* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Yuki Ujitomo
結城氏朝
The head of the Shimosa Yuki clan who fell after a year-long siege — central figure of the Yuki War
Description
Life
Yuki Ujitomo (1402–1441) was the 11th head of the Shimosa Yuki clan. Born the second son of Oyama Yasutomo, he succeeded to the headship as the adopted heir of his uncle, Yuki Mitsuhiro, the 10th head of the clan.
The Yuki War
When Ashikaga Mochiuji, the Kamakura kubō, took his own life during the Eikyō Rebellion (1438–1439), Ujitomo, together with his eldest son Mochitomo, took the two young lords, Haruōmaru and Yasuōmaru, whom Mochiuji had left behind, into Yuki Castle and rose in revolt against the Muromachi shogunate (the Yuki War, Eikyō 12 (1440)). He called on anti-shogunate forces across the Kantō to take up arms, and warriors from northern Kantō, including Shimosa, Hitachi and Shimotsuke, gathered at Yuki Castle.
Fall of the Castle and Death
The shogunal forces besieged Yuki Castle for about a year. On the 16th day of the 4th month of Kakitsu 1 (6 May 1441), Ujitomo and his son Mochitomo were defeated and died in battle, and the castle fell. The two captured young lords were also killed while being escorted away afterward.
Later Assessment
The Yuki War, as resistance by the Kamakura kubō forces after the Eikyō Rebellion, greatly shifted the political situation in the Kantō. Ujitomo's defense of the castle is still remembered today, together with the ruins of Yuki Castle (Yūki City, Ibaraki Prefecture), as a battle that showed the resolve of the Shimosa Yuki clan.