Uesugi Fusasada (上杉房定)
Fusasada UESUGI (1433, date of birth unknown - December 4, 1493) was a person in the Muromachi period and the Sengoku period (period of warring states in Japan). He was a Shugo Daimyo (Japanese territorial lord as provincial constable) of Echigo Province. He was a son of Kiyokata UESUGI. He was an adopted son of Fusatomo UESUGI. He was a father of Sadamasa UESUGI, Akisada UESUGI, and Fusayoshi UESUGI. He was a kokushi (a local government official) of Echigo Province. He was Minbu shoyu (Junior Assistant Minister of Popular Affairs). He was Sagami no kuni no kami (a governor of Sagami Province). His Buddhist name was Tsuneyasu. According to another version, a father of the lawful wife of Hisamune DATE was Fusasada instead of Sadazane UESUGI.
Assumption of Office as Echigo Shugo (provincial constable of Echigo Province) and Reins of the Province
When his adoptive father Fusatomo died in 1449, Fusasada inherited shugoshiki (or, shugoshoku: post of provincial constable) of Echigo. The next year, Fusasada returned to Echigo. Successive Echigo shugo up to Fusatomo had governed Echigo while staying in Kyoto, but Fusasada returned to Echigo, most likely to cope with the rebellious Shugodai (deputy of Shugo, provincial constable) Kunikage NAGAO. Just then, Fusasada began persuading the Muromachi bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) into bringing Kamakura kubo (kubo: shogunal representative) back and making Eijuomaru (later, Shigeuji ASHIKAGA) who was a son of the deceased former Kamakura kubo Mochiuji ASHIKAGA inherit the hereditary position in the Kanto region to quell the disorder there in the aftermath of the Eikyo War. Kunikage NAGAO remonstrated to Fusasada that Eijuomaru's inheriting the post would intensify the unrest, which was taken by Fusasada (Kunikage's superior) as a slight on him, and so he arrested Kunikage and forced him to commit suicide, and defeated Kunikage's legitimate son Sanekage NAGAO who revolted against him.. Thereafter, Fusasada appointed Yorikage NAGAO and Shigekage NAGAO, who were from a branch family of Nagao and served as his entourage, to Shugodai and he delegated them to govern the province.
Kyotoku War and Fusasada
Fusasada successfully made Eijuomaru inherit the Kanto region, but the misgivings by Kunikage NAGAO came true in the end when Shigeuji ASHIKAGA (Eijuomaru) came of age and schemed to subjugate the Uesugi clan, which triggered the Kyotoku War. Accordingly, Fusasada fought against Shigeuji as the Uesugi clan.
Fusasada entered the Kanto region in 1455 and spent the following 16 years battling in various parts of the region against warlords on the Shigeuji's side who took refuge in Koga-jo Castle and declared themselves 'Koga kubo.'
When Kanto kanrei (a shogunal deputy for the Kanto region) Fusaaki UESUGI (the Yamanouchi-Uesugi family) died childless in battle in 1466, Fusasada gave his biological son Tatsuwaka (later, Akisada) to the family to comply with a request from Kagenobu NAGAO who was under the orders of Seii taishogun (Barbarian Subduing Generalissimo) Yoshimasa ASHIKAGA, and had Tatsuwaka succeed to Kanto kanrei. When Yorikage NAGAO stayed behind and looked after Echigo Province, as Shugodai died in 1469, Fusasada started feeling uneasy about the internal affairs of Echigo and returned in 1471, leaving his legitimate son Sadamasa in Shiroi-jo Castle in Kozuke Province. While working hard to manage the government of Echigo from that time on, he also strived to reconcile the Uesugi clan and the bakufu with Koga kubo, acting as an intermediary in peace negotiations which started in 1481 between the two parties. Meanwhile, Fusasada was also appointed to Hangoku Shugo (military governor in charge of the half area of the Province) of Shinano Province in 1477, which demonstrated the confidence the bakufu held in him.
Chokyo War and Fusasada
When Akisada who succeeded the head of the Yamanouchi-Uesugi family intended to hold back the rise of the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi family and came into conflict with the family, Fusasada sought to be installed as kokushi in Sagami Province by Shogun Yoshihisa ASHIKAGA and assumed office in 1487 (To return the courtesy of that treatment, Fusasada presented 30 rolles of cloth made in Echigo to Yoshihisa). That was virtually a declaration of divesting the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi family of its position of kokushu (kokushu daimyo), because Sagami was ryoseikoku (province) where the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi family served as Shugo. In the same year, Akisada declared war on Sadamasa UESUGI of the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi family, which was the beginning of the Chokyo War. Needless to say, Fusasada fully backed Akisada and went to the Kanto region to go to battle in 1488. Although Akisada lost three main battles in a row and reportedly had Sadamasa gain an advantage over him at the beginning, Akisada managed to sustain the battles thanks to his father Fusasada's support which encouraged Akisada to fight off the enemy after Sadamasa's death..
Later Years of Fusasada
Echigo Province did not have any notable disturbances after the downfall of Sanekage NAGAO, and court nobles and Buddhist monks who were known as leading intellectuals such as Masayasu ASUKAI, Shukyu BANRI, and Doko of Shogo-in Temple began to go down to Echigo, escaping from Kyoto which had been devastated by the Onin War. Fusasada generously protected them, thereby contributing to the cultural advancement in Echigo.
In 1491, Shogunal Deputy Masamoto HOSOKAWA secretly visited Echigo Province. It was ostensibly recorded that Fusasada persuaded Masamoto not to go to practice Shugendo (the Way of Mountain Asceticism) in Oshu (Northern Honshu, the region encompassing Mutsu and Dewa provinces) and to return to Kyoto; however, in recent studies, it was supposed that Masamoto came to request cooperation of Fusasada and his son Akisada in his plan to depose Shogun Yoshitane ASHIKAGA.
In 1493, in later years of Fusasada, Fusanaga HONJO and Yorizane KUROKAWA of Agakitashu revolted, which was suppressed by the efforts of Yoshikage NAGAO (Shigekage's son). Fusasada died in 1494, and as his heir Sadamasa died ahead of him, his youngest son Fusayoshi succeeded him.