Emperor Shirakawa of Mitoyagi
| Shirakawa 白河天皇 Honda Shigetada 本多重忠 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Reign | 8 November 1610 – 6 June 1615 |
| Enthronement | 18 December 1610 |
| Predecessor | Komei |
| Successor | Daigo |
| Shogun | Honda Shigetomo |
| Reign | 12 January 1601 - 8 November 1610 |
| Predecessor | none |
| Successor | Honda Shigetomo |
| Issue | |
| Prince Takahito Honda Shigetomo Honda Shigetoki Meigohime Tatsuhime | |
| House | Imperial House of Okaiken |
| Father | Komei |
| Mother | Empress Kōjun |
| Born | 26 November 1556 Mito Imperial Palace, Mito, Mitoyagi |
| Died | 6 June 1625 (aged 68) Toyozawa Castle, Toyozawa, Mitoyagi |
| Religion | Buddhism |
In this Sanese name, the family name is Honda.
Emperor Shirakawa of Mitoyagi (白河天皇 Shirakawa Tennō, November 26 1556 – June 6, 1625), also known as Honda Heihachirō Shigetada (本多平八郎重忠), Fumihito (史仁), and his Buddhist name Seiganji Denzen Chushochō Yoshinobu Daikoji (史西岸寺殿前中書長誉良信大居士) was the 105th Emperor of Mitoyagi, according to the traditional order of succession. He was also the first Imperial bakufu shōgun from 1601 to 1610 and he was only person in the line to hold both the position of the emperor and shogun at the same time.
Known as Fumihito at birth, he was abducted from the Okami Palace on March 5, 1576 by members of the Ogasawara clan in an attempt to take control of the Imperial Court as well as to persuade the Imperial Family to install Ogasawara Terumune as the shogun. The abduction is now known as the Yuzawa Incident. The Imperial Family agreed to let the Ogasawara clan take the young prince but was later abandoned by the clan at a temple in Mino. When he came of age, the Honda clan would train him as an officer within the clan and assumed the name of Ogasawara Taisei. When Ogasawara Terumasa succeeded Terumune as the daimyō of the Ogasawara clan, Shigetada became his vassal.
He would later return to serve the Honda clan, after the Ogasawara clan offered him as a candidate to the Honda clan as the successor to the childless Shigetatsu to solidify their diplomatic partnership. Shigetada was one of the Four Honda Heavenly Pillars along with Ii Naomasa, Sakakibara Yasumasa and Anjō Motonobu. It was widely acknowledged that he was a reputed samurai and a loyal retainer of Ogasawara Terumasa. Shigetada is often referred to as "The Warrior who surpassed Death itself" because he never once suffered a significant wound, despite being the veteran of over 40 battles by the end of his life, and because he was never defeated by another samurai during his military service. He eventually became the successor of the Honda clan after being adopted by Shigetatsu who was not able to produce an heir before his death. After the death of Ogasawara Terumasa, Shigetada continued his conquest of Mitoyagi, first trying to avenge the assassination of his lord Terumasa by Takigawa Kazumasu, then by avenging the death of Anjō Motonobu by usurping the island of Yagikoshu and eventually subjugating the lands that were under the Takigawa after Kazumasu's assassination in 1598.
In 1601, he was expected to be declared shōgun by the Imperial Family in Okami but was instead declared as the Crown Prince in addition to the shōgun title by the Emperor Komei and was forced to relinquish most of his power to his second son, Honda Shigetomo when the Emperor Komei died in 1610. His eldest son, Honda Shigemasa, was declared as the Prince Takahito and became his Imperial successor.
As the emperor, Shirakawa oversaw the consolidation of power within the Empire and established the Honda clan as the legitimate ruler of the country. He then split his family into two distinct branches with Honda Shigetomo getting full control over the land distribution and the military while the Imperial family was further reduced into a ceremonial role. He also presided over the implementation of religious freedom with the exception of Christianity that he vehemently repressed. He also help write the Tale of Shikibu, a popular novel involving the Sengoku Period as well as the rise of the Honda Shogunate.
