Kyogoku Soran (京極騒乱)
Kyogoku Soran was one of Kyogoku clan's family battles over the succession to (the headship of) the house in the Omi Province which took place during the time from the Muromachi Period to the Sengoku period (period of warring states) in Japan.
Summary
The battle broke out after Mochikiyo KYOGOKU's death of illness in 1470 and continued for 34 years until Takakiyo KYOGOKU, his grandson, united the territory in 1505. It is a different incident from the battle of the succession to the house which Takakiyo KYOGOKU started later.
Kyogoku Soran is known as the Bunmei Internal Strife or the Bunmei War; however, these are also the aliases given to the incidents which occurred in the same period; therefore, "Kyogoku Soran" will be used throughout in this article.
"Bunmei Internal Strife" was the name given to the family battle of the Ogasawara clan, Shinano no Kuni Shugo-Shoku (Military Governor of the Shinano Province), which occurred in the same period.
"Bunmei War" was an alias for the Onin War (the Onin-Bunmei Wars).
Battle of the Succession to the House
In the middle of the Onin War, Mochikiyo, the Kyogoku clan's soryo (heir), and Katsuhide KYOGOKU, the legitimate child (first-born son), had died of illness in quick succession; therefore, the Kyogoku clan had to name the heir. Mochikiyo had doted on Otsudojimaru, Katsuhide's first-born son, rather than on his legitimate grandchild, Sondojimaru, Katsuhide's second son; thus, the opinion was divided in the clan and vassals.
As a result, the battle broke out between the group for Sondojimaru KYOGOKU, Katsuhide's legitimate child and the group for Otsudojimaru KYOGOKU, Katsuhide's illegitimate child over the reins of the family. Masatsune KYOGOKU, Mochikiyo's second son, and Takatada TAGA who was from the family and was Omi-no-kuni Shugodai (Military Commissioner of Omi-no-kuni) joined the group to support Sondojimaru and Masamitsu KYOGOKU, Mochikiyo's third son, and Takatada TAGA who was Hida no kuni no Kami (Governor of the Hida Province) joined the group to support Otsudojimaru; the dispute developed into the battle which involved the entire Kyogoku clan. In the same year, Sondojimaru who took the reins of the family with Masatsune, his uncle, as his guardian, was appointed to the military governor of the Omi, Hida, Izumo, and Oki provinces.
However, the family battle didn't come to an end; the Otsudojimaru group's Masamitsu and Kiyonao betrayed and changed the side to the Western Camp, reconciled with Masayori ROKKAKU and strengthened the Sondojimaru group's power. Another dispute over the succession broke out when Sondojimaru died young in 1471, the following year.
Masamitsu received support from Myochin SAITO, the deputy military governor of the Mino province, and the allied forces, the Western Camp of Otsudojimaru KYOGOKU, Masamitsu KYOGOKU, Kiyonao TAGA, Munenao TAGA, Masayori ROKKAKU, Myochin SAITO, and others defeated Sondojimaru group at the end of September in 1472 and forced Masatsune and Takatada to flee to the Echizen Province. Otsudojimaru took the reins of the family with Masamitsu, his uncle, as his guardian, and was appointed to the military governor of the Hida, Izumo, and Iki provinces. In the same year, Masamitsu, Otsudojimaru's uncle and guardian, died of illness; thus, Shugodai Kiyonao TAGA and Munenao TAGA, father and son, aided Otsudojimaru.
Masatsune and Takatada who had fled to the Izumo Province under a control of local territorial lord went to the capital (Kyoto) followed by kokujin-shu (powerful families in the province) in September, 1475.
They summoned the help of the Eastern Camp of Enryaku-ji Temple's armed priests and Ienaga OGASAWARA in the Shinano Province and won the substantial victory over the Western Camp's allied forces of Masayori ROKKAKU, Takakiyo KYOGOKU(Otsudojimaru, Kiyonao TAGA, Munenao TAGA under the Kannonji-jo Castle on the way to reach the Omi Province
The defeated Rokkaku camp shut up in Kannonji-jo Castle and the Kyogoku camp fled to Kohoku.
In October of the same year, the reinforcement army led by Shigeyori TOKI, the military governor of the Mino Province and Yoshikado SHIBA, the military governor of the Echizen, Owari, and Totomi provinces, arrived in the Omi province and the Western Camp's counter attack had started. Takakiyo together with the allied forces of the Western Camp of Takayori ROKKAKU, Yoshikado SHIBA, Shigeyori TOKI, and Myochin SAITO defeated Masatsune and Takayori ROKKAKU and forced Takatada to Kyoto to flee; however, the exchanges of attacks and counter-attacks continued after the Onin War. Munenao TAGA, a vassal, rose in revolt and forced Takakiyo to flee to the Omi Province; however, Takakiyo returned to Kohoku and killed Munenao in 1487.
Seitaishogun (literally, "great general who subdues the barbarians") Yoshihisa ASHIKAGA himself commanded the army to conquer the Rokkaku clan (Chokyo-Entoku Wars) to restore the dignity of the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun). Takakiyo asked Toshikuni SAITO, the Mino Province's Shugodai, for help and raised an army in the middle of the Rokkaku subjugation in August 1488. Takakiyo fought and defeated Masatsuneand KYOGOKU and Tsuneie TAGA in Matsuo, the Omi Province and forced Masatsuneand and Tsuneie to flee to Unezu, the Ise Province. Since Masatsune returned to the Kita Omi Province, Takakiyo fled to Tsuruga, the Echizen Province in 1490. Takakiyo was granted the reigns of the family (the Kyogoku clan's soryo-shiki, clan leadership rights) by Shogun Yoshitane ASHIKAGA in 1492, and he returned to the Kita Omi Province in the following year.
However, after Takakiyo's patron, Toshikuni SAITO, died in 1497, Masatsune re-gained power and forced Takakiyo to flee to Kaizu, the Mino Province. Later, Ienobu KAMISAKA, the senior vassal of the Kyogoku clan, helped to drive Masatsune out the Omi Province and Takakiyo returned to Kohoku in 1499. Masatsune traveled to the Izumo Province to take refuge with Tsunehisa AMAGO and he reconciled with Kimune KYOGOKU, a child of Masatsune and his cousin, in 1505 to put the end to the succession battle which had continued for 34 years.