SHIGAKU ZASSHI
Online ISSN : 2424-2616
Print ISSN : 0018-2478
ISSN-L : 0018-2478
On Ashikaga Yoshihisa's regime, as seen through the formation of the hyojoshu (councillors) during his expedition to Omi
Kaoru Shidara
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1989 Volume 98 Issue 2 Pages 216-238,291-29

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Abstract

Scholars have scarcely dealt in suitable detail with the political structure and function of the Muromach Shogunate after the Onin-Bunmei War (1467-77). This essay clarifies the actual circumstances behind the 9th Shogun Yoshihisa's 義尚 decision making by means of gozen sata 御前沙汰 (direct judgement) and discusses its significance in connection with Bakufu politics. Until his expedition to Omi province in 1487 in order to surpress Rokkaku Takayori 六角高頼, a shugo who had ignored shogunal ordinances, Yoshihisa as shogun had had no political power. The ex-Shogun Yoshimasa 義政, his father, conducted Bakufu administration directly through his bugyoshu 奉行衆 (magistrates). Yoshihisa, however, stayed in Omi with his hokoshu 奉公衆 (immediate retainers) as well as the said bugyoshu for one year and half until his death due to illness. Yoshihisa's administrative and judicial decisions while in the battlefield were made by means of relying on consultation from his hyojoshu 評定衆 (councillors) selected from among his reliable entourage, instead of adopting his father's practice of presiding over the "magistrates". The newly established hyojoshu was different from the group of the same name once composed of hereditary bureaucrats (whose ancestors served the Kamakura Shogunate), and was composed of persons of different social background, free of tradition, and competent to become his advisors or even his surrogates. This fact suggests that Yoshihisa secured his power by relying on his own entourage and new councillors, thus reducing the influence of the "magistrates" then still entrusted by his father to the submission of advisory reports (iken 意見). Previous scholars have maintained that Yoshihisa's regime in Omi was initiated by the "immediate retainers". Indeed, the main body of the military force consisted of these retainers, and their services were vindicated by Yoshihisa, but the nuclear group of "councillors" was not necessarily composed of representatives of these "retainers". The expedition, judging from an examination of Inryoken Nichiroku 蔭凉軒日録 and other contemporary source materials, was positively intended by Yoshihisa himself to effect a separation from his father yoshimasa and his liege vassals, including "immediate retainers" and "magistrates", and to form his own system of decision making. The author concludes that (1)previous studies emphasized the voice and influence of the "magistrates (bugyoshu)" which grew larger in shogunal decision making after the Onin-Bunmei War, but the shogun's entourage (sokkinshu 側近衆) also played an important role in this procedure ; (2)the "councillors (hyojoshu)" newly established during the reign of Yoshihisa can be taken as the precursor of the "inner consultants (naidanshu 内談衆)", who would appear later during the reign of the 12th Shogun Yoshiharu 義晴.

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© 1989 The Historical Society of Japan
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