Isshiki Yoshinao (一色義直)
Yoshinao ISSHIKI (1431 - Date of his death not known) was a shugodaimyo (warlord stemmed from a regional governor) who lived in the Muromachi period. He was the heir of Yoshitsura ISSHIKI. His childhood name was Sentokumaru. His rank and position were Jushiinoge (Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade), Sakyo no Daibu (Master of the Western Capital) and Shuri no Daibu (Master of the Office of Palace Repairs). Shugo (military governor) for Tango Province and a half of Ise Province, Chita District, Owari Province and Atsumi District, Mikawa Province. He had three children, Yoshiharu ISSHIKI, Yoshihide ISSHIKI and the wife of Yoshihiro SHIBA. He had an adopted son, Masahiro ISSHIKI (real child of Noritomo UESUGI). Yoshito ISSHIKI was his younger brother.
When his father, Yoshitsura was killed in the ranks in Yamato Province by Nobuhide TAKEDA under the instruction by Yoshinori ASHIKAGA in 1440, the position of the head of the Isshiki family was assumed by Norichika ISSHIKI, who was from the branch line and a favorite subject of Yoshinori.
Even after that, however, ishin (retainer set adrift by the downfall of his lord) of Yoshitsura repeatedly rose up in revolt in various places asking for restoration of the direct line of descents of the Isshiki family. Examples of such revolts can be seen in the revolt in 1441 by indigenous persons in Mikawa and Wakasa Provinces for which the Isshiki clan was the shugo, occupation of Kitano-tenmangu Shrine in December, and the next year by the Nobunaga clan, and a failed attempt at revolt in 1444 by the Ujiie clan in December, the next year.
In 1451, Norichika ISSHIKI died young at the age of thirty-three and, as he had no heir, Yoshinao, who belonged to the direct line of descents inherited the head of the family, thereby fulfilling Yoshitsura's wish of the ishin. Out of fiefs for Norichika, Yoshinao inherited Tango Province, a half of Ise Province, Chita District, Owari Province (but, only Kaito District, Owari Province was excluded) and also acquired Atsumi District, Mikawa Province, and Obama, Wakasa Province, which was the former territory for shugo. In the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun), he assumed the position of oshobanshu (senior representative) and acquired the trust of Yoshimasa ASHIKAGA, who was shogun and, during Kansho era, it was a customary that Yoshimasa visit Yoshinao's kyoyakata (mansion in Kyoto) ("Inryoken Nichiroku," a diary of the owner of Inryoken).
In the Onin War, however, he took Sozen YAMANA's side, West Squad, in order to recover Wakasa Province and Mikawa Province, which previously were fiefs for shugo, and therefore, he dismissed all shugoshiki (post of provincial constable) for fiefs by Yoshimasa wno supported the East Squad. In the Tango Province, which was his home country, the fierce battle between the new shugo, Nobukata TAKEDA, and the shugodai (deputy constable) of the Isshiki clan, the Nobukata TAKEDA continued and, also in Ise, the battle between the new shugo, Masayasu TOKI and the shugodai (deputy of provincial constable) of the Isshiki clan, Dogo ISHIKAWA continued. Contrarily to the above-mentioned cases, in Mikawa Province which was controlled by Shigeyuki HOSOKAWA, the troops under the command of Yoshinao's younger brother, marched in and a fierce battle continued in the Province.
In April 1474, when Katsumoto HOSOKAWA and Masatoyo YAMANA concluded a peace agreement with each other, Yoshinao returned to his former allegience, retired and made his heir, Yoshiharu, serve the bakufu. In the same year, the bakufu returned the shugoshiki for Tango Province to Yoshiharu and the invigorated troops of the Isshiki clan in Tango Province defeated the troops of the Takeda clan stationed in Tango Province and succeeded to recover their former fief. In Mikawa Province, the troops of the Isshiki clan compelled Kuniuji TOJO, who was the shugodai of Shigeyuki HOSOKAWA, to commit suicide and thus held an advantage, which was a turning point that prompted Shigeyuki to refuse to attend the bakufu. Finally, in February 1478, Yoshinao declared in writing that he gave up Mikawa Province and the troops of the Isshiki clan in Mikawa Province retreated. In Ise Province, the shugoshiki of the half of the Ise Province was given to Yoshiharu, but they lost the battle with the Kitabakake family which were opposed to it.
In 1478, which was the date in which Mikawa Province was given up, Yoshinao served the bakufu again and acted as guardian for Yoshiharu, but Yoshiharu died young in 1484 at the age of nineteen and only the shugoshiki for Tango Province was given to Yoshinao again. In August 1486, when Obama, Wakasa Province, which had been Yoshinao's fief, was given to Kuninobu TAKEDA according to the wishes of the imperial palace, Yoshinao went down to Tango Province to protest it and did not join the attack against Takayori ROKKAKU by Yoshihisa ASHIKAGA in 1487 and sent his son, Yoshihide, instead. However, Yoshinao himself joined the attack against Rokkaku in 1491 by Yoshitane ASHIKAGA and carried out kubijikken (identifying a severed head) in place of Yoshiki.
In December 1492, following Yoshiki's return to Kyoto, Yoshiharu stayed in Kyoto for a certain period, but, in January 1493, when a revolt by Jirosaemon IGA occurred in Tango Province, he went down to suppress the revolt and, after that, became untraceable.