Ōtomo (clan, Middle Ages)

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Coat of arms: apricot leaves
( 抱 き 杏 葉 , daki gyōyō)

The Ōtomo clan ( Japanese 大 友 氏 , Ōtomo-shi ) was a Japanese clan that was traced back to Fujiwara no Nagaie (1005-1064). The clan played an important role on Kyūshū , the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan , from the Kamakura period to the Sengoku period .

history

Kamakura time

  • Yoshinao ( 能 直 ) descendant of Fujiwara no Hidesato, was adopted by Nakahara Chikayoshi; he was the first to take the name Ōtomo. He served Minamoto Yoritomo in his 1189 campaign against Fujiwara no Yasuhira in Mutsu . In 1193 he was appointed provincial overseer ( Shugo ) over the province of Bungo and the province of Buzen in Kyūshū and the military governor ( 鎮西 奉行 , chinzei bugyō ) of the whole island. This created the basis for the great influence of the clan in Kyushu.

As one of the three great clans of Kyūshū, the Ōtomo along with the Shōni and the Shimazu had to make the greatest sacrifices for the defense against the Mongol invasions in Japan in 1274 and 1281. They also played an important role in the establishment of the Ashikaga shogunate in 1336. Bushi of the omtomoklan fought side by side with Ashikaga Takauji and enabled him to win some decisive battles , for example the Battle of Sanoyama , which in turn gave the clan influential positions in the new shogunate secured.

Sengoku time

  • Yoshinori ( 義 鑑 ; † 1550) fought for a long time against Hoshino Chikatada, who wanted to become independent in the province of Chikuzen . When he learned in 1542 that Europeans had landed in Tanegashima, he invited them to his house. Pinto came to Funai and caused a sensation with the demonstration of his firearms. Yoshinori was murdered by a henchman in a dispute over his successor.
Siegel as Francisco
  • Yoshishige ( 義 鎭 ; 1530–1587), usually called Sōrin ( 宗麟 ), invited Franz Xaver for two months in 1551 and was deeply impressed by him. But Xaver was also impressed and later referred to Sōrin as "King". Sōrin was very open to the Portuguese because he saw the technical and, possibly more importantly, economic advantage that it gained. In 1552 envoys of the Ōtomo clan traveled to Goa with Xavier to meet the governor of Portuguese India. Xavier and other Jesuit priests came back to Kyūshū, doing missionary work and traveling around; the tomo have always been kind to them. And as a result, many Japanese converted to Christianity in Bungo. - In 1551 Sōrin Kikuchi defeated Yoshimune, who had rebelled in the province of Higo . In 1556 he stifled the unrest, the priests of the great shrine Usa Hachiman-gū ( Buzen ). The next year he defeated Akizuki Kiyotane in Chikuzen Province and took possession of it. In 1562 he left Funai to his very young son Yoshimune and built a residence in Niyūshima, shaved his hair and took the name Sambisai Shōrin. Yoshishige remained active, however, marched in the province of Buzen and prepared to invade the province of Suō , where Mōri Takamoto prepared for him. But Shogun Yoshiteru stepped in and made peace. A daughter of Sōrin was married to Terumoto, son of Takamoto. Two years later he defeated Akizuki Tanezawa in Chikugo. 1578 he was inspired by Francesco Cabral on the name Francisco baptized. He spent the rest of his life fighting the Shimazu , but got into trouble with his neighbors and lost much of his property.
  • Yoshimune ( 義 続 ; 1558–1605) had taken over the management of the large property of his father in 1579. He also got into various arguments with his neighbors and especially with Toyotomi Hideyoshi , entrenched himself in his Ishitate castle (Bungo), which was captured by Kuroda Yoshitaka. He was then exiled to Hitachi .

That was the end of the Ōtomo clan.

  • Yoshinobu ( 義 続 ; † 1639), Yoshimune's son, was baptized as a child and given the name Fulgentius . He served the Tokugawa as a simple samurai and made a name for himself in the siege of Osaka.
  • Yoshitaka ( 義 続 ), grandson of Yoshimune, became a member of the "high families" ( Kōke ) in 1689 at the request of Nannaji no Miya , as did his descendants until the Meiji Restoration .

The eight vassals ( 大 友 将 , Ōtomo no Hasshō )

  • Tawara ( 田原 )
  • Takita
  • Tsurusaki ( 鶴 崎 )
  • Yoshioka ( 吉岡 )
  • Ibi ( 揖 斐 )
  • Yoshihiro
  • Kawakubo
  • Shiroi

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Furusawa, Tsunetoshi: Kamon daichō . Kin'ensha, n.d., ISBN 4-321-31720-7 , p. 227.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Kōke ( 高家 ) was a title that was given to some of the major deposed daimyo during the Tokugawa period: Takeda, Yokose, Hatakeyama, Yura, Imagawa, Oda, Ōtomo, Ōsawa, Kira, and others. a. These clans, a total of 26 families in 1848, had no properties or castles, but received a modest pension of less than 1,000 koku from Bakufu. However, they had various ceremonial tasks within the Bakufu.

literature

  • Papinot, Edmond: Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan. Reprinted by Tuttle, 1972 edition of 1910 edition. ISBN 0-8048-0996-8 .
  • Sansom, George (1961): A History of Japan: 1334-1615 . Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
  • Turnbull, Stephen (1998): The Samurai Sourcebook . London: Cassell & Co.

See also

Web links