Chapter 436
Yoshinori’s power reached its peak with the elimination of Mochiuji and his children who were eyeing his position.
The power of the bakufu and the shogun’s direct rule system that previous shoguns had longed for was established, and Yoshinori took the next step to solidify this system completely.
One of these steps was directly interfering in the process of determining the kadoku (家督, successor of the family) of powerful shugo daimyo (守護大名, provincial governors).
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The most prominent example was designating Ouchi Mochiyo (大內持世) as the kadoku to succeed Ouchi Morimi.
This was Yoshinori’s strategy.
Ouchi Mochiyo was the posthumous son of Ouchi Yoshihiro (大内義弘), the previous Ouchi lord. Therefore, this measure was certain to cause discontent among Morimi’s children, and if that happened, Mochiyo would have no choice but to rely on Yoshinori himself.
Here, Ouchi Morimi chose an unexpected method.
He accepted Yoshinori’s proposal, passing the kadoku to Mochiyo, and adopting his own son Norihiro (敎弘) as Mochiyo’s adopted son.