The Founder Ōuchi Hiroyo

Abstract This chapter recounts how Ōuchi regional authority was established by Ōuchi Hiroyo, who destroyed his rivals during Japan’s civil wars of the fourteenth century, and explains how he conquered neighboring provinces, promoted copper mining, and founded a planned settlement at Yamaguchi. Likewise it reveals that conquest entailed military campaigns and complementary ritual assertions of authority and highlights the significance of local shrines. It also shows how the Ōuchi, by conquering a vital choke point, gained control of western sea lanes and received recognition by the Ashikaga shogunate, Japan’s second warrior government. The chapter ends by showing how Hiroyo came into conflict with the Ashikaga and, shortly before being deposed from the powerful office of shugo, or governor, of those provinces, he used his authority to make them ungovernable.