THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL INSTITUTE THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

#141
141. GRANT OF MOMO-TSUGI TO IRIKI-IN SHIGETOMO,1536

(A copy on Iriki-in docs.; also KK, V.)
DURING the half-century following the oaths of 1481 (No. 137), the Iriki-in family had two great
opportunities for aggrandizement, which it exploited with marked ability.
In 1484-1485, a sectional quarrel about Obi in south Hiuga suddenly assumed serious aspects
when the Ito lords, the historic enemy of the Shimadzu, brought to the field thousands of knights
from north Hiuga and sought to control this strategic point. Shimadzu Takehisa personally led
an army of more than 5,000 men, and succeeded in inflicting upon the enemy a signal defeat.
Among his forces were 1,300 men under Shimadzu Takado, of Cho-sa, and these probably included
contingents from Iriki. While this campaign was absorbing the shu-go's attention, most of the
stronger warrior-families in Satsuma beyond the Iriki or other mountain ranges rose, not so much
in open rebellion, as with a view to taking advantage of the moment and seizing the territiories of
weaker neighbors. It was thus that the Togo and the Taki, assisted by the Keto-in, captured the
fortress of Midzu-hiki, west of the Niita temple, in the middle of February 1485; and that the
Iriki-in took the now historic stronghold of Ikari-Yama about the same time. The former was lost
within two months to men of Idzumi,¹ but the Iriki-in held the latter, and made it an important
outpost of their expanding sphere of influence. Such acts were condoned by the shu-go, partly be-
cause he was occupied elsewhere, but chiefly because he needed the support of the Shibuya in his
almost incessant struggles with his antagonists, in which, it must be said, the Iriki-in proved faith-
ful in warlike service.
The renewed turmoil in south Osumi which broke out about 1494,² and which grew worse from
1506³ with the defection of the powerful Kimotsuki at Ko-yama, drove the unfortunate shu-go,
Shimadzu Tadamasa, formerly Takehisa, to despondency. Valiant but of a high-strung temper he
died in abject despair, perhaps by his own hands, in 1508, at the age of 45.³ In the next eighteen
years, four lords-Tadaharu, 1508-1515, Tadataka, 1515-1519, Katsuhisa, 1519-1526, and Takahisa,
1526-(1566)-succeeded one another, and, in the laconic style of the official history of the Shimadzu,
"the three kuni were in great commotion,"
The second opportunity for the Iriki-in came with the rebellion of Shimadzu Sanehisa against
the shu-go about 1526. Established at the strategic Idzumi, in northwest Satsuma, where his branch
of the Shimadzu had implanted its influence for several generations, Sanehisa had gradually ex-
tended his control, not only over Taki and Midzu-hiki, but further south into regions westward
from Momo-tsugi and Yamada, thus bringing him into direct conflict with the Iriki-in, (cf. Nos.
131, 133, and 136), and threatened to assail Kagoshima itself. The interests of the shu-go and the
Iriki-in were now largely common ,for the former's security would depend upon the success of the
latter against the same enemy. Having already about 1510 received from the former shu-go Tada-
haru the grant of Kuma-no-zho,⁴ which, however, was probably purely nominal, Iriki-in Shigetoshi
and his son Shigetomo waged frequent wars in 1529 and 1530 with Sanehisa about Yamada and
Momo-tsugi.⁴ In 1536, Katsuhisa, who had been ignominiously ousted from Kagoshima by Sane-
hisa, granted to Iriki-in Shigetomo, by the following document, the fortress of Momo-tsugi, which
was being strongly held by his enemy Sanehisa. The grant, therefore, implied that the grantee
might, if he would, take it at the point of his sword . It was not until 9 October 1539 that Shige-
tomo at last took possession of the fortress by a night assault. Two months before, Shigetomo, in
consideration of his loyal service for Shimadzu Takahisa in his campaign at Ichiku,⁵ was given by
the latter "a strict order," as the compiler of the Kiyoshiki ki-kan (V) puts it, "to conquer and
take (kasume-toru, literally, to snatch) the region of Sen-dai."⁶ By the end of 1539, "[Shigetomo]
had taken," continues the same account, "Kuma-no-zho, as well as Ta-zaki, Hirasa, Miyo-sato, and
Takae, all which had been Sanehisa's domains. Sanehisa having been defeated serveral times, these
places all became the possessions of the [Iriki-in] family by this battle [of 21 October]. [Shigetomo]
transferred Taneda Kii no kami Shigetoshi and others to Kuma-no-zho, and bade them defend it."
These newly acquired places, together with Kwan-do and Naga-toshi, which had been granted previ-
ously, comprised much of the region reaching out to the seashore, and this dominion was nearly
contiguous with Iriki in. The family now had risen to the height of its power.⁷
P302
"THE domain of the Momo-tsugi fortress, in Sen-dai kori,⁸ Satsuma kuni, is
vested (ade okonau) in you, as reward of your loyal service. You shall forthwith, in
accordance with this order, hold [the same]. Ordered thus.
"Ten-mon 5 y. 7 m. 23 d. [9 August 1536]. Katsuhisa, monogram.
"Iriki-in dono."

¹Shimadzu koku-shi, xii, 8-11; San-goku mei-sho dzu-ye, xiii, 12, xiv, 17.
²Shimadzu k. s., xii, 14. ³Ibid., xii, 16.
⁴ KK, IV. ⁵Shimadzu k. s., xvi, 14.
⁶This refers to the region south of the river Sendai, west of Iriki in.
⁷The Shimadzu of Idzumi had given up "the region of Sen-dai," but were still strongly en-
trenched in the north, and their quarrels with the Togo continued twenty years longer.
⁸There was no such kori; the right name should be Satsuma kori. Such careless use of names of
territorial divisions was not infrequent; documents in this volume contain abundant examples.