was one of the most powerful and important families in Western Japan during the reign of the Ashikaga shogunate in the 14th to 16th centuries. Their domains, ruled from the castle town of Yamaguchi in the western tip of Honshu island, comprised six

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

at their height, and the Ōuchi played a major role in supporting the Ashikaga in the Nanboku-cho Wars against the Southern Imperial Court. The Ōuchi remained powerful up until the 1550s, when they were eclipsed by their former vassals, the Mōri clan.

History

The genealogical record specifies that the Ōuchi clan were descended from a

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

of the

royal house A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (; ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BCE to 660 CE. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. While the three kingdoms were in separate existence, Baekje had the h ...

, who moved to Japan in the 7th century. The ''Ōuchi-shi Jitsruroku'' (大内氏実録), a work of the historian Kondō Kiyoshi (近藤清石, 1833–1916), is one of the books which adopt this narrative. Some scholars dispute this circumstance, and point to traditions that might seem contradictory to each other. Modern day members of the Ouchi clan state that there is no dispute, and they strongly identify with Baekje. According to the ''Ō uchi Tatarashi fuch ō'' and the ''Ōuchi-shi Jitsruroku'', Prince Imseong is their first ancestor. Historically the Ōuchi clan emphasized their Korean heritage along with their Japanese identity to establish economic power based on international trade and wield political power. Based in

Suō Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of ancient Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Yamaguchi Prefecture. Suō bordered on Aki Province, Aki, Iwami Province, Iwami, and Nagato Province, Nagato Provinces. Its abbreviated form na ...

, towards the western end of

Honshū , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...

, the Ōuchi were among the primary families to be involved in foreign trade and relations, particularly with Ming China. Following the

Ōnin War The , also known as the Upheaval of Ōnin and Ōnin-Bunmei war, was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the Muromachi period in Japan. ''Ōnin'' refers to the Japanese era name, Japanese era during which the war started; the war ende ...

(1467–1477), a strong rivalry developed between the Ōuchi and the Hosokawa family, who were then in power. The two clashed at Ningbo in 1523, and as a result the Chinese closed

Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...

to Japanese traders. After the incident, the Ōuchi ships were only allowed to trade in China in 1540 and 1549. The Ōuchi also housed the Portuguese

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary

Francis Xavier Francis Xavier, Jesuits, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Kingdom of Navarre, Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus ...

for a time in 1551. As a result of their wealth and trading contacts, the Ōuchi gained renown in the worlds of art and culture as well. They possessed countless items of cultural and artistic significance and beauty, from Japan and China, as well as from further abroad. Particularly famous was the invitation by

Ōuchi Masahiro was a member of the Ōuchi clan and general in the Ōnin War, serving Yamana Sōzen. He battled numerous times with Yamana's rival, Hosokawa Katsumoto, at one point commanding 20,000 men and 2,000 boats, moving his troops by land as well as by s ...

of the famous painter Sesshū to Yamaguchi in 1486. In 1551, 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 ...

Ōuchi Yoshitaka was the ''daimyō'' of Suō Province and the head of the Ōuchi clan, succeeding Ōuchi Yoshioki. In 1522, he fought the Amago clan along with his father, Yoshioki, to win the control of Aki Province. Upon Yoshioki's death in 1528, Yoshit ...

tried to move

Emperor Go-Nara was the 105th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned from June 9, 1526, until his death in 1557, during the Sengoku period of the Muromachi period, Muromachi Bakufu. His personal name was Tomohito (知仁) ...

and his court from war-torn

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

to Yamaguchi. But the Ōuchi's chief military vassals opposed this plan, fearing that imperial courtiers would displace them. This led to the Tainei-ji incident, in which Yoshitaka was forced to commit suicide.

Sue Harukata was a samurai who served as a senior retainer of the Ōuchi clan in the Sengoku period in Japan. He was the second son of Sue Okifusa, a senior retainer of the Ōuchi clan. His childhood name was Goro, and he previously had the name Takafusa ...

, the leader of the rebellion, installed Ōuchi Yoshinaga as a puppet clan chief, but Yoshinaga was actually the younger brother of long-time Ōuchi rival Ōtomo Sōrin. This ended the Ōuchi line proper. In 1555,

Mōri Motonari was a prominent ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) in the western Chūgoku region of Japan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. The Mōri clan claimed descent from Ōe no Hiromoto (大江広元), an adviser to Minamoto no Yoritomo. Motonari w ...

, another former vassal of Yoshitaka, defeated Sue Harukata in the

Battle of Miyajima The 1555 was the only battle to be fought on the sacred island of Miyajima; the entire island is considered to be a Shinto shrine, and no birth or death is allowed on the island. Extensive purification rituals took place after the battle, to cl ...

. Two years later, Yoshinaga committed suicide, ending the Ōuchi clan.

Clan heads

# Ōuchi Morifusa (大内盛房) # Ōuchi Hiromori (大内弘盛) # Ōuchi Mitsumori (大内満盛) # Ōuchi Hironari (大内弘成, ? –1244) # Ōuchi Hirosada (大内弘貞, ? –1286) # Ōuchi Hiroie (大内弘家, 1274?–1300) # Ōuchi Shigehiro (大内重弘, ? –1320) # Ōuchi Hiroyuki (大内弘幸, ? –1352) # Ōuchi Hiroyo (大内弘世, 1325–1380) # Ōuchi Yoshihiro (大内義弘, 1356–1400) – Led a revolt against Shogun

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was the third '' shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate, ruling from 1368 to 1394 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshimitsu was Ashikaga Yoshiakira's third son but the oldest son to survive, his childhood name being Haruō (). Yoshimitsu ...

. # Ōuchi Moriakira (大内盛見, 1377–1431) # Ōuchi Mochiyo (大内持世, 1394–1441) # Ōuchi Norihiro (大内教弘, 1420–1465) #

(大内政弘, 1446–1495) – one of

Yamana Sōzen was originally before becoming a monk. Due to his red complexion, he was sometimes known as ''Aka-nyūdō'', "the Red Monk". He was one of the ''shogun'' ''daimyōs'' who fought against Hosokawa Katsumoto during the Ōnin War in Heian-kyō. Bi ...

's chief generals in the

. # Ōuchi Yoshioki (大内義興, 1477–1529) – Restored the shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane to power after a fifteen-year absence in 1508. #

(大内義隆, 1507–1551) – The lord who oversaw the height of Ōuchi power and saw it end abruptly. # Ōuchi Yoshinaga (大内義長, 1532?–1557) – The last Ōuchi lord, he was the son of Sengoku ''

'', Ōtomo Yoshiaki, and thus not of Ōuchi blood.

Notable retainers

* Sue Nagafusa * Hironaka Takakane * Iida Okihide

Prominent castles

* Ōuchi-shi Yakata : Ōuchi clan's main bastion * Kōnomine Castle : Supporting castle of Ōuchi-shi Yakata * Wakayama Castle : Sue clan's main bastion * Katsuyama Castle * Tsuwano Castle * Tsuchiyama Castle

Notes

References

*Sansom, George (1961). ''A History of Japan: 1334–1615''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. *Sansom, George Bailey (1962). ''Japan: A Short Cultural History''. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc. *Turnbull, Stephen (1998). ''The Samurai Sourcebook''. London: Cassell & Co. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ouchi family Japanese clans