This letter survives, one of a handful written by Uesugi Kiyoko, who was the mother of Ashikaga Takauji, the first shogun of the Ashikaga regime.  She was descended from the Kanjuji line of the Fujiwara, whose members had been chamberlains (kurōdo) for generations. Her father Fujiwara Shigefusa traveled east to Kamakura because he served Prince Munetaka, who was  appointed as the shogun of Kamakura in 1252. Shigefusa also owned managerial rights to Uesugi estate, in Tanba province, which is located about thirty miles to the northwest of Kyoto. This estate was so important that it would become the name lands of this family, which became known as the Uesugi.  Shigefusa’s daughter Kiyoko was born and raised there (mumarete sodachitaru tokoro nite sōrō hodo ni) in 1270, a fact which she describes in one of her surviving letters. Kiyoko married into the Ashikaga, one of the most illustrious warrior families, and Kiyoko gave birth to Ashikaga Takauji here in 1305, and here their graves, and for that matter, Takauji’s birth clothes survive.  It was also near here, in a place called Shinomura, that Takauji rebelled against Kamakura in 1333, and ensured the destruction of that regime, and the possibility of his own warrior government.

It is because of her status as the shogun’s mother that this letter survives. In it, she recounts a crucial moment, the decisive battle where Kitabatake Akiie was killed. This was an important moment, for Akiie was the most prominent, and threatening commander for the Ashikaga. He had thrice led armies from the north, and had been successful in dislodging the Ashikaga from the capital in 1336. Akiie was also a noble, but of the same Minamoto lineage as the Ashikaga, and he set himself up as a General of the Northern Marches (Chinjufu shōgun), and even outranked Ashikaga Takauji as being the most prominent warrior of the Minamoto lineage.  Akiie has been misunderstood because he does not appear prominently in later chronicles, for he did not unquestionably support the nascent absolutism of Go-Daigo, and a blistering remonstrance (kansōbun 諫奏文) to emperor Go-Daigo a mere week before his death, reveals his profound dissatisfaction with this regime.

Kiyoko’s letter is interesting because she describes both the miraculous appearance of the gods on the battlefield, and the fact that six ships were burned on the coast, suggesting that she was either an eyewitness, or had access to an eyewitness’s account. The document survives in the original, and was preserved with the records of the Uesugi, but judging from its appearance, it was not stored particularly carefully, and exhibits considerable damage.

The letter is extremely challenging to read, as the names of the participants involved are unknown, and the clauses tend to run together, making the subject as well as the content of the document difficult to ascertain. Some words have extra syllables, such as konoto for kondo, which means “now,” or what likely seems to be the province name Mutsu appearing as Mutsuna.

Difficulty of language notwithstanding, this letter also reveals how people in the provinces could be quite skeptical about the veracity of letters unless they had the proper monograms. Likewise, messengers had to transport letters to proof their veracity.

Kiyoko’s use of honorifics should not obscure the fact that she was most likely addressing one of her sons via a messenger. Neither Takauji or Tadayoshi was at this battle, but Takauji issued reports of its result shortly after its completion and so most likely was in the capital. This suggests that she wrote this letter to her younger son Tadayoshi, who was primarily in charge of administration.

Kiyoko’s letter also suggests that her judgment was valued within the regime, and exercised considerable authority. This goes against the grain of common understandings of the age, which assume that women were becoming less politically prominent in the fourteenth century.

After Kiyoko’s death, Kitabatake Akiie’s father Chikafusa told his supporters that it was now likely that the Ashikaga regime would unravel, and Takauji and his brother Tadayoshi would have a falling out. This in fact did happen in 1350-52, in a chaotic dispute that almost resulted in the collapse of the Ashikaga regime.

These documents have been declared to be national treasures of Japan. Images have been provided and permission granted thanks to Abe Tetsuto of the Uesugi Museum of Yonezawa.

Royall Tyler also provided me with invaluable help in deciphering this letter. All errors are my responsibility [Thomas Conlan].