New web resource--Regaining the Regalia: The Story of Kōzuki Mitsuyoshi and His Daughter Gogo

[Thomas D. Conlan]

Dear Colleagues:

I am delighted to announce the publication of a new website, “Regaining the Regalia: The Story of Kōzuki Mitsuyoshi and his daughter Gogo (五々)."

https://komonjo.princeton.edu/regalia/

This site contains photographs, transcriptions, and translations of three documents pertaining to Kōzuki Mitsuyoshi, a retainer of the Akamatsu and a veteran of the Ōnin War, and his daughter, most unusually named Gogo.

It recounts the “Chōroku Disturbance” of 1457 where retainers of the Akamatsu, who had been dispossessed after assassinating the shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori, plotted to restore the imperial jewels, which had been stolen by Princes who desired to restart the wars of the Northern and Southern courts. Mitsuyoshi and his cohorts, some of whom disguised themselves as monks, ultimately killed the princes and returned the jewels, and in doing so, allowed for the Akamatsu to be restored.

The description of this event was later copied and included in the compendium Gunsho ruijū. It is a gripping tale. Mitsuyoshi’s will to his daughter reveals that he intended to make her his sole heir, and she in turn responded to him and explained her plan to survive by relying in part on the good will of the Akamatsu.

Vivid warrior narratives are rare in the fifteenth century, and in this exchange between a father and daughter is unique. I am indebted to everyone at the Tokushima monjokan for allowing me to photograph and reproduce these documents, and I hope that many of you will read and use them for your research and classes. 

Thomas  Conlan
Professor in East Asian Studies and Professor of History
Princeton University
207 Jones Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544-1008
Tel: (609) 258-4773
Fax: (609) 258-6984
tco...@princeton.edu