Uesugi Zenshū's Rebellion

Overview

Uesugi Zenshū's Rebellion was a civil war within the Kamakura Government (Kamakura-fu) that began on the 2nd day of the 10th month of Ōei 23 (1416) and ended on the 10th day of the 1st month of Ōei 24 (1417). Uesugi Ujinori, a former Kantō Deputy Shogun who had taken Buddhist vows under the name Zenshū, raised an army around Ashikaga Mitsutaka, an uncle of the Kamakura kubō Ashikaga Mochiuji, and Mitsutaka's adopted son Ashikaga Mochinaka, and attacked Mochiuji and his deputy, Uesugi Norimoto. Mochiuji escaped Kamakura and fled to Suruga, and Ujinori held Kamakura for a time. When the Muromachi shogunate decided to back Mochiuji and sent troops, however, the rebels were defeated in several places, and Zenshū died by his own hand at Yukinoshita in Kamakura.

The rebellion is a compact picture of Kantō politics in the Muromachi period, in which the shogun in Kyoto, the Kamakura kubō, the deputy shogun and the regional warrior houses all pulled in different directions.

Background: the Kamakura Government and the two men

The Kamakura Government was the shogunate's regional office for governing eastern Japan. Its head, the Kamakura kubō, was hereditary within a branch of the Ashikaga family, and he was assisted by a Kantō Deputy Shogun (kanrei) drawn from the Uesugi. The kubō stood below the shogun.

The Kamakura kubō Ashikaga Mitsukane died in the 7th month of Ōei 16 (1409), and in the 9th month his son Mochiuji took the seat. Being young, Mochiuji was assisted by the Deputy Shogun Uesugi Norisada. Ujinori was head of the Inugakake Uesugi and a son of Uesugi Tomomune; his birth date is unknown, but he is thought to have been in his forties when he succeeded to the family headship in 1409.

In the 8th month of the following year, a rumor spread that Mochiuji's uncle Ashikaga Mitsutaka was plotting against him, and Mochiuji took refuge in the residence of the Deputy Shogun Uesugi Norisada. Through Norisada's mediation, a settlement was reached under which Mochiuji's half-brother Otowakamaru, later Mochinaka, was adopted by Mitsutaka. In the 12th month Mochiuji came of age and, receiving a character of his name from the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimochi, took the name Mochiuji. The tie between Mitsutaka and Mochinaka would later form the core of the rebellion.

In Ōei 18 (1411) Ujinori succeeded Norisada as Deputy Shogun and supported the young kubō. Mochiuji, however, came to favor Norisada's son Norimoto, and the rapid growth of the Inugakake Uesugi was also a threat to the Yamanouchi Uesugi. When Date Mochimune rose in Ōshū in Ōei 20, Mochiuji called on the local lords of Ōshū to muster and put the revolt down. As Mochiuji asserted his own authority, Ujinori joined hands with Mitsutaka and Mochinaka, and the confrontation sharpened.

On the 25th day of the 4th month of Ōei 22 (1415), Ujinori and Mochiuji clashed at a council. That year Mochiuji confiscated the lands of one of Ujinori's retainers for failing to attend. Ujinori protested and resigned as Deputy Shogun on the 2nd day of the 5th month; on the 18th day Uesugi Norimoto took the post.

The removal of the powerful Inugakake Uesugi from the center, and the seizure of a retainer's land by the kubō, are given as the immediate causes of Ujinori's grievance. That the kubō's wishes reached even the choice of Deputy Shogun shows how Kamakura politics was concentrating around the kubō's circle.

The rising and Mochiuji's escape

On the 2nd day of the 10th month of Ōei 23 (1416), Ashikaga Mitsutaka rose at the Hōjuin and set out with Ujinori to seize Mochiuji and Norimoto. Ujinori is said to have attacked Mochiuji's residence by night with Mitsutaka as his figurehead. Mochiuji took refuge for a time at the Deputy Shogun's residence and then moved on, by way of Odawara, to Suruga. One account has Norimoto leaving for Echigo. Ujinori then took control of Kamakura.

Joining the rebels were Ashikaga Mochinaka, Iwamatsu Mitsuzumi, Nasu Sukeyuki, Chiba Kanetane, Daijō Mitsumoto, Yamairi Yoshitomo, Oda Mochiie, Takeda Nobumitsu, Yūki Mitsutomo, Ashina Morimasa and Nagao Ujiharu, among others. The list includes major Kantō houses such as the Chiba, Nasu and Oda. On the other hand, the Edo and Toshima of Musashi did not join Zenshū and acted to drive his forces out, so the Kantō houses were far from united.

