Miyoshi Nagayoshi's Dominion of the Kinai Region—The Rise of Sword Culture Embodied by the Sengoku Era's First Tenka-Hito

Miyoshi Nagayoshi—From Awa to the Kinai Region

Miyoshi Nagayoshi (1522–1564) was born as the eldest son of Miyoshi Mototada, a provincial daimyo of Awa Province (present-day Tokushima Prefecture). His father, Mototada, had distinguished himself in overthrowing Hosokawa Takakuni, but was destroyed in 1532 through the machinations of a coalition of Hosokawa Harumoto and Ikko-ikki forces. Nagayoshi lost his father at just ten years old and was placed under Harumoto's dominion.

However, Nagayoshi steadily accumulated power amid adversity. He rallied his father's former retainers, restored Miyoshi clan authority, and from a base in Awa, Sanuki, and Awaji, pursued expansion into the Kinai region. His military talent stood out early, and by his thirties he had become Hosokawa Harumoto's most powerful vassal, deeply involved in Kinai politics.

Nagayoshi's character transcended the simple framework of a warlord. He excelled in waka poetry and renga linked verse, was accomplished in Noh theater, and was skilled in chanoyu tea ceremony. This breadth of cultivation attracted cultural figures, nobility, and Buddhist clergy throughout the Kinai, and later when he became tenka-hito, it served to strengthen his political foundation.

The Battle of Eguchi—Decisive Victory in the Conquest of the Kinai

On June 24, 1549 (Tenbun 18), Miyoshi Nagayoshi met his former lord Hosokawa Harumoto and his ally Miyoshi Masanaga (Nagayoshi's mortal rival) in a decisive battle at Eguchi (present-day Higashi-Yodogawa Ward, Osaka). In this battle known as the "Battle of Eguchi," Nagayoshi achieved a decisive victory through brilliant tactics. Miyoshi Masanaga was killed, and Hosokawa Harumoto fled.

With this victory, Nagayoshi seized real power in the Kinai. Ashikaga Shogun Yoshiteru temporarily fled Kyoto, and Nagayoshi's authority came to surpass that of the shogun's regent office. This was the first instance in the Sengoku period of someone seizing control of the Kinai region including Kyoto and Osaka through military force—occurring roughly twenty years before Oda Nobunaga would proclaim "tenka-busō" (the Way of All Japan through Military Might).

The swords used by Nagayoshi's forces at Eguchi were likely centered on excellent-quality blades forged by smiths of Settsu and Izumi provinces. At that time, numerous smith groups were active throughout the Kinai, led by the Yamato Five Schools, and their blades supported Nagayoshi's armies. The demand to "acquire the finest swords to achieve victory" continuously spurred innovation among the smiths.

The Reality of Sengoku's First "Tenka-Hito"

The concept of "tenka-hito" is generally attributed to beginning with Oda Nobunaga, but recent scholarship has reevaluated Miyoshi Nagayoshi as a predecessor. Nagayoshi did not merely control the Kinai through military force; he achieved governance spanning political, economic, and cultural domains.

**Political sphere:** He temporarily exiled Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, then later reconciled and rendered him a puppet, thereby hollowing the bakufu's authority while seizing real power. This governance style became the prototype for how Nobunaga would later treat Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki.

**Economic sphere:** He protected the commercial activity of Sakai (present-day Sakai City), the commercial center of Settsu, and made profits from nanban (Southern Barbarian) trade the economic foundation of his regime. Nagayoshi showed early interest in the proliferation of firearms and is said to have exerted effort in establishing import and procurement routes for them. Through collaboration with merchant traders of Sakai, Nagayoshi seized cutting-edge military technology and economic power of his era.

**Cultural sphere:** Nagayoshi was himself a cultured figure deeply versed in waka, renga, and Noh theater. While basing himself at Akagawa Castle (present-day Takatsuki City) and Iizuri Castle, he actively promoted exchange with Kyoto's cultural figures, nobility, and clergy, and composed excellent waka himself. Nagayoshi's presence as a patron of the arts greatly contributed to the revival of Kinai culture, which had fallen into decline since the Ōnin War.

Deep Involvement with Sword Culture

The era of Miyoshi Nagayoshi marked an important turning point in Japanese sword culture. Amid the continuation of warfare since the Ōnin War (1467–1477), demand for swords exploded dramatically, and smith groups across the regions engaged in active production.

The Kinai region—particularly Yamato (present-day Nara Prefecture) and Yamashiro (present-day southern Kyoto Prefecture)—that Nagayoshi controlled had long been a region producing excellent smiths. The Yamato Five Schools tradition (Senjuin, Tekake, Shirikahe, Taima, Hojo) was inherited throughout the medieval period, and Yamato smiths continued their work in Nagayoshi's era. Furthermore, Settsu, where Nagayoshi's power base was located, became a center where smiths from Yamashiro and Yamato migrated or came to work, and as one form of Settsu smithcraft, a unique sword culture was nurtured.

