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Updated: June 3, 2025
Nitta Yoshisada ought to have stood next in order; then Akamatsu Norimura; then Nawa Nagatoshi, and finally Ashikaga Takauji.* In the case of Takauji, there was comparatively little merit. He had taken up arms against the Imperial cause at the outset, and even in the assault on Rokuhara he had been of little service. Yet to him the Crown allotted the greatest honour and the richest rewards.
So soon as the shogun and his personal attendants had passed the portals of the Akamatsu mansion, the horses in the stables were set free as though by accident; the gates were closed to prevent the escape of the animals; Yoshinori with his small retinue, being thus caught in a trap, were butchered; the mansion was fired, and Mitsusuke with seven hundred followers rode off in broad daylight to his castle in Harima, whence, assisted by the monk, Gison, he sent circulars in all directions inciting to revolt.
It now became his task to bend to his will the overstrong and over-presumptuous among the concerted families of the Ashikaga. Foremost of these were the Akamatsu, their chief, a man whose personality invited contumely. The shogun disliked Mitsusuke, and found it an agreeable occupation to slight him. Gradually the Akamatsu leader became bitterly estranged.
Kusunoki Masashige, governor of Settsu, Kawachi, and Izumi. Nawa Nagatoshi, governor of Inaba and Hoki. Nitta Yoshisada, governor of Kotsuke and Harima. One name left out of this list was that of Akamatsu Norimura, who had taken the leading part in driving the Hojo from Rokuhara, and who had been faithful to the Imperial cause throughout.
It was now the time when Kamakura's mischievous potentialities had been finally destroyed, and to commemorate the event, entertainments in the shogun's honour were organized by the heads of the great military families. On the 6th of August, 1441, it fell to Akamatsu Mitsusuke to act as his host.
The plan of campaign was that Takaiye's army should march southward through Settsu, and, having crushed Akamatsu Norimura, who occupied that province, should advance through Harima and Mimasaka into Hoki; while Takauji, moving northward at first by the Tamba highway, should ultimately turn westward and reach Hoki by the littoral road of the Japan Sea.
Thus, Yusa of the Hatakeyama, Oda of the Shiba, Uragami of the Akamatsu, and so forth are examples of deputies who resided permanently in the provinces concerned and acquired influence there superior even to that of their principals. These daikwan were selected from among the members or vassals of a shugo's family to act provisionally as shugo-dai.
Something must also be attributed to a clever ruse on the part of Akamatsu Norimura. He sent to Yoshisada's headquarters a message promising to give his support to the Imperialists if he was appointed high constable of Harima. Ten days were needed to obtain the commission from Kyoto, and Norimura utilized the interval to place the defenses of Shirahata fortress in a thoroughly secure condition.
As for the Kamakura Ashikaga, the three remaining sons of Mochiuji fled to Koga in Shimosa, where two of them were subsequently killed by a Kamakura army, and the third, Shigeuji, fared as has already been described. It has been shown that Akamatsu Norimura was among the captains who contributed most to the triumph of the Ashikaga cause.
Yoshizumi, the eleventh shogun, who, as related above, fled from Kyoto in 1508, dying three years later in exile, left two sons: Yoshiharu, whom he committed to the charge of Akamatsu Yoshimura, and Yoshikore, whom he entrusted to Hosokawa Sumimoto. In 1521, Takakuni invited Yoshiharu, then eleven years old, to the capital and procured his nomination to the shogunate.
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