Ijuin Tadakuni (伊集院忠国)
Tadakuni IJUIN (date of birth and death unknown) is a person of Satsuma Province from the end of Kamakura period to the early Muromachi period. He is a family member of the Satsuma Shimazu clan and the fifth family head of the Ijuin clan. His job grade is Nagato no kami (Governor of Nagato Province). His sons and daughters includes Hisauji Ijuin (the sixth family head), a daughter (a wife of Ujihisa SHIMAZU), Nanchu Keishu (the founder of Taiteizan Kozai-ji Temple) and Sekioku Shinryo (the founder of Gakkozan Taiun-ji Temple).
Career
The fifth family head of the Ijuin clan. A son of the fourth family head Tadachika IJUIN. The lord of Satsuma Ijuin. When the disturbance of Northern and Southern Court began, he supported Takauji ASHIKAGA along with Sadahisa SHIMAZU, the fifth family head of the Shimazu Soke family, in the beginning. When Takauji ASHIKAGA was defeated by the Southern Court and escaped to Kyushu, he went to the battlefield of Kita Kyushu in response to Sadahisa's invitation to defeat the Kikuchi clan, a local ruling family in Chikugo Province supporting the Southern Court. Tadakuni, who returned to Satsuma, belonged the Southern Court and raised an army at his own castle, Ichiuji-jo Castle, just after Imperial Prince Kaneyoshi (the ninth son of Emperor Godaigo) was appointed as Seisei Shogun (literally, "great general who subdues the western barbarians") and Yasusue SANJO, a court noble of the Southern Court, arrived at Satsuma as advance agent in 1337. There was a lot of local ruling families belonged to the Southern Court, but Tadakuni was the only one person among the Simazu clan who belonged to the Southern Court.
In August of the same year, the Southern Court including Tadakuni invaded Izaku to fight against the Northern Court let by Hisanaga SHIMAZU of the Izaku family, but it was indecisive. Sadahisa, who was fighting in Kyoto at the time, found the crisis of his main domain and ordered his first son of concubine Yorihisa KAWAKAMI and Hisanaga's son Munehisa SHIMAZU to return to the domain to attack the Soutnern Court. Yorihisa and Munehisa besieged Ichiku no in of Ijuin side after returning the domain. Tadakuni raised an army to save Ishiku no in, but abandoned the castle two month later. After the fall of Ichiku no in-jo Castle, Tadakuni supported kaneshige KIMOTSUKI of Osumi Province along with local ruling families of the Southern Court to fight against the Northern Court in Nansatsu region. In 1338, Tadakuni commanded 如厳 MURATA of a busho (commanding officer) to attack the load of Kiirein, Sanetada IZUMI (a younger brother of Sadahisa SHIMAZU). Although 如厳 MURATA captured two castles of Kiirein and besieged Ikariyama-jo Castle, the castle of the Shimazu head family, he lifted the siege three months later because of stiff resistance.
In 1340, when Sadahisa SHIMAZU returned to the domain and attacked the Southern Court, Tadakuni escaped from Ichiuji-jo Castle to hirajiro (castles built on the level ground). As the castles of the Southern Court in Kagoshima were falling one after another, Tadakuni tried to regain the power and recaptured castles in Kagoshima along with Kaneshige KIMOTSUKI when Sadahisa left from Kagoshima. In 1342, When Imperial Prince Kaneyoshi arrived at Satsuma, the Southern Court of Satsuma and Osumi including Tadakuni got together in Taniyama-jo Castle where the Imperial Prince stayed. Sadahisa rapidly attacked Taniyama-jo Castle but he was defeated, and the ascendancy of the Southern Court such as the injury of Sadahisa's son, Ujihisa, continued. Tadakuni took control of Matsuo-jo Castle in Koriyama and put the areas south of Koriyama under the control of the Southern Court in 1350.
There is little achievement after the occupation of Koriyama, and subsequent detail is unknown. However, it seems that he supported the Shimazu Soke family in this period because of the things: Sadahisa and Ujihisa surrendered to the Southern Court in 1351 and after that Hisauji, a son of Tadakuni, followed Ujihisa to attack the Hatakeyama clan of the Southern Court (the Simazu clan repeated subordination and estrangement according to the situation); a daughter of Tagakuni is a wife of Ujihisa.
Tadakuni, who opposed to the Shimiazu Soke family, was described as 'vicious clique' or 'bandit' in "the archives of the House of Shimazu", but after the Meiji period he was given the rank of Jusanmi (Junior Third Rank) for his loyalty to the Southern Court.