Moreover, the proliferation of firearms that Nagayoshi promoted paradoxically transformed the nature of sword culture. The appearance of firearms altered the character of group combat, accelerating the transition from heavy ōdachi (greatswords) to more portable katana and wakizashi. This shift began in Nagayoshi's era and was completed in the era of Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Nagayoshi was a ruler who stood at the threshold of swords beginning their transition from military implements to cultural symbols.

Nagayoshi's Final Years and the Collapse of His Regime

Despite wielding authority as tenka-hito, Nagayoshi's later years were tormented by the successive deaths of close relatives. His brother Miyoshi Yoshitaka died in battle in 1560 (Eiroku 3). Another brother, Atagi Nobuyasu, died young. And in 1561 (Eiroku 4), his heir Yoshioki died suddenly (poisoning alleged). The psychological blow these deaths dealt Nagayoshi was profound. And in 1564 (Eiroku 7), he died at the young age of 43. The renowned swords left by Nagayoshi subsequently became scattered with the collapse of the Miyoshi regime.

After Nagayoshi's death, the Miyoshi regime rapidly collapsed. Retainers like Matsunaga Hisahide rose to prominence, leading even to the assassination of Shogun Yoshiteru (the Eiroku Incident, 1565). And when Nobunaga entered the capital in 1568 (Eiroku 11), a new age of tenka-hito began.

Miyoshi Nagayoshi in History—A Shadow Standing Before Nobunaga

Miyoshi Nagayoshi was long undervalued as an "intermediary figure" in Japanese history. However, research from the late twentieth century onward has clarified that he was a Sengoku-period ruler with his own governing philosophy and cultural policies. The expansion of sword demand during the Nagayoshi era and the systematization of distribution formed the foundation for the "meibutsu-gari" (gathering of famous swords) of the Nobunaga and Hideyoshi era—a culture of collecting and controlling renowned swords as political symbols.

The Rediscovery of Miyoshi Nagayoshi in the Modern Era

In recent years, activities celebrating Miyoshi Nagayoshi have become active in regions centered on Osaka and Hyogo. Excavations of the ruins of Iizuri Castle in Kawachi are advancing, revealing how Nagayoshi's castle employed sophisticated construction techniques. Additionally, there is renewed recognition that the culture and commerce of Sakai, which Nagayoshi protected, were the direct prehistory of Osaka's later prosperity during the Toyotomi period. In the world of Japanese swords, works by smiths active during the Nagayoshi period are receiving renewed attention, and research examining mid-Sengoku swordsmithing through the lens of "Miyoshi sword culture" is progressing. The Nagayoshi era, which had been relegated to history's sidelines, is now receiving renewed illumination. "There would be no Nobunaga without Nagayoshi"—this assessment is becoming increasingly unshakeable in contemporary historical scholarship.

Miyoshi Nagayoshi and Yamato Smithcraft—Guardian of Kinai Sword Culture

Among the sword smiths of Yamato Province (present-day Nara Prefecture) under Nagayoshi's control, those bearing the Yamato Five Schools tradition occupied a special position. The smiths upholding this tradition engaged in multifaceted work, responding to Nagayoshi's military demands while simultaneously fulfilling commissions from temples, shrines, nobility, and other patrons. Nagayoshi himself was a cultured figure who refined his appreciation of tea utensils through chanoyu, and is believed to have possessed a discerning eye for sword appreciation as well.

It is possible that smiths set up workshops in the vicinity of Akagawa Castle and Iizuri Castle, which Nagayoshi made his base. Settsu smithcraft absorbed the traditions of Yamashiro and Yamato while cultivating its own style, leaving a legacy of technical accumulation that would form the foundation of Settsu shin-to (early Edo-period new swords). The background to "Settsu swords" achieving a certain level of evaluation during the Nobunaga and Hideyoshi era can be understood as stemming from Nagayoshi's protection of smiths.

Miyoshi Nagayoshi's dominion of the Kinai was more than a mere shift of political power; as a transitional point where the geographic center of sword culture moved toward the "meibutsu culture" of the Azuchi-Momoyama period, it held significant meaning in Japanese sword history as well. Oda Nobunaga's systematic exploitation of famous swords as political instruments became possible precisely because of Nagayoshi's precedent of the "cultural union of swords and authority." The Kinai sword culture fostered during Nagayoshi's era has become one of the spiritual foundations of Japanese sword appreciation that continues to this day.