The shogunate steps in, and Zenshū's end

Imagawa Norimasa was in Suruga, where Mochiuji had fled. On the 13th day of the 10th month a report from Norimasa reached Kyoto, and the shogunate of Ashikaga Yoshimochi decided to rescue Mochiuji. The Kamakura kubō was the shogunate's recognized ruler of the Kantō, and an attempt to overthrow him could not be ignored.

Commanders under shogunal orders advanced against the rebels, Uesugi Fusakata from Echigo in the north and Imagawa Norimasa from Suruga in the west. Also on the shogunate's side were Ogasawara Masayasu, Utsunomiya Mochitsuna, Nakamura Ienaga and the Satake. In Suruga the rebels were beaten by the Imagawa. Defections are said to have occurred among the rebel commanders, and the situation turned quickly.

On the 1st day of the 1st month of Ōei 24 (1417), Zenshū's army defeated the combined Edo and Toshima forces at the battle of Seyahara. It was a local victory and did not turn the course of the war.

On the 10th day of the 1st month, which corresponds to January 27, 1417 in the Gregorian calendar, Uesugi Ujinori, Ashikaga Mitsutaka and Ashikaga Mochinaka killed themselves at the Yukinoshita lodging (bō) of Tsurugaoka Hachimangū in Kamakura, and the rebellion ended. The rebel cause had collapsed in about three months. Some of Ujinori's sons died with him, but others survived; Noriaki, who fled to Kyoto, later killed himself in the opening battles of the Kyōtoku War. An Uesugi genealogy records that Ujinori had forty-two children, sons and daughters together.

Outcome and aftermath

The Kamakura kubō, the Deputy Shogun and the shogunate side won. The Inugakake Uesugi lost their power in the Kantō with Ujinori's generation, and the Yamanouchi Uesugi remained the leading branch of the family. Takeda Nobumitsu, who had joined the rebels, killed himself, and Iwamatsu Mitsuzumi was beheaded.

Mochiuji, having won, went on to attack Kantō houses that had sided with Zenshū, an action said to have displeased the shogunate. In Kazusa, the Kazusa Hon-ikki, a rising by warriors mobilized during the war, broke out the following year. In Ōei 25, Uesugi Norimoto, who had supported Mochiuji, died suddenly, and the young Uesugi Norizane became Deputy Shogun. Because the Deputy Shogun could not issue the usual enforcement orders, Mochiuji himself drew them up in his place until Ōei 31 (1424). Relations between Mochiuji and the shogunate are said to have become serious after the rebellion of Oguri Mitsushige in Ōei 30.

The end of the rebellion did not bring lasting calm to the Kantō; tension between Mochiuji, the shogunate and the regional houses lingered. Zenshū's rebellion can be read as a prelude to the later unrest in the Kantō.

Some accounts credit Ujinori with real military ability and strategic sense, as a man who held Kamakura, if only briefly, against the shogunate's wishes. His strength collapsed quickly, however, once the shogunate made clear that it backed Mochiuji.

Principal figures

- Uesugi Ujinori (Zenshū): head of the Inugakake Uesugi. He became Deputy Shogun in Ōei 18 and left the post in Ōei 22. Leader of the rebellion, he killed himself on the 10th day of the 1st month of Ōei 24. - Ashikaga Mitsutaka: Mochiuji's uncle. He rose at the Hōjuin on the 2nd day of the 10th month of Ōei 23 and died by his own hand on the same day as Ujinori. - Ashikaga Mochinaka: Mochiuji's half-brother and Mitsutaka's adopted son. He joined the rebels and also killed himself. - Ashikaga Mochiuji: the Kamakura kubō, in office from Ōei 16. He fled to Suruga and returned to Kamakura with shogunal support. - Uesugi Norimoto: Mochiuji's close supporter, who became Deputy Shogun in Ōei 22 and died suddenly in Ōei 25. - Uesugi Fusakata and Imagawa Norimasa: advanced from the north and the west against the rebels under shogunal orders. - Ashikaga Yoshimochi: the shogun, who decided to rescue Mochiuji on receiving the report of the 13th day of the 10th month. - Takeda Nobumitsu and Iwamatsu Mitsuzumi: leading rebel supporters. Nobumitsu killed himself and Mitsuzumi was beheaded.