Rokkaku Yoshikata

Who They Were

Rokkaku Yoshikata (六角義賢) was a samurai commander and the head of the Rokkaku clan, one of the great warrior houses of central Japan. He was born in 1521, in the first year of the Daiei era (大永, だいえい), a period name that ran during the Muromachi period (1336–1573). His father was Rokkaku Sadayori, and he inherited leadership of a family whose power sat in southern Ōmi province, the region around the southern end of Lake Biwa.

Yoshikata held the office of shugo, a provincial governor appointed under the Muromachi shogunate, and later ruled as a daimyō — a territorial lord commanding a domain in his own right. He was castellan of Kannonji Castle, the Rokkaku stronghold that anchored their control of Ōmi. In his later years he took Buddhist vows and became a monk under the name Shōtei. He died on 19 April 1598, having lived through nearly the whole of the violent century that reshaped Japan.

Life and Career

Yoshikata was born into a clan that had already made itself indispensable to the shogunate. His father, Rokkaku Sadayori, had built the family's position in Ōmi and tied it closely to the Ashikaga shoguns in Kyoto. When Yoshikata succeeded as head of the house, he inherited both that standing and the dangers that came with it: Ōmi lay directly on the roads between Kyoto and the east, and every ambitious warlord in the region had reason to want it.

His career is recorded in connection with two battles, Norada and Yasugawara. These engagements placed him in the thick of the military struggles that defined the age, as rival houses fought for control of the approaches to the capital. As shugo and then as daimyō, Yoshikata governed southern Ōmi from Kannonji Castle, the seat of Rokkaku authority.

He had two sons, Rokkaku Yoshiharu and Rokkaku Yoshisada, who carried the family name into the next generation. In time Yoshikata withdrew from active command and entered religious life, taking the monk's name Shōtei. He outlived the Muromachi period itself, dying in 1598, after the political order he had spent his life defending had already been swept away.

Why They Matter

Yoshikata belongs to the generation of warlords who held power at the moment the old shogunate was collapsing into the era of unification. The Rokkaku were not among the houses that would ultimately unify Japan, but they were among those whose territory, alliances and castles determined whether anyone else could. Control of Ōmi meant control of the routes into Kyoto, and the Rokkaku held it for decades.

His significance lies partly in that position and partly in continuity. He was a shugo of the Muromachi system who became a daimyō of the emerging Sengoku order — a man whose titles and role straddle two very different ways of holding power. He also represents the fate of the old provincial houses: powerful enough to shape events, but ultimately overtaken by the larger armies and ambitions gathering around them.

The Name in Japanese

The full name is written 六角義賢. It is read in kana as ろっかく よしかた, and in romaji as Rokkaku Yoshikata. The family name comes first, as is standard in Japanese.

六角 (ろっかく, rokkaku) — the surname. This is a compound of two characters:

• 六 (ろく, roku) — "six."
• 角 (かく, kaku) — "corner" or "angle."

Together the characters mean "six corners," and the word 六角 (rokkaku) is the ordinary Japanese term for a hexagon. The name is also used for a style of umbrella and for a temple, but as a surname it identifies this warrior house. Note the small っ in the kana reading ろっかく: it doubles the following consonant, so the word is pronounced "rok-kaku," not "ro-ku-kaku."

義賢 (よしかた, Yoshikata) — the given name. Both characters are common in samurai names of this era:

• 義 (よし, yoshi) — "righteousness," "justice," or "duty." This character was extremely popular in warrior names because it could be granted by a superior as a mark of favour; a lord would pass on one character of his own name to a subordinate, and the recipient would incorporate it into his.
• 賢 (かた, kata) — "wise," "intelligent," or "virtuous."

The reading かた for 賢 is a name-specific reading rather than the character's usual one; in ordinary vocabulary 賢 is read けん (ken) or かしこ (kashikoi). Japanese personal names frequently use readings that do not appear in everyday words, which is why a name's kanji and its pronunciation must be learned together.

Legacy

Yoshikata's legacy is carried by his sons, Rokkaku Yoshiharu and Rokkaku Yoshisada, who continued the line of the house he had led. The family name survived him, even as the political world in which the Rokkaku had flourished passed into history.

His own memory is bound to the places and events that defined his career: Kannonji Castle, the seat of Rokkaku power in southern Ōmi, and the battles of Norada and Yasugawara. He died on 19 April 1598, a monk named Shōtei, roughly two decades after the Muromachi period ended and in the final years of the Sengoku age itself.