Ii Naotora


Ii Naotora was a daimyō of the Sengoku period and head of the Ii clan, a feudal samurai clan of medieval Japan.
There are two theories regarding Naotora's identity:
  • The classical theory from Edo period stated Naotora was Jirō Hōshi daughter of Ii Naomori, the eighteenth head of their clan. She was primarily the head of Ii clan and retainer of the Imagawa clan, and because of her efforts, Ii Naotora became a daimyō and received the nickname "Female Landlord". This theory is the most popular and accepted, as several other women became clan leaders during the Sengoku period.
  • The second theory was that Ii Naotora was actually a son of an Imagawa clan retainer named Sekiguchi Ujitsune. According to this theory, the son of Ujitsune became temporary head of the Ii clan until Ii Naomasa, the son of Ii Naochika, reached adulthood and could inherit the position.

Identity speculations

There are several theories regarding the identity of the head of Ii clan after Ii Naomori.
The "Ii clan history" record which now preserved in the Shizuoka central library was the oldest source supporting the theory that Jirō Hōshi, was a female Ii Naotora were from secondary material which first appeared in mid Edo period document which written by a priest at Ryutanji Temple. However, this popular theory is disputed by 20th century academics. the theory that said Ii Naotora was Sekiguchi Ujitsune, son of Imagawa clan subordinate, came from several sources which pointed out by modern researchers.
TheoristRelations between themGenderOriginHead of Ii clan
Suzuki MasanoriDifferent personsNo opinion
Male 		Son of Ii Naomori Ii Naotora
Kazuto HongōDifferent personsFemale
Male 		Daughter of Ii Naomori
Son of Sekiguchi Ujitsune 		Sekiguchi Naotora
Motoki KurodaSame personMaleSon of Sekiguchi UjitsuneSekiguchi Naotora
Watanabe DaimonSame personMaleNo opinionNaotora
Atsuyuki WakabayashiDifferent personsFemale
Male 		Daughter of Ii Naomori
Son of Sekiguchi Ujitsune 		Sekiguchi Naotora
Ii TatsuoDifferent personsFemale
Male 		Daughter of Ii Naomori
Son of Sekiguchi Ujitsune 		Sekiguchi Naotora
Tetsuo OwadaSame personFemaleDaughter of Ii NaomoriJiro Naotora
Michifumi IsodaDifferent personsFemale
Male 		Daughter of Ii Naomori
Son of Sekiguchi Ujitsune 		Both
Hirofumi YamamotoDifferent personsFemale
Male 		Daughter of Ii Naomori
Son of Sekiguchi Ujitsune 		Both

