Uesugi Tomomasa (上杉朝昌)
Tomomasa UESUGI (date of birth and death unknown) was a person of the Ogigayatsu Uesugi clan in the late Muromachi period (the early Warring States period). He was also called Tomomasa NANASAWA because he lived in the Nanasawa-jo Castle.
This article describes not only Tomomasa, but also Tomoyasu and a dowager of Norifusa UESUGI, one of his children.
Summary
Many parts of Tomomasa's life are unknown, but it is considered that at first he called himself Honto as a Buddhist monk in the Shokoku-ji Temple in Kyoto, and in 1458, a person was granted an audience with Seitaishogun (the great, unifying leader) Yoshimasa ASHIKAGA as a representative of Mochitomo, Tomomasa's father, and this person is regarded as Tomomasa.
In the beginning of the Kyotoku War, Tomomasa was a postulant in Rokuonin of the Shokoku-ji Temple, but later he quit the priesthood for some reason, took part in dominating the territory of the Ogigayatsu Uesugi family, and entered the Nanasawa Fort in the Sagami province (the present Atsugi City, Kanagawa Prefecture). The Nanasawa Fort was an important point in the Sagami Naka County and the Oba Fort where he later protected was an important point in the Sagami Higashi County, and therefore, it is considered that Tomomasa was in the position that substantially ruled both counties by the Ogigayatsu Uesugi clan. Moreover in 1480, Tomomasa sent a gift to Yoshimasa ASHIKAGA and Yoshihisa ASHIKAGA, father and son, and this suggests that he communicated with the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) on his own apart from the family head of the Ogigayatsu Uesugi clan, and that he was in politically high position. These cases suggest that the family was very powerful in the Ogigayatsu Uesugi clan.
When the Kageharu NAGAO Rebellion occurred, Tomomasa joined the attack on Yasutsune TOSHIMA together with Dokan OTA, Yoritane CHIBA, etc. in 1477 (Battle of Egota-Numabukurohara).
When the Chokyo Rebellion, an internal discord of the Uesugi family, started, the Nanasawa Fort fell by the invasion of Kanto Kanrei (a shogunal deputy for the Kanto region) Akisada UESUGI in 1488, and therefore, Tomomasa stayed in the Oba Fort (the present Fujisawa City) after that.
After the death of Sadamasa, his older brother, Tomomasa had Tomoyoshi, his own son, be the family head and he himself became the son's conservator, but had been losing power due to the advancement of Soun HOJO into the Sagami province. In September 6, 1499, a Buddhist memorial service for the 32nd anniversary of the death of Mochitomo, his father, was performed and Mochitomo's three sons (Takahira UESUGI, Bonju SHUKUHO, and Tomomasa) were alive at that time. It is confirmed that Tomomasa entered into priesthood again during the Eisho era (1504-1521) and called himself Koteki, but the later movement was unknown. It is said that he died at the age of seventy-one, but the date of birth and death was unknown.
Tomoyasu UESUGI
Tomoyasu UESUGI (date of birth and death unknown) was a person in the Sengoku period (the period of warring states). He was Tomomasa's son. Tomoyasu was also called Shichiro and his posthumous Buddhist name was Joan. "Another tale of the genealogy of the Uesugi family' described that the Tomoyasu's name was Tomonori and he was an Tomoyoshi's older brother, and his official court rank was Minbu shoyu (Junior Assistant Minister of Popular Affairs). None of Tomoyasu's achievements had gone down to posterity. Tomooki UESUGI, Tomoyasu's son, later became the family head of the Ogigayatsu Uesugi clan.
Tomomasa's daughter (a wife of Norifusa UESUGI)
She was a Tomomasa's daughter and married with Norifusa UESUGI. After Norifusa died in 1525, she returned to her parents' home. In 1530, she became a concubine of Nobutora TAKEDA with the intention of Tomooki, her nephew and the family head of that time. Marriage between Norifusa's dowager and Nobutora, and that between Tomooki's daughter and Shingen TAKEDA, Nobutora's legitimate son, three years later, promoted a matrimonial relation between the Ogigayatsu Uesugi clan and the Takeda clan, which solidified their alliance.