Ouchi Masahiro

Ouchi Masahiro (1446-1495) was a Muromachi-period daimyo and head of the Ouchi clan, shugo of Suo, Nagato, Buzen and Chikuzen. He was a principal figure of the Western Army in the Onin War and also a notable patron of poetry and the arts.

He inherited the clan in 1465 on the death of his father Ouchi Norihiro, aged 20. Some scholars hold that from 1457 to 1463 he had already been installed as nominal head under his childhood name Kamedomaru by shogunate decision.

In 1467 he went to Kyoto to support Yamana Sozen of the Western Army and fought in the Kinai region for about ten years. In 1469 his uncle Ouchi Noriyuki rebelled, but the revolt was put down through the efforts of retainers such as Sue Hiromori. He accepted the east-west peace in 1476, and after the war ended in 1477 he returned to Yamaguchi at the end of that year. In 1480 he became a shobanshu. He sent retainers and his heir Yoshioki, rather than going himself, to the Chokyo-Entoku conflict and the campaign against Rokkaku Takayori. In 1494 his stroke worsened, he handed the clan to Yoshioki and retired, and he died in September 1495.

After Sue Hiromori was killed in 1482 he consolidated control of the house and reorganized its administration; the Ouchi-ke Hekisho is regarded as the culmination of these policies. He loved waka and renga, associating with Ichijo Kaneyoshi, Socho and Sanjonishi Sanetaka, compiled the Shujin Wakashu and supported the quasi-imperial renga anthology Shinsen Tsukubashu. He is said to have invited the painter Sesshu to Yamaguchi, and Joeiji garden is traditionally attributed to Sesshu. He also pursued the Ouchi-ban publishing project, printing works such as the 28-volume Lotus Sutra. In trade with Ming China he sent missions with Hakata merchants in competition with the Hosokawa, allied with Sakai merchants, and used the profits for military expenses.