Motonari Mouri (2/2)conspiracy god

In 1551, Sue Harukata rebelled and killed Yoshitaka Ouchi. Sue Harukata supported Yoshinaga Ouchi, who had been Yoshitaka Ouchi's adopted son, as the head of the Ouchi family (Daineiji Incident).

Motonari Mori approved of Sue Harukata's actions and established an ally with him. Motonari expanded his power by defeating the vassals of the Ouchi family who opposed Sue Harukata. However, Sue Haruken feels a sense of crisis over the expansion of Motonari. Harukata asked Motonari to return the territory where the Ouchi family's vassals had been captured, but Motonari refused. Eventually, the alliance between Mori Motonari and Sue Harukata came to an end and they began to conflict.

Motonari Mouri has decided to face off against Harukatsu Sue, but there is a big difference in scale. While Motonari centered on Aki Province, Harukata kept the Ouchi family, which had vast territory, under his control. Motonari plots to undermine Sue Harukata and weaken him.

In response, Sue Harukata entrusted 3,000 soldiers to his vassal Fusanoga Miyagawa to subjugate the Mori clan. Fusanoga Miyagawa arrived in Aki Province and set up camp. In response, Motonari attacked the camp, and Fusanoga Miyagawa was killed in action (Battle of Orishikihata). The opening battle ends with Motonari's victory.

After Fusanoga Miyagawa died in battle, in the first year of Koji (1555), Su Harukata himself led a large army to subjugate the Mori clan. He landed on Itsukushima in order to capture the Mori family's Miyao Castle, which was built on the island, which was a key transportation hub. However, the Murakami navy, which controlled the area around Itsukushima, sided with the Mori and was attacked from behind. Soldiers attacked from the castle as well, and Su Haruken, who was caught in a pincer attack, committed suicide. The power of the Ouchi clan, which had been effectively ruled by Sue Harukata, was greatly weakened.

Become the champion of the Chugoku region

Mori Motonari defeated Sue Harukata and defeated the threat. From here on, Motonari began attacking the Ouchi and Amago families and expanding his power. In 1557, four years after the Battle of Itsukushima, Motonari, who saw the internal conflict within the Ouchi family as an opportunity, defeated the head of the Ouchi family, Yoshinaga Ouchi, and brought the family to ruin. This brought the territory of the Ouchi family in the Chugoku region, excluding Kyushu, under its control.

However, the following year, the first year of Eiroku (1558). They invaded the San'in region in an attempt to take back the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, which had been taken by the Amago family, but were defeated and attacked again. However, three years later, in 1561, Haruhisa Amago, the head of the Amago family, passed away, and the Amago family was in turmoil. Taking advantage of this, Motonari once again invaded the San'in region. The Amago family confined themselves to Gassan-Tomida Castle, where they lived, and continued to rise and fall. Refraining from militarily forcing an invasion, Motonari devised a plan to induce the internal collapse of the Amago family, and in 1566, the Amago family was unable to continue its siege and fell into ruin.

In this way, Mouri Motonari developed into a feudal lord who ruled over eight countries along the Chugoku Route.

The end of Motonari

Mori Motonari defeated the Ouchi family and the Amago family and became the leader of the Chugoku region. However, the headship of the family was passed on to his eldest son, Takamoto Mori, but Takamoto died of illness during a battle with the Amago family.

Also, in the 1560s, Motonari Mori often fell ill. Yoshiteru Ashikaga, the shogun at the time, sent the famous doctor Dosan Naose to visit him and receive treatment. Dosan Maku Naose returned to Kyoto, but the Mori family and Dosan exchanged letters, and he continued to receive prescriptions for health management from Motonari. As a result of this interaction with Dosan Maku Naose, the Chugoku region, which had a weak medical infrastructure, was able to reform its medical system all at once.

In 1569, Motonari, who was in good health, went to Kyushu. He led the battle against the Mori army in Kyushu, but this was Motonari's last deployment.

The headship of the Mori family was succeeded by the eldest son Terumoto (grandson of Motonari Mori) of his eldest son Takamoto Mori, and the younger Terumoto was supported and managed by his second son Motoharu Yoshikawa and third son Takakage Kobayakawa.
Motonari Mori became ill in June 1571, fell into a critical condition, and passed away. The cause of death was said to be old age or esophageal cancer, at the age of 75.

