BOOK I

Ōta Izumi no Kami composed this. And it records the life of Lord Oda Danjō no Jō Nobunaga from 11 [1568], the Year of Earth Senior and the Dragon.

1

How the previous kubō, Kōgen’in Yoshiteru, was killed and his younger brother, Lord Rokuon’in,1 slain along with other noble lords. The source of this bloodshed was that Miyoshi Shuri no Daibu [Nagayoshi] had taken control of the realm and the Miyoshi knew that Shogun Yoshiteru was sure to bear a grudge against them as a result. So they spread the rumor that the shogun was staging a revolt. On Eiroku 8 [1565], Fifth Month, 19th day, early in the morning, the Miyoshi gathered their men under the pretext of a visit to the Kiyo- mizu temple and broke into the shogunal palace. Yoshiteru was taken by surprise; his fate was sealed. Still, he came out wielding his sword and cut down the attackers, repeatedly forcing them back and causing many a wound. The shogun fought bravely, but he could not prevail against so many; so he set his palace alight and in the end committed suicide. The Miyoshi sent Hirata Izumi to assassinate also the shogun’s third younger brother, Lord Rokuon’in, who was killed at the same hour. While the rest of his companions fled, a boy of only fifteen or sixteen called Minoya Koshirō, who had been favored by Rokuon’in for a long time, killed the captain of the assassins, Hirata Izumi, and then accompanied his master in death, earning fame without compare. Nothing could surpass the grief of all the people in the realm over the ruin of the Ashikaga. So it is said.

1 Sukō, the abbot of the Zen temple Rokuon’in (site of the Golden Pavilion) on the northern outskirts of ; usually described as Yoshiteru’s second younger brother. eiroku 11 [1568] 117

2

Miyoshi Shuri no Daibu2 and Matsunaga Danjō [Hisahide] sought to reassure the murdered shogun’s younger brother (their father’s second son), Yoshiaki of the Ichijōin in the Southern Capital, by telling him that as long as he was the incumbent of this temple, they would have not the slightest designs against him.3 Yoshiaki answered that this was as it should be and remained in the temple for the time being. But then he secretly left the Southern Capital, asked Wata Iga no Kami for help, traveled along the byways of Iga and Kōka, and moved his residence to the hamlet of Yajima in Ōmi. Yoshiaki repeatedly and in various ways sought to impress his desire for assistance on Sasaki Sakyō no Daibu Jōtei. But Jōtei had forgotten the obligations of vassalage and refused to give his agreement. In the end Jōtei cold-heartedly expelled Yoshiaki from Ōmi with some sort of excuse. The tree that Yoshiaki had sought as a shelter was leaking rain. There was nothing to be done, so he proceeded on to Echizen.4 This involved him with Asakura [Yoshikage], a man of undistin- guished origins whose father [Takakage] had cleverly gained the sho- gun’s ear and was extended the courtesy appointment of a shogunal attendant. In his own province, Asakura did as he pleased, and he was not so keen to help Yoshiaki return to Kyoto. And so,

2 Gyūichi mistakenly writes Miyoshi Shuri no Daibu (i.e., Nagayoshi) when he means Miyoshi Sakyō no Daibu (i.e., Yoshitsugu). had died in 1564, a year before his heir Miyoshi Yoshitsugu plotted with to kill Shogun Yoshiteru. 3 The Ichijōin was a priory of the Kōfukuji, the great monastery of the Hossō sect in Nara. Yoshiaki resided there under his priestly name Kakkei at the time of his brother’s murder. Their father was Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiharu. 4 Kakkei left Nara on Eiroku 8 (1565)/7/28; see Nobunaga monjo, I, 94. He took refuge for a time at the fort of the local baron Wata Koremasa in what now is Kōka- chō Wata, Kōka City, Shiga Prefecture, about two kilometers north of the border of what then was Iga Province and now is the northwestern part of Mie Prefecture. Kak- kei settled at Yajima in Ōmi (now a township of Moriyama City, Shiga Prefecture) on Eiroku 8/11/21; Okuno Takahiro, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, Jinbutsu Sōsho 55 (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1960), p. 114. On Eiroku 9/2/17 he renounced the priesthood and changed his name to Yoshiaki; Oyudono no Ue no nikki, VI, Zoku Gunsho ruijū, supp. ser. 3, 3rd rev. ed. (Tokyo: Zoku Gunsho Ruijū Kanseikai, 1987 sixth printing), 389–390, entry for that date. Yoshiaki moved to Tsuruga in Echizen (now a city in Fukui Prefecture) on Eiroku 9/9/8; Okuno, p. 127.