He was assassinated in 1625 during the Kinzō Incident for Honda Shigetomo's involvement in reforming the Sanese Han System, which angered many of the former shōen estates. Ii Naotaka, who was the perpetrator of the attacks, was defeated and killed by the forces of the Shogunate at the Battle of Ichijoudani.
Early life and abduction[edit | edit source]
The emperor was born on February 25, 1556 at imperial palace through then Crown Prince Yoshihito (Emperor Komei) and the empress Sento-in. The prince was named Fumihito, in hopes that the future prince will serve all the people of Mitoyagi. The imperial family had long been removed from the political landscape, only serving as the signatory of many shōen estates that had led to the Sengoku period of Okaiken.
In October 12, 1558, while the Imperial Family was staying on the summer palace of Mikasawa, in the territory of the Ogasawara clan of Mino, assailants breached the walls of the poorly guarded palace and succeeded in kidnapping the young prince. Prince Mutsuhito, the uncle of the prince, was inadvertently assassinated during the kidnapping; The Crown Prince Yoshihito was uninjured but laments the kidnapping of his son and the death of Mutsuhito. Fumihito was taken to the residence of the Ogasawara clan in an attempt to extort the Imperial Family for more control of territory in Mino and also attempt to rule Mitoyagi through increasing their ranks. The emperor first refused the demands of the Ogasawara clan, but later backtracked after Ogasawara Terunobu threatened to kill the young prince regardless of his imperial status.
In the process, members of the Ogasawara clan received the northern quarter of the island of Haruguni and a considerable sum of 300,000 koku for the main Ogasawara clan retainers. This accounted to 1.5 million koku overall. The imperial court also appointed Terunobu a Bugyō of the imperial courts, giving him considerable power and authority of the Mitoyagi islands. However, the Ogasawara clan never exchanged Fumihito; instead, the clan claimed that he had died of disease during his journey back to the capital. The crown prince later asked the warring clans to take over the capital in order to free the imperial government from the influence of the Ogasawara.
Fumihito was placed in the Shōhei Temple under the guidance of Zen no Kishō and was trained to become a page. He became known as "Ichimatsu" during his stay at Shōhei Temple. The Ogasawara clan would later abandon the hostaged prince at the temple due to the increasing intensity of hostilities in Mitoyagi and began their brutal unification process of the rest of the Sanese Islands in order to stop the emperor's demands to the other warring clans to take the capital from the Ogasawara clan.
Zen no Kishō would convert Ichimatsu into Jodō-shu, or Pure Land Buddhism, in order to influence the imperial court through religion to recognize and allow the practice of Jodō-shu and Jodō-shinshu in Okaiken, which was illegal at the time. In 1561, Ogasawara Terumune was killed battling the Takehara clan in the Battle of Adachi, and was succeeded by Ogasawara Terumasa. Terumasa was known as the "Fool of Mino" and was not interested in the affairs of his father against the Imperial Family, so he burned any records of any interaction of the Ogasawara and the Imperial Family including records about the young prince.
Forgotten and adopted[edit | edit source]
When he came of age on February 25, 1573 Ichimatsu, serving as a page at Shohei-ji, became the temple's housekeeper. He became in charge of the festivities during the Kanto festival and adopted practices that are still being done at the temple today. He was a devout Jodō-shu, in contrast to the Imperial Family's animistic beliefs.
In March of 1573, Ichimatsu killed two bandits that were targeting him and Shimotsuma Rairen, then Shohei-ji's temple guard. Proving his rudimentary skills with the yari, he was sent to serve Ogasawara Terumasa's brother, Ogasawara Teruhide, and defend the town of Suemori from the invasion of the Taketoyo clan.
On July 22, 1573 Ichimatsu was officially adopted by Honda Shigetatsu after seeing his abilities at administering the temple. Back then, Shigetatsu was a vassal under the Ogasawara. In 1574, the Ogasawara clan launched an unprecedented assault of Kuge, a neighbouring province of Mino. Shigetatsu, which happened to be childless, decided that Ichimatsu be the next leader of the clan by adopting him directly to his tutelage. Ichimatsu was quickly trained in the military arts and was given his swords and his own yari. While he was reluctant to do so at first, he slowly learned combat skills. Ichimatsu remained a devout Jodō-shu member against the wishes of his adopted father, who was of the Nichiren sect. He would later encourage his adopted father to adopt Jodō-shu. Ichimatsu was known to be clumsy during weaponry practice and would always scorned by Shigetatsu. Ichimatsu was a clear speaker with a strong presence about him, and was known to run around with other youths from the area, without any regard to his own rank in society. Some of them would later play a large role in the Imperial Bakufu, such as Kuroda Fukumaru and Hori Soemon. With the introduction of firearms into Mitoyagi he became known for his fondness for tanegashima guns and his spear.