After Motonari Mori's death, his grandson Terumoto Mori became the head of the family. Terumoto was in conflict with Nobunaga Oda, who rose from Owari Province and established hegemony mainly in the Kinki region. Furthermore, after forming an alliance with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who established the government after Nobunaga's death, he entered the shogunate.

However, after Hideyoshi's death, he came into conflict with Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara. Terumoto's western army was defeated, and the Mori family was reduced to two kingdoms, Suo Province and Nagato Province, and entered the Edo period.

three arrows

The teaching of ``Three Arrows'' is a teaching that Mori Motonari gave to his eldest son Takamoto Mori, second son Motoharu Yoshikawa, and third son Takakage Kobayakawa about the unity of the family when he was about to die. The content was that one arrow breaks easily, but three arrows do not break easily. The story is said to originate from a handwritten letter written by Motonari in 1557 called ``Triple Lesson Letter'', and ``Three Arrows'' itself is said to be a work of fiction.

A similar story of the ``Three Arrows'' is told in ancient Greece's ``Aesop's Fables,'' and in China's ``Weishu: The Legend of Tu and the Valley.'' So where did Motonari's ``three arrows'' anecdote come from?

One possibility is the ``Maebashi Kyuzomonsho'' compiled in the Edo period, and this episode is said to be based on Motonari's deathbed calling a large number of children together and telling them about ``The Three Arrows.'' It may have been passed down as an anecdote about Mitsuya's teachings. However, as Motonari's ``Triple Children's Letter of Instruction'' shows, Mori Motonari must have been a person who encouraged family unity and valued the circle of people.

Mori Motonari Festival

Graveside festival for Motonari Mori

Motonari Mouri occupied Yoshida Koriyama Castle in present-day Akitakada City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and conquered 10 countries in Sanyo and San'in in his lifetime.
Motonari's grave is located on the ruins of Yoshida Koriyama Castle. Motonari died on June 14, 1571 (old calendar), but his death anniversary falls on July 16 (new calendar). Therefore, on July 16th every year, a festival is held in memory of Motonari, the Mori Motonari Grave Festival. On the morning of this day, a festival to honor Motonari's father, Hiromoto Mori, is held at Hiromoto's grave at the foot of Mt. Tajihi Sarukake Castle, and the festival is held from there. Normally, Motonari's grave can only be viewed from outside the fence, but on this day only, the gate to the grave is opened and the general public can worship inside the Tamagaki fence.

Isshin Festival

"Isshin Festival" is a festival held in the Yoshida district of Akitakada City. It is held every year from mid-July to late July to honor the great accomplishments of the Mori clan, which built its hegemony around Yoshida-Koriyama Castle.
As torches were lit, flags fluttered, and conch shells were blown, there was a Samurai Emaki in which Motonari Mouri chants the lesson of the Three Sons to his three sons, and the Isshinbushi Odori, a local Bon festival dance. , fireworks are set off, and it's exciting. Isshin Festival colors Akitakada's summer.

Yoshida Koriyama Castle

Yoshida Koriyama Castle was a castle located in Yoshida-cho, Akitakada City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and was the residence of the Mori clan.

It is not clear when the castle was built, but it is thought to have been built after Tokichika Mori, the founder of the Mori clan, moved to Aki Province. At first, Koriyama Castle was just a fort, no different from the castles of ordinary people of the country or local ruling families. This was the same even when Motonari Mori became the head of the family. However, it seems that some expansion work was being carried out, and during the Motonari era, it was developed not only as a castle for fighting, but also as a castle for vassals to live in.

In the era following Motonari, around the time of Terumoto Mori, there was no castle tower, but stone walls, roof tiles, and gold-leaf tiles were used.

However, Yoshida Koriyama Castle was located outside of the transportation hub. When Hiroshima Castle was built in 1591, vassals and merchants from the castle town moved to the castle town, and it gradually fell into disuse.

In 1615, Yoshida Koriyama Castle was demolished under the Edo Shogunate's One Country One Castle Order, and its stone walls and moat were also torn down and removed. In the modern era, Yoshida Koriyama Castle Ruins was designated as a national historic site in 1940, and in 1988 surrounding castles were added to the site, making it the "Mori Clan Castle Ruins, Tajihi Sarukake Castle Ruins, and Koriyama Castle Ruins."

In addition, in 1990, the Akitakada City Museum of History and Folklore opened, exhibiting materials related to the Mori clan, and with the development of a park, the area has become a popular place for citizens.