The was a peasant uprising demanding debt cancellation that occurred in 1441, the 1st year of Kakitsu, in Kyoto and surrounding areas such as

Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...

Background

In August, amidst the political chaos following the assassination in June of the 6th shōgun Ashikaga Yoshinori, peasants revolted, with the bashaku of Kyoto and Sakamoto and Otsu in

at their core, in demand of a comprehensive debt cancellation order on the basis of "daihajime no tokusei", debt relief on the occasion of the ascension of a new shōgun.

Jizamurai The were lower-ranking provincial samurai that emerged in 15th-century Japan Muromachi period. The definition was rather broad and the term ''jizamurai'' included landholding military aristocracy as well as independent peasant farmers. They alt ...

took the leadership of the movement and it swelled into a revolt of several tens of thousands of people. This insurrection did not spread everywhere, but rather formed a ring around Kyoto.

Rebellion

After severing communication between Kyoto and the outside world, the rebel army attacked

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

merchants, storehouse money brokers, and

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

. Under the guidance of ji-samurai, the rebel force acted in an organized manner and kept a lid on wanton looting. They occupied

Tō-ji , also known as is a Shingon Buddhist temple in the Minami-ku, Kyoto, Minami-ku ward of Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 796, Tō-ji Temple was one of the only three Buddhist temples allowed in the city at the time it became the capital of Japan. As s ...

and

Kitano Tenmangū is a Shinto shrine in Kamigyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. History The shrine was first built in 947 to appease the angry spirit of bureaucrat, scholar and poet Sugawara no Michizane, who had been exiled as a result of political maneuvers of his enemi ...

and blockaded Tanbaguchi and Nishihachijou. At the beginning of the uprising Mitsutsuna Rokkaku, the

shugo , commonly translated as ' ilitarygovernor', 'protector', or 'constable', was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the shogun to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The position gave way to th ...

of Ōmi Province, issued his debt's cancellation order, but because

Enryaku-ji is a Tendai monastery located on Mount Hiei in Ōtsu, overlooking Kyoto. It was first founded in 788 during the early Heian period (794–1185) by Saichō (767–822), also known as Dengyō Daishi, who introduced the Tendai sect of Mahayana ...

opposed it, their contracted bashaku of Omi were alienated from the rebels and even opposed them as they went further in occupying

Kiyomizu-dera is a Buddhist temple located in eastern Kyoto, Japan. The temple is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto UNESCO World Heritage Site. History The temple was established in 778, during the late Nara period, by Enchin Shonin, who ...

. While the shogunate at first intended to get a handle on the situation by promulgating a debt relief order for peasants only, the rebels were trying to get the support of members of the establishment by demanding comprehensive debt cancellation at a flat province-wide rate that also included the

kuge The was a Japanese Aristocracy (class), aristocratic Social class, class that dominated the Japanese Imperial Court in Kyoto. The ''kuge'' were important from the establishment of Kyoto as the capital during the Heian period in the late 8th ce ...

and buke. Furthermore, the

kanrei or, more rarely, ''kanryō'', was a high political post in feudal Japan; it is usually translated as ''shōguns deputy''. After 1349, there were actually two ''Kanrei'', the ''Kyoto Kanrei'' and the ''Kantō Kanrei''. But originally from 1219 unt ...

Mochiyuki Hosokawa had accepted a bribe of 1,000 kanmon from the storehouse money brokers before he released an order to dispatch troops for their protection, and the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' who knew about the bribe refused his order. In the case of the ''daimyō'' Mochikuni Hatakeyama, he opposed the suppression of the uprising because his own vassals were involved in it, and the situation became even more chaotic. Finally the 7th ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

'' Ashikaga Yoshikatsu accepted their demands and issued a comprehensive debt cancellation order, the "Yamashiro Ikkoku Heikin Tokuseirei", which included debt from land sold in perpetuity by farmers less than 20 years ago.Suzanne Marie Gay, The moneylenders of late medieval Kyoto (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001), 136. Because the shogunate released an official debt cancellation order, as opposed to their eventual refusal to do so during the Shōchō Uprising, the shogunate's authority was greatly damaged.

References

Bibliography

* Akira Imatani『足利将軍暗殺嘉吉土一揆の背景』（新人物往来社、1994年） * Akira Imatani『土民嗷々一四四一年の社会史』（東京創元社創元ライブラリ、2001年）　上著の文庫版 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kakitsu Uprising Conflicts in 1441 1440s in Japan 15th-century rebellions Riots and civil disorder in Japan Peasant revolts in Japan Ikki