were armed military leagues that formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th–16th centuries, composed entirely of members of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism. In the early phases, these ikki leagues opposed the rule of local shugo (governors) or daimyō (lords), but over time as their power consolidated and grew, they courted alliances with powerful figures in the waning Ashikaga shogunate until they were crushed by Oda Nobunaga in the 1580s.

Ikkō-ikki mainly consisted of priests, peasants, merchants, and jizamurai (local military rulers) who followed the sect, but they sometimes associated with non-followers. The ikkō-ikki included organisations of sōhei "monk warriors", similar to the lay or semi-lay military orders of medieval Christianity. They were at first only slightly organized. However, during the reforms of the monshu Jitsunyo and, later, under his grandson Shōnyo, the temple network enabled more efficient and effective troop mobilization when needed. The relationship between Hongan-ji and its monshu was complicated: some monshu, such as Rennyo, condemned the violence, others, such as Shōnyo and Kennyo, channelled it to further political aims. With improvements in matchlocks firearms (teppo) at the time, called Tanegashima, ikkō-ikki could suddenly rise as a menacing force, posing a credible threat to the government. A peasant or merchant could transform himself into a capable mobile cannoneer in mere days.

Terminology

An in medieval Japan could be formed by any group that had a single goal in mind and vowed to stay together to achieve it. Carol Tsang lists two general categories of ikki:

  1. Warrior-class leagues, which could be further subdivided into:
  2. – Formed by extended samurai clans for mutual aid and defense. Members of such leagues were forbidden from attacking one another, and obligated to come to each other's aid.
  3. Alternatively, – Formed by local provincial authorities (shugo) with other clans for mutual defense and administration.
  4. Villager leagues, which could be further subdivided into:
  5. – composed of members of the same shōen estate.
  6. – composed of villagers who demanded tax-relief from authorities
  7. – composed primarily of villagers from the countryside. This term often overlapped with other ikki terms.

By contrast, ikkō-ikki defies easy categorization. The term refers to the exclusive emphasis of the Jōdo Shinshū of striving for rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitabha. For this reason, Jōdo Shinshū was often pejoratively called the ikkō-shū or "'Facing one direction' sect". In any case, in contrast to other ikki, ikkō-ikki were defined not by political, familial, or economic association, but by a sense of community through their association with Jōdo Shinshū. The Shirahata-ikki, "White Flag League", and Mikazuki-ikki, "Crescent League", are examples of the many ikki who rose against the Ashikaga shogunate. An uprising involving an entire province was called a kuni-ikki. Uprisings took place in 1351, 1353, 1369, 1377, 1384–1386, and 1366–1369.

The risings in the 15th century, tsuchi-ikki or do-ikki, were better organized, and the peasants appear to have played a more prominent part. At the conclusion of the Ōnin War, in 1477, "many of the members of the numerous ikki" occupied the monasteries and shrines, and "would ring the warning bells day and night, hoping to terrify the rich citizens", according to Sansom.

Apex of power and downfall

Towards the end of the 16th century, their growing numbers and strength caught the attention and concern of the great samurai leaders of the time. Tokugawa Ieyasu worried that the ikkō-ikki of Mikawa Province would rise up and seize the province. In 1564, his forces, with the help of Jōdo-shū forces, defeated the Mikawa-ikki in the Battle of Azukizaka.

thumb|The [[Battle of Azukizaka (1564)|Battle of Azukizaka in 1564 was the climactic clash between Tokugawa Ieyasu and the ikkō-ikki.]]

By this point, Ishiyama Hongan-ji and other strongholds of the ikkō-ikki lay across major trade routes and occupied the same areas that Nobunaga saw as his primary territorial objectives. Nearly every road to the capital from this western part of the country was controlled by ikkō-ikki or their allies, and their populist roots gave them significant economic power as well. Nobunaga in particular sought the destruction of the ikkō-ikki for these reasons, and because they allied themselves with nearly every one of his major enemies or rivals. Ashikaga Yoshiaki was once strongly supported in his claim to become Shōgun by Nobunaga, but turned to the ikkō-ikki when their relationship soured. The ikkō-ikki also had powerful allies in the Mōri, Azai, and Asakura clans. In the Asakura stronghold of Echizen Province (now Fukui prefecture, Nobunaga ordered his generals to kill the people in Ajimano (a village now part of Echizen, Fukui) in August 1575, as noted in The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga. Ishiyama Hongan-ji was besieged several times by the forces of Oda Nobunaga in the Ishiyama Hongan-ji War, as was the Sieges of Nagashima. After several failed attempts at seizing each emplacement, Oda successfully defeated Nagashima by 1574 after a four-year siege, and Ishiyama Hongan-ji in 1580 after an 11-year siege.

Jōdo Shinshū was persecuted in response to the Ikkō-ikki, which caused the formation of kakure nenbutsu secret societies.

References

Further reading

  • Dobbins, James C. (1989). Jodo Shinshu: Shin Buddhism in Medieval Japan. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ; OCLC 470742039
  • Neil McMullin (1984). Buddhism and the State in Sixteenth-Century Japan, Princeton University Press.
  • Repp, Martin (2011). Review of War and Faith: Ikko Ikki in Late Muromachi Japan by Carol Richmond Tsang (2007) in Japanese Religions 36: 1-2, pp. 104–108 [scroll down the page]
  • Gyūichi Ōta (2011 translation; 1610 account). The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga. Volume 36 of Brill's Japanese Studies Library, Jurgis Saulius Algirdas Elisonas & Jeroen Pieter Lamers, editors. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. E-
  • Otani, Chojun (1968). « Le mouvement insurrectionnel des Ikko-Ikki, adeptes de la secte Bouddhique Shin-Shu au XVème et au XVIème siècle, École pratique des hautes études. 4e section, Sciences historiques et philologiques, Annuaire 1967–1968, pp. 609–612
  • Sugiyama, Shigeki J. (1994). "Honganji in the Muromachi-Sengoku Period: Taking Up the Sword and its Consequences", The Pacific World, New Series, pp. 10, 56–74