Male Naotora theory

Overall, Modern Japanese historians reject the theory of a female head of the Ii clan, such as Kazuto Hongō, history professor of University of Tokyo. Hongō opined the theory of Naotora being a woman were based on speculation of the lack of Ii clan's biological male heir before Ii Naomasa reached adulthood.
Historian Suzuki Masanori speculates that he was the son of Ii Naomori. However, since the Zatsuhisetsu Shaki records that Inojiro was the son of Sekiguchi Echigo-no-Kami, several researchers have suggested that Naotora was the son of Sekiguchi Ujitsune, he is thought to have married the daughter of II Naomori and become his adopted son-in-law, and this Naotora's wife is thought to be the person who has traditionally been identified as Jiro-hoshi or Naotora.
Researchers from Hikone Castle Museum also deemed the "Ii clan biography" which contains the theory about Ii Naotora being female as unreliable as it was based on folklore and not actual historical records.
Atsuyuki Wakabayashi from Shizuoka University has stated that the letter was co-signed between Jirō Hōshi and Sekiguchi Naotora as an imperial edict.
Ii Tatsuo, the director of the Ii clan Museum in Kyoto which preserved those documents, also favored this explanation that Ii Naotora was not a woman named Jirō Hōshi, but instead a male retainer of the Imagawa clan named Sekiguchi Ujitsune, who had been bestowed the fiefdoms of the Ii clan. Furthermore, Ii Tatsuo also stated there is no evidence from a primary source identifying Jirō Hōshi as Ii Naotora. This statement was based on several facts:
  • Primary source document which was written by Niino Chikanori, a former retainer of the Imagawa clan who served under Ii Naotora. The document states the identity of Ii Naotora as "Ii Jiro". According to Chikanori, Ii Jiro was the son of "Sekiguchi Ujitsune, Lord of Echigo " The Hachisaki temple in Shizuoka Prefecture claimed that they have the replica of the letter dated from 1566 that pointing out the relationship between Naotora with said Sekiguchi clan.
  • The theory of Ii Naotora being descendant of the Sekiguchi clan was further expanded as recent Ii museum researchers have found out the supplementary document from "Kawate clan Genealogy" has revealed that before Sekiguchi's appointment as "Ii Naotora", the Ii clan was temporarily handled by Kawate Suisuke Kagetaka, a vassal of the Matsudaira clan. This version explains how after Niino Samanosuke,, was killed in battle in 1564, Kagetaka assisted Naotora and Jirō Hōshi, and it was thought that around this time he changed his surname from Kawate to Ii. At some point of his service within the Ii clan, Kagetaka refused to implement a decree from Imagawa Ujizane as he argued that the decree was not beneficial for the for Ii clan's interests. However, when he was pressured by Sekiguchi Echigo-no-kami Ujitsune, to carry out the decree, Kagetaka reluctantly accepted the decree. However, this incident caused him to be estranged from the Ii clan. At the sametime Iinoya was invaded by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had just declared his independence from the Imagawa clan, and it was believed that Kagetaka immediately sided with Ieyasu and ended up driving out Naotora from Hikone Castle. Afterwards, Kagetaka did not return to serve Ii Naomasa, although Naomasa began to serve Ieyasu, but his son Yoshinori served Naomasa. It was believed that by this time he had already reverted to his original surname, Kawate.
  • Miwa Mori, a professor of early modern history at Kyoto Women's University, also supported the theory of which released by the institution Ii Museum's statement, which was traced from a record of a written retainer of the Ii clan named Kimata in 1640. Mori stated this source as highly reliable primary source.
Another Japanese historian, Motoki Kuroda from Komazawa University, also supported the theory that Ii Naotora was a son of Sekiguchi Ujitsune. Ujitsune was a vassal of the Imagawa clan who was appointed in Iinoya, Hamamatsu.
Similarly, Daimon Watanabe, a history professor from Bukkyo University, also rejected the supplementary sources of Moriyasu Kō shoki about the female Naotora theory, as he says the scripts were copied from an unverified Edo period book. He supported the theory that Ii Naotora and Jiro-Hoshi were the same people but male, based on the evident confusions of previous historians about the identity. Daimon also added that while a woman could become head of clan in certain situations, it was an extremely rare case, and Naotora was unlikely to be one of them.
Other modern researchers who have similar view with Motoki Kuroda's theory that Naotora is the son of Sekiguchi Ujitsune with childhood name of Jiro Hoshi are Shiba Hiroyuki, Masanori Suzuki, and Yukihiro Kasuya.

