Murakami clan (Chugoku)

The kamon of the Murakami.

The Murakami of western Japan were well-known as pirates of the Inland Sea that generated income by collecting tolls and various fees on shipping. They were descended from the Seiwa Genji through Murakami Yoshihiro (d. 1374), and were composed of three branches, each with their own base of operations. By 1550, two of these branches were allied to the Môri. They provided the bulk of the Môri's naval power and thus were key in establishing the Môri's domination of the Inland Sea, which lasted from around 1555-1576.

The three branches, known as the Kurujima Murakami, Noshima Murakami, and Innoshima Murakami after the islands where they were based, are said to have each been founded by one of three brothers, around 1419. Accounts vary as to whether these were three sons of Murakami Yoshiaki, or his two younger brothers and himself. Yoshiaki was, in any case, the son of Murakami Morokiyo, who was adopted from the Murakami clan of Shinano by Yoshihiro, who had no biological sons of his own.

Initially, these branch families served the Kôno clan shugo of Iyo province, maintaining public order on the Inland Sea, collecting maritime customs taxes, and the like. When Iwagijima was attacked by pirates in 1462-63, and when Ômishima was attacked by forces from Aki province in 1522, the Murakami fought back. They maintained fortresses not only on the three islands after which each branch family took its name, but also on many other small islands in the Inland Sea.

Father and son Murakami Michiyasu and Murakami Michifusa of Kurujima were among those most prominent and active in the Sengoku period. Michiyasu's wife was a daughter of Kôno Michinao, and in 1541, Michinao named Michiyasu his successor, but some prominent Kôno clan retainers were opposed to this and supported Kôno Michimasa as successor instead. They launched an attack against Michinao and Michiyasu, who fled to Kurujima. The conflict was eventually resolved with Michimasa being named successor; the Murakami thus never became successors to the Kôno clan.

In 1555, the Noshima and Innoshima branches accepted the invitation of the Môri clan to join forces at the battle of Miyajima, and are said to have contributed significantly to the Môri victory. The Murakami maintained a strong relationship with the Môri throughout the remainder of the Sengoku period.

However, while Murakami Michiyasu and the Murakami clan more broadly had maintained a strong relationship with the Kôno clan, Michiyasu's son Michifusa stood opposed to the Kôno. In 1582, he fought for Oda Nobunaga against the Kôno and Môri, and suffered defeat at their hands. Attacked as well by the Noshima and Innoshima Murakami, he turned to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, serving in the advance guard for Hideyoshi's 1585 Invasion of Shikoku. For his service, he was granted Kazahaya district in Iyo, a holding worth 14,000 koku. The Murakami of Kurushima also took part in Hideyoshi's Korean Invasions, in which Michifusa and his older brother Murakami Michiyuki would die in battle.

Michifusa's son Murakami Yasuchika later entered into the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu and, after the battle of Sekigahara, was granted Kusu district in Bungo province. His line came to be known as the Kurujima, and governed that district until the Meiji period.

References

• "Kurujima-shi." SENGOKU Buke kaden. Harimaya.com. Accessed 7 June 2011.
• Terada Shôichi (ed.). Meijô wo aruku 3: Iyo Matsuyama-jô. Tokyo: PHP Kenkyûsho,　2002.