed.

The result

The battle ended in a Miyoshi victory. The Hosokawa Ryoke-ki gives Hatakeyama dead as over 600, while another view puts it at over 1,000, so the figure is not settled. Where Takamasa withdrew to is also disputed: one view says Uchi District in Yamato Province, another says Sakai.

Ashikaga Yoshiteru's movements

On the 6th day of the 3rd month, the day after the battle of Kumeda-dera, the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru moved from Kyoto to Iwashimizu Hachimangu, and he returned to Kyoto on the 22nd day of the 6th month, after the battle. No source says he took part in the fighting.