Shimazu Munehisa (島津宗久)
The fifth head of the Shimazu soke (the head family), and the first son (1322 - 1340) of Sadahisa SHIMAZU.
The second head of the Izaku family (year of birth unknown - 1354), which was a branch family of the Shimazu clan.
Munehisa SHIMAZU (Shimazu soke)
Munehisa SHIMAZU (1322 - May 21, 1340) was the eldest legitimate son of Sadahisa SHIMAZU. He was the strongest candidate for succeeding the family head, but died when he was only at the age of 19. Due to his early death, his younger brothers, Ujihisa SHIMAZU and Morohisa SHIMAZU, fought over the division of Shugo's (a provincial military governor) territory, and the Shimazu clan split into two families: the Oshu family (Shimazu clan) and the Soshu family (Shimazu clan).
Munehisa SHIMAZU (the Izaku family)
Munehisa SHIMAZU (year of birth unknown - July 13, 1354) was a man from Satsuma Province who lived from the end of the Kamakura period to the early Muromachi period. The second head of the Izaku family, a branch family of the Satsuma Shimazu clan. His father was Hisanaga SHIMAZU, the first head of the Izaku family. His childhood name was Tokjumaru, and his official court ranks were sakyo no suke and Osumi no kuni no kami (Governor of Osumi Province). His wife was the daughter of Tadamune SHIMAZU, the fourth family head of the Shimazu soke, and he had a son named Chikatada SHIMAZU (the forth family head of the Izaku family).
Career
The second head of the Izaku family. In 1317, he succeeded the head of the family from his father, Hisanaga SHIMAZU. The gokenin (an immediate vassal of the shogunate in the Kamakura and Muromachi through Edo periods) at the time were suffering from the expenditure due to Mongol invasion attempts against Japan, and had made a living by selling land they inherited from ancestors and borrowing money from merchants. By permission from the bakufu, Munehisa acted as an arbitrator for the gokenin and the merchants.
In 1333, when Emperor Godaigo rose in revolt against the bakufu and urged the Gozoku (local ruling family) of various places to rise to action, Sadahisa SHIMAZU who was the fifth head of the Shimazu soke joined the forces of overthrowing the Shogunate. Munehisa joined in the war with Sadahisa. They attacked Hidetoki HOJO of the Kyushu Tandai (local commissioner in Kyushu region) and won victory. A year later, the new government by Emperor Godaigo began, but reward grants were not given to Munehisa. Therefore, he reported to the Emperor, and his shoryo (territory) was increased.
In 1335, a riot broke out between Emperor Godaigo and Takauji ASHIKAGA. When Sadahisa affiliated with Takauji's side, Munehisa, too, acted likewise. A year later, when Takauji was defeated by the Southern Court (Japan) and fled to Kyushu, the Shimazu family was ordered to subjugate the Southern Court power of Satsuma and Osumi, and Munehisa made military exploits under Sadahisa's lead. When Takauji invaded Kyoto, Munehisa joined the army with his family, and won back Kyoto.
In 1337, when Munehisa who was in Kyoto and heard of his father, Hisanaga, at his hometown being attacked by the Southern Court, he asked Takauji through Sadahisa to let him return home. By permission of Takauji, he went home with Yorihisa KAWAKAMI who was Sadahisa's child born out of wedlock. He was ordered to subjugate Southern Court power in the Nansatsu area. In 1340, when Sadahisa returned and started winning back areas that were invaded by the offense of Tadakuni IJUIN, Munehisa joined him. In 1342, when Imperial Prince Kaneyoshi arrived to Satsumataniyama as Seisei shogun no Miya, the bakufu demanded Munehisa to join the fray. When Tadakuni IJUIN invaded Izaku in 1346, Muhehisa was defeated and besieged in his residing castle.
When an internal strife occurred in bakufu, and Naoyoshi ASHIKAGA, a younger brother of Takauji, was expelled in 1349, Naofuyu ASHIKAGA, who was Takauji's child and Naoyoshi's adoptive child, sensed danger and hid himself in Kyushu. A year after this, the bakufu gave Munehisa a command to capture Naofuyu. However, the situation inside bakufu completely changed allowing Naoyoshi to return, and since Naofuyu took the post as Kyushu tandai, subjugation was called off. When the father and his son, Takauji and Yoshiakira, surrendered to the Southern Court to settle disputes inside the bakufu, Sadahisa and Munehisa reverted together to the Southern Court and attacked Naofuyu. Afterwards, they followed Takauji as he again turned his back toward the Southern Court, and went with the current of the bakufu from beginning to end. In 1354, he handed over the head of the family to his first son, Chikatada. He died soon after this. His homyo (priest's name or posthumous Buddhist name) was Dokei Daizenjomon.