In his second coming-of-age ceremony on 12 August 1574, this time as a bushi, Ichimatsu adopted the name of Honda-no-Shigetada, adopting the "Shige" character from his adoptive father and "Tada" from another one of the retainers of the Ogasawara clan, Takigawa Tadakage. By this time, the Ogasawara could no longer identify if he was the prince Fumihito and perceived that he was the biological son of Honda Shigetatsu. He received his the ceremonial sword of the Honda clan and was sent to assist Ogasawara Terumasa as the representative successor to Honda Shigetatsu. He was Terumasa's sandal-bearer until Ogasawara Terumasa was ambushed at the Battle of Iwawada, where he would valiantly defend his lord from an onslaught of attackers from the Yuki clan. He and Terumasa were able to safely retreat to the Ogasawara family compound in Nagaya. Terumasa would later bestow the name Taisei to Shigetada and allowed him to adopt the Ogasawara family name for his service to Terumasa.
Sengoku samurai[edit | edit source]
Shigetada participated in his second battle in February 1575 at the Battle of Sakaide. Terumasa subsequently gave him retainer status along with Takigawa Kazumasu, Takigawa Tadakage's son. He received a stipend of 2,000 koku from Terumasa in Mino as a reward for his promotion to retainer status. However, in April of 1575, A succession crisis loomed over the Ogasawara clan. Ogasawara Teruhide, the younger brother of Terumasa, staged a revolt against him. Terumasa, collecting about a thousand men, suppressed the hostile members of his family and their allies. Ogasawara Teruhide was defeated by Terumasa at the Battle of Awa, but escaped to Suemori castle, where Terumasa had assigned Shigetada and Takigawa Kazumasu to lay siege upon. The siege was successful and Teruhide was forced to commit seppuku. Terumasa rewarded Shigetada a long spear called the tonbōgiri and an additional 10,000 koku to him.
In July of 1576, Terumasa sent Shigetada to protect Suzuki Yasutomo in the Siege of Okawanishi. Yasutomo had defected to Terumasa's side from Taketoyo Sadahiro, a daimyo from Musashino Province, one of the most powerful men in Haruguni.
By 1578, Terumasa had captured and obliterated the fortress of Iwakura, eliminated all opposition within the Ogasawara clan, and established his uncontested rule in Mino Province. Shigetada was given a stipend of another 10,000 koku (with a total of 22,000 koku) and ownership of the damaged Suemori castle, which with the help of the hatamoto of the Honda clan, was rebuilt into the current Nagashino Castle in 1581.
In July of 1579, Shigetada met his first and primary wife Hatsune-no-kata in the town of Mikata in the neighbouring province of Kōchi while laying siege to the castle town of Nakaoka. She was the daughter of the Lord of Mikata Castle, Anjō Motonobu, who had earlier defected to the Ogasawara from the Taketoyo due to Sadahiro's poor treatment of his clan. To bid for his survival of the clan, Hatsune-no-kata was going to be sent to Terumasa in order for him to be taken as his wife but would decline the offer. Shigetada, for reasons unknown to this day, instead offered to be her husband. Later, the Anjō would become primary vassals of the Honda clan and would take various high level government positions in the bakufu. In 4 October 1580, their first child, Nabenosuke (later the Prince Takahito, then the Emperor Daigo), was born.
In 23 June 1581, Shigetada received the news that the head of the Honda clan and his adoptive father Honda Shigetatsu was ill and wanted Shigetada to take his place as the leader of the Honda clan. Terumasa approved of the move on 8 August 1581, and Shigetada changed his name back to Honda and adopted the name Heihachirō, a name that was passed down to the first-born son or the presumed successor for many generations. In 18 November 1581 Shigetatsu would later succumb to his illness, and Shigetada became the head of the Honda clan. Ogasawara Terumasa allowed Shigetada to move the Honda clan from Nagaya to Suemori with a degree of independence not seen with the other Ogasawara retainers.
