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'' ''

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 ...

s'' who fought against Hosokawa Katsumoto during 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 ...

Heian-kyō Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, mo ...

Biography

Yamana Sōzen was born to Yamana Tokihiro (1367–1435), head of the Yamana clan. Tokihiro was 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 ...

'' (provincial governor) of Tajima, Bingo, Aki, and Iga provinces. Tokihiro, who was often in bad health, retired in 1433 and passed his numerous lands to Sōzen. Sōzen went on to defeat Akamatsu Mitsuhide (1373–1441) of Akamatsu clan in the Kakitsu Incident, and became governor of Harima Province the same year. The Yamana clan had seen many defeats over the years, while the

Hosokawa clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group or Japanese clan, clan. The clan descends from the Seiwa Genji, a branch of the Minamoto clan, and ultimately from Emperor Seiwa, through the Ashikaga clan. It produced many prominent officials in the Ashikaga ...

was one of the three families which controlled the position of '' kanrei'', deputy to the shōgun. Thus, Yamana Sōzen resented the wealth and power enjoyed by his son-in-law, Hosokawa Katsumoto. Unwilling to engage him in open warfare until he was sure of his strength, Yamana chose to intervene in a number of succession disputes and other political affairs, thwarting Hosokawa's plans and desires, and slowly gaining allies for himself. In 1464, a succession dispute erupted over the shogunate itself. The shōgun,

Ashikaga Yoshimasa "Ashikaga Yoshimasa" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. was the eighth ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1449 to 1473 du ...

, was considering retirement. Hosokawa supported the Shōgun's brother, Ashikaga Yoshimi as the successor. Hino Tomiko, who was the mother of Ashikaga Yoshihisa, was against her husband's decision to give the shogunate to Yoshimi, so she sought military support to secure the succession of her son Yoshihisa. Yamana chose to support Yoshihisa, the Shōgun's infant son. In 1466, both sides having spent several years gathering forces, both Yamana and Hosokawa felt ready to engage the other, and skirmishes began to break out. In 1467, the first year of Ōnin by the

Japanese calendar Japanese calendar types have included a range of official and unofficial systems. At present, Japan uses the Gregorian calendar together with year designations stating the Japanese era name, year of the reign of the current Emperor. The written f ...

, both men began to prepare more seriously for the coming conflict; they sought safehouses and planned for fighting in the streets. Yamana took Yoshimi to the shōgun's residence, where Hosokawa, who supported Yoshimi's claim to the shogunate, could not get at him. He was essentially a hostage. Seeing that open war in the capital would spread to the provinces, the shōgun declared that the first to make an attack within the city would be labeled a rebel against the shogunate, and enemy of the state. Thus, for several months, the conflict quieted, neither side willing to make a move. Finally, in March 1467, the home of a Hosokawa officer was destroyed by fire. After several more minor attacks and political maneuvers, in May, Hosokawa attacked outright the mansion of one of Yamana's generals. Nevertheless, Yamana, not Hosokawa, was labeled a rebel, and enemy of the state. Some of Yamana's followers deserted, joining Hosokawa's morally superior side, but many more switched sides as a result of the work of Hosokawa's emissaries to the provinces where Yamana and his allies drew their armies. By New Year's of 1468, nearly a year since the war began, the fighting tapered off. For much of that year, the two forces engaged in glaring contests and limited sorties, both desiring to rebuild and to act only defensively. Both spent the next several years in political, not military, conflict, and in 1469, the shōgun named his son Yoshihisa as his heir. But Hosokawa was weary of battle, and wished for peace. However, by 1473, both Hosokawa and Yamana were dead.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamana, Sozen 1404 births 1473 deaths Daimyo Japanese Buddhist clergy 15th-century Japanese people People of the Muromachi period 1430s in Japan 1440s in Japan 1450s in Japan 1460s in Japan 1470s in Japan