Historians specializing in Muromachi politics during the rein of the 10th shogun Ashikaga
Yoshiki
足利義材 have thus far focused their attention on his banishment in 1493 (the Meio Incident), which resulted in the assumption of power by the Hosokawa family. Very little interest, however, has been shown toward the problem of
Yoshiki's
shogunal governance itself. By analyzing the characteristics and background of
Yoshiki's
direct judgments (gozen sata 御前沙汰), the author attempts to redress this imbalance and also to improve our understanding of the actual status of
Yoshiki's
reign. The shogun's direct judgments were usually recorded in the ukagaigoto kiroku 伺事記録, a record kept by the officials who screened matters for the shogun's approval. The record for 1490 and related documents illuminate the shifts in procedure and personnel affairs after the Onin War. The judgment process originally took place only in the presence of the shogun, but
Yoshiki
always received applications and transmitted his decisions through a rapporteur (moshitsugi 申次). Two reasons for this change can be adduced : (1)the new process provided an effective means of dealing with the increasing number of suits and applications, regardless of when the next shogunal audience was scheduled or what personnel were on duty ; and (2)the shogun's cloistered father, Yoshimi, exercised the real power within the administration, although he had himself never been shogun. The rapporteurs were selected from among those long-term confidents of Yoshimi and
Yoshiki
, such as HAMURO Mitsutada 葉室光忠, TANEMURA Gyobu 種村刑部 and ISSIKI Jibu 一色治部. Yoshimi and his son lacked confldent retainers within the court at the time of
Yoshiki's
succession, because Yoshimi had been the very leader of anti-shogun Western force during the Onin War (1467-1477). Yoshimi and
Yoshiki
therefore tended to place greater trust in their long-term confidents than in those who newly came into service at
Yoshiki's
court. As close retainers these rapporteurs were entrusted with supervising matters involving the shogun's direct judgment. The shogun's liege vassals can be divided into the three categories : (1)those who had served with him before the Onin War, that is, men who were not hereditary servants of the bakufu ; (2)those who came to serve under Yoshimi during the Onin War ; and (3)those who came into service after
Yoshiki's
succession. Most of the persons whose names came up in gozen sata documents represented categories (1) and (2). Shogunal confidence in them was 'high' but his reliance on them inevitably led to feelings of estrangement on the part of hereditary servants of the bakufu. This, in turn, hastened the decline of
Yoshiki
himself in the Meio Incident.
抄録全体を表示