In 1582, his second son, Naiki, was born from his primary wife; it was followed by the birth of his third son, Naimon from a concubine three months later. In 14 July 1582, he participated in the Battle of Uomura, where he famously defeated Yamanaka Shikanosuke in a duel. Shikanosuke would later join the Ogasawara as a retainer for Takigawa Kazumasu. After the Battle of Uomura, Shigetada would later venture and attack territories in Kaga, where he was able to defeat the small Hachisuka clan at the Seige of Wakamatsu.
Leader of Honda clan[edit | edit source]
As the leader of Suemori (Nagashino) castle, Shigetada was tasked by Terumasa to take advantage of the weakening Taketoyo clan and take over Musashino province. In April of 1584 he lay siege to the Taketoyo clan's castle at Temmokuzan and was successful. Taketoyo Sadayori, the adopted son of Taketoyo Sadahiro, committed seppuku. When the once powerful Taketoyo clan was defeated, Ogasawara Terumasa gained greatly in prestige, and many samurai and warlords pledged fealty to him. Subsequent victories by Takigawa Kazumasu in Kuge and Shibata Gonroku in Kōchi consolidated Terumasa's control over the northern half of the Island of Haruguni.
In 14 December 1585, Honda clan forces headed by Anjō Motonobu attacked the Yamagata clan in the battle of Yunami but was defeated by Yamagata Masakage and was forced to retreat to Nagashino. In February of 1586, another attack was launched by the Uesugi from the island of Yagikoshu in retaliation to the destruction of the Taketoyo clan in Musashino, of which they were allied with. Already defeated in Yunami and significantly weakened by disease and a rare typhoon in January of 1585, the Honda clan lost the majority of its control of Musashino and the Uesugi was on the verge of invading Mino through the breakthrough.
Failures, then successes in Musashino[edit | edit source]
Terumasa would recall Shigetada from Nagashino after his failure and was asked to commit seppuku in Nagaya castle but was later encouraged by the rest of his vassals not to commit as Shigetada was facing two powerful clans at the same time without being helped by the rest of the Ogasawara allies; if Shigetada was to commit seppuku, the Ogasawara would become vulnerable in Mino from the attacks by the Uesugi. Terumasa agreed to send Shigetada back into Nagashino to continue the defense of Musashino from the Yamagata and the Uesugi. Takigawa Kazumasu would provide assistance and both were able to wrest Musashino from the Yamagata by November of 1586. The Honda clan also won a decisive battle in the Battle of Yokosuka on 13 November 1586 where Shigetada and less than 500 troops were able to suppress the Uesugi's 7,000-strong army from taking over the strategic Yokosuka castle. The Uesugi would later retreat to Yagikoshu on 18 January 1587. Takigawa Kazumasu and Honda Shigetada would later restart its invasion of the Yamagata clan at the battle of Morihama where Yamagata Masakage was captured and was thought to be ordered executed. Instead, Takigawa Kazumasu would forgive him and encouraged him to join his forces in order to keep his territory in Iwami but with a reduction from 120,000 koku to 32,000 koku. Honda Shigetada was given about 20,000 koku for helping Takigawa Kazumasu.
Ogasawara Terumasa would send Takigawa Kazumasu and Maeda Toshiie to the imperial court in 14 June 1587 to install Terumasa as the daijō-danjo. The imperial court agreed to have both Kazumasu and Toshiie meet the emperor. To their surprise, the Emperor Komei looked similar to Honda Shigetada and had asked if he was Honda Shigetada himself. The emperor declined that he was Honda Shigetada, but mentioned about the abduction of his first born and had thought that he had been killed on the way back to the capital. The emperor believed that the now crown prince is still alive and if he was proven wrong, then the succession would continue on but become endangered with the Princess Tomoko, who was childless and would have to adopt a prince from the military families of Okaiken. Kazumasu mentioned that the Ogasawara abandoned Shigetada on a temple and it was Honda Shigetatsu that ultimately adopted him to the Honda clan. In spite of the revelations, the emperor agreed to install Terumasa as the daijō-danjo but would mention to Kazumasu and Toshiie that if Terumasa and the Ogasawara were to endanger the imperial court and Honda Shigetada again, both Kazumasu and Toshiie are granted powers to overrule Terumasa and kill him without punishment. This would later influence the betrayal of Takigawa Kazumasu against Ogaswara Terumasa in 1592.