Female Naotora theory

There is only one contemporaneous document related to the person named "Ii Naotora" that she is believed to be the same person as Jirō Hōshi, the daughter of Ii Naomori, who became the head of the Ii family despite being a woman. This theory is based on the "Ii Family Chronicle", written in the mid-Edo period in 1730. It is said that Jirō Hoshi was engaged to Ii Naochika but remained unmarried throughout her life and was the foster mother of Naochika's orphaned child, Ii Naomasa, who later became one of Tokugawa's Four Heavenly Kings.
Tetsuo Owada, a professor emeritus of Sengoku history at Shizuoka University who published a book about Naotora has said that this theory of misidentification of Ii Naotora is quite possible, since for generations, many of the heirs of Ii clan usually being called "Jiro", thus the name is suspected as just a pseudonym of various historical figures, although he did not deny the possibility that Ii Naotora was a daughter of Ii Naomori, a leader of Iinoya-is a part of Tōtōmi, who had been defeated by Imagawa Yoshimoto and became a vassal of Imagawa.
According to this theory, as Ii clan had no male heir, so Naotora's great uncle Ii Naomitsu tried to betroth his son Ii Naochika to her so that he could inherit the clan. Unidentified Imagawa clan retainers carried a report of the plans to Imagawa, who ordered Naomitsu and his son Naochika to commit seppuku. Naomitsu died, but Naochika, who was very young, was protected by a Buddhist priest named Nankei. Naochika managed to flee to Shinano. Naotora became a priestess, and was named Jiro-Hoshi aged ten by Nankei. In 1563, Ii Naohira and other men from Ii clan were ordered to break into Hikuma Castle as proof of their loyalty to the Imagawa. Otazu no Kata who was wife of Iio Tsurutatsu invited Naohira to a meeting with her husband and planned to eradicate it to claim prominence in Totomi. On September 18, Otazu no Kata then poisoned Naohira's tea and he died soon after. Following Naohira's death, Jiro Hoshi returned to secular life the male name Naotora and declared herself the nominal head of the Ii clan. It was recorded that Naotora, being a former nun, often acted to avoid battles, earning the respect of many civilians. She was responsible for the development of agriculture and the substantial expansion of the domains of her clan in the region of Enshū.

Synthesis theory

Michifumi Isoda, professor of International Research Center for Japanese Studies instead offered a synthesis theory which differ from the "Ii clan Biography", that both female Jirō Hōshi and male Ii Naotora both existed as different person, and became head of Ii clan on different occasions. Isoda offered this explanation based on the correspondence material from Seto Hokyu, a samurai under Ii clan, with the Imagawa clan, where the Imagawa recognized Jirō Hōshi as head of Ii clan in September 1568. However, after the Imagawa clan fall and the entrance of Tokugawa clan in the area on December, the name of Ii Naotora emerged as the head of Ii clan, thus Isoda suspected that the Tokugawa clan deposed Jirō Hōshi and installed Naotora as the head of Ii clan instead.
Meanwhile, professor Hirofumi Yamamoto from University of Tokyo giving his chronological concilliatory explanation regarding the letter co-signed by Jiro-Hoshi and Sekiguchi Naotora that it indicated while Jiro-Hoshi inherited the Ii clan's surname, the official de facto control of Ii clan's territories including Iinoya castle was run by Naotora, until Ii Naomasa become old enough to inherit the position of Ii clan's leader.

Biography

During the early days of Naotora's reign in 1564, Niino Chikanori, a retainer of Ii clan, besiege the Hikuma castle to prove Naotora's loyalty to Imagawa Ujizane; Otazu and Tsurutatsu fought to defend the castle and Chikanori was killed. Naotora was presumed to have difficulty securing clan leadership because of the innumerable resistances from the Imagawa clan retainers. After numerous threats from Imagawa retainers to the Ii clan, Naotora finally allied with Tokugawa Ieyasu and actively participated in the Tokugawa expansions of the Matsudaira clan in Totomi and Mikawa Provinces.
At the same year, Ono Michiyoshi removed Naotora from leadership of the Iinoya region with the help of former Imagawa's retainers. Naotora escaped to Ryōtan-ji Temple in Hamamatsu, and later sent Naomasa to Ieyasu and sent Naomasa to his care. Later, Michiyoshi was finally captured by the Tokugawa clan and was executed, before his head was disgraced in public.
In December 1568, when Tokugawa Ieyasu invaded Tōtōmi, Naotora's whereabouts became unknown.

Death

There are several versions regarding the death of Naotora:
  • In 1568, according to the Kawate clan record, Naotora was killed in battle while fleeing to Hanazawa Castle in Suruga.
  • In 1572, when Takeda Shingen personally invaded Iinoya and other castles in Totomi and Mikawa, Ii Naotora was killed during a clash with the Takeda clan's army.
  • In 1582, Naotora died of a disease at Ryōtan-ji temple; the position of Ii clan's head was succeeded by Ii Naomasa.

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