Changes

[[Image:Bi_kanji.jpg|thumb|right|Uesugi Kenshin's Battle Standard - 'BI' The First Character of 'Bishamonten', the God of War]]

[[Image:Bi_kanji.jpg|thumb|right|Uesugi Kenshin's Battle Standard - 'BI' The First Character of 'Bishamonten', the God of War]]

By [[1576]] Kenshin had finally begun to look westward. In [[1565]] [[Ashikaga Yoshiaki]] had asked him to come to Kyoto and drive out Shogun Yoshiteru’s murderers, a request Kenshin had been in no position to fulfill in those days. Now, with both Takeda Shingen and [[Hojo Ujiyasu]] dead, Kenshin could consider an expansion in the direction of the capital. At this time, the capital and all the land around it was controlled by [[Oda Nobunaga]], the rising ‘super-daimyo’ who had been the one to install Ashikaga Yoshiaki into the shogunate in [[1568]]. Afterwards, Nobunaga had courted Kenshin’s favor with a series of gifts and letters that resulted in a pact against Takeda Shingen. Among the gifts Nobunaga sent to Kenshin were a pair of screens depicting life in Kyoto, known as the Rakuchu rakugai zu, which would later assist historians in gathering a sense of life in the capital at the time.  

By [[1576]] Kenshin had finally begun to look westward. In [[1565]] [[Ashikaga Yoshiaki (Shogun)|Ashikaga Yoshiaki]] had asked him to come to Kyoto and drive out Shogun Yoshiteru’s murderers, a request Kenshin had been in no position to fulfill in those days. Now, with both Takeda Shingen and [[Hojo Ujiyasu]] dead, Kenshin could consider an expansion in the direction of the capital. At this time, the capital and all the land around it was controlled by [[Oda Nobunaga]], the rising ‘super-daimyo’ who had been the one to install Ashikaga Yoshiaki into the shogunate in [[1568]]. Afterwards, Nobunaga had courted Kenshin’s favor with a series of gifts and letters that resulted in a pact against Takeda Shingen. Among the gifts Nobunaga sent to Kenshin were a pair of screens depicting life in Kyoto, known as the Rakuchu rakugai zu, which would later assist historians in gathering a sense of life in the capital at the time.  

Once Shingen was dead, Kenshin’s interest in any further cooperation with the Oda waned. Perhaps goaded on by the news that Nobunaga was constructing a great castle in [[Omi province|Omi]] (to be known as Azuchi), Kenshin finished his subjugation of Etchu in the spring of 1576 by killing [[Shiina Yasutane]]. Earlier, more tentative moves westward on Kenshin’s part had been frustrated by the activities of the Ikko-Ikki; by 1576 the attentions of the Ikko were squarely centered on Nobunaga and a peace of sorts was struck up with the Uesugi.<ref>He had some years before defeated [[Jinbo Nagamoto]] and forced the submission of the [[Jinbo clan]], Lords of castle.</ref>

Once Shingen was dead, Kenshin’s interest in any further cooperation with the Oda waned. Perhaps goaded on by the news that Nobunaga was constructing a great castle in [[Omi province|Omi]] (to be known as Azuchi), Kenshin finished his subjugation of Etchu in the spring of 1576 by killing [[Shiina Yasutane]]. Earlier, more tentative moves westward on Kenshin’s part had been frustrated by the activities of the Ikko-Ikki; by 1576 the attentions of the Ikko were squarely centered on Nobunaga and a peace of sorts was struck up with the Uesugi.<ref>He had some years before defeated [[Jinbo Nagamoto]] and forced the submission of the [[Jinbo clan]], Lords of castle.</ref>