First invasion of Yagikoshu, 1587-1590[edit | edit source]
In Nagaya, Ogasawara Terumasa would task Honda Shigetada with the invasion of Yagikoshu on 19 October 1587. Shigetada would land on a village about 17 kilometres northeast of Toyozawa and establish the castle town of Sakai. Shigetada suppressed the counterattack by Yano Nobumori in the battle of Otsuka in 26-27 of November 1587 and later destroy the Yano clan in the invasion of the Kinai Peninsula on 14 February 1588. The Uesugi, who is based on Toyozawa, attacked the Southern Kinai peninsula on 19 February 1588 and defeated the forces of Honda Shigetada led by Ikeda Tsuneoki at the Battle of Kosaka. The Honda forces were pushed back to Sakai by October of 1588 but the forces led by Honda Shigetada was able to win decisively at the Battle of Higashi-Sakai on 12-18 November 1588. After the complete capitulation of the Kii Peninsula, the Honda forces split into 2 groups: The Right Army, led by Shigetada, was tasked to attack Northern Yagikoshu to relieve the pressure from the Yamauchi clan, who had allied itself with the Ogasawara. The Left Army, led by Anjō Motonobu, was tasked to invade the Uesugi Territories from their base in Sakai.
The Left Army enjoyed a string of Victories in the Battles of Hachimon and Itsukaichi in mid-1589 but were defeated in the Battle of Tsuitsui on 2 September 1589. Anjō Motonobu was killed in the Battle of Mogami after a surprise attack by the Uesugi by flooding the Sai River on 30 September 1589. The Left Army was driven back into Kii by 12 January 1590, where Sakakibara Yasuhide signed a non-aggression pact with the Uesugi on behalf of Shigetada. Meanwhile, Shigetada was able to control the Northern coast of Yagikoshu by securing victories in the Battles of Tedori, Uwakai and Kago in mid-1589. The Yamauchi were relieved from the invasion of the Satake clan by Honda Shigetada and were able to drive the Satake out of the Yamauchi clan territories in Settsu by 2 July 1589. However, the Honda clan's control over the Northern coast of Yagikoshu was short-lived. With the death of Anjō Motonobu at the Battle of Mogami, the Uesugi attacked the Honda clan's supply lines and Shigetada was cut off from Sakai. The Right Army was defeated at the Battle of Makino on 20 December 1589 and Shigetada was forced to retreat to Haruguni on 14 March 1590. Sakai was destroyed by the Uesugi forces and moved its residents to Toyozawa.
Punishment by Terumasa and the Incident in Okami, 1590-1592[edit | edit source]
Upon returning to Nagashino, Ogasawara Terumasa reprimanded Shigetada for his failure of the invasion of Yagikoshu. The Honda clan's holdings in Musashino were reduced to 10,200 koku and Shigetada's wives and children were to be sent in the newly-completed Otomo castle to be kept as hostages. Shigetada lamented about the loss of more than three quarters of territory and his children and had offered to commit seppuku to Terumasa for his failures during the invasion of Northern Yagikoshu. However, Ogasawara Terumasa declined, saying that Shigetada's punishment would be slow and painful for being indecisive which led to the death of one of his retainers. Shigetada returned to Nagashino in despair and became a hermit from September of 1590 to March of 1591, writing no letters to his wives, his vassals or his children. Many people in Nagashino did not see him do political affairs and with dealing with the Ogasawara either; instead Shigetada was in the streets and shops of Nagashino to talk to its citizens, its merchants and peasants that supply Nagashino. It was believed that many of Shigetada's mercantile and agricultural laws that were implemented by the bakufu came from his interaction with local citizens. It was also here where Shigetada would meet Ii Naomasa, one of his four pillars, on a weapons shop. Naomasa had become a rōnin after the death of Taketoyo Sadahiro and his expulsion from Taketoyo Sadayori's vassals. Honda Shigetada employed Ii Naomasa in 2 January 1589 and Naomasa immediately offered to send his two children, Michiyo and Takechiyo to Otomo Castle as hostages.
In 18 March 1591, seeing Honda Shigetada's failure in securing the northern coast of Yagikoshu, Takigawa Kazumasu was tasked with the planned second invasion of Yagikoshu with the help of Yamagata Masakage. Terumasa targeted an invasion date of mid-March 1592. During the preparation period however, Takigawa Kazumasu saw a change in Ogasawara Terumasa's attitude that reminded him of the Ogasawara Terumune's demeanour during the Yuzawa Incident. Terumasa was more aggressive and more impatient; he would pay attention to every single detail of the invasion force, from the length of their spears to armour. Terumasa had also grown suspicious of Honda Shigetada, who had not answered the letters from him; neither did his own family and his vassals received any word from Shigetada about Terumasa's requests, even though they were in danger of being killed by the Ogasawara. In 3 February 1582, Terumasa would send an unusual expeditionary force of 800 people against Shigetada, which was unprecedented since Shigetada was his own vassal.
Terumasa would also force the Imperial Court, including Emperor Komei, to move to Otomo Castle by late May 1592, which is unprecedented during that period as the emperor is not allowed to leave the Imperial Palace complex unless under extreme distress such as a foreign invasion. Takigawa Kazumasu became extremely concerned as he knew that the repercussions of the Imperial Family being moved to Otomo Castle to be potentially slaughtered by Terumasa and Shigetomo's life being put into danger would destabilize Mitoyagi and put it very deep into civil war. Takigawa Kazumasu would send an expeditionary 1,000-strong force towards Nagashino to protect Shigetada while moving the majority of his troops towards the Port of Izu with a stopover in Okami in order to stop and assassinate Ogasawara Terumasa.
As planned, Ogasawara Terumasa would stay in Okami's Kofukuji temple. In 21 April 1592, the same day that Terumasa would perish in the Kofukuji coup, the Takigawa army led by Maeda Toshiie successfully repelled the small contingent of Ogasawara soldiers and would notify Honda Shigetada about the betrayal of Takigawa Kazumasu. The Honda clan would quickly group and proceeded to attack Otomo Castle in 3 March 1592, successfully freeing the children and wives of the Honda clan and would cause the destruction of the Otomo castle. Honda Shigetada would return to Nagashino and immediately make amends with Takigawa Kazumasu who now controls the majority of the Ogasawara clan's holdings in Haruguni. Takigawa Kazumasu restored Honda Shigetada's rice allocation to 125,000 koku and allow his vassals to return service to him.
Reunification of Mitoyagi[edit | edit source]
Conflict with Takigawa Kazumasu[edit | edit source]
After the events of 1592, the relationship between Honda Shigetada and Takigawa Kazumasu had become strained. Although they had made amends and restored some level of trust, tensions were still high.
In 1593, the conflict between the two escalated. Takigawa became increasingly concerned with the growing power of the Honda clan and their alliance with the powerful Sone clan. He feared that this could upset the delicate balance of power in the region and potentially lead to his own downfall. Takigawa's suspicions were confirmed when he discovered that Honda Shigetada was secretly amassing a large army. He believed that Shigetada was planning to attack and take over his territories. In response, Takigawa sent a messenger to Shigetada, demanding that he disband his army and submit to his authority.
Shigetada, however, refused to back down. He argued that his army was necessary for the defense of his lands and that he had no intention of attacking Takigawa. Despite these reassurances, Takigawa remained suspicious and decided to take preemptive action. In early summer of 1593, Takigawa led a surprise attack on Honda Shigetada's castle in Suemori. The attack caught the Honda forces off guard, and they suffered heavy losses. Shigetada himself narrowly escaped with his life.
The attack sparked a full-scale conflict between the two sides. Honda Shigetada rallied his forces and launched a counter-attack on Takigawa's territories. The fighting was fierce and lasted for several months, with both sides suffering heavy losses. In the end, neither side was able to gain a decisive victory. The conflict ended in a stalemate, with both sides agreeing to a ceasefire.