Kōsa
Kōsa (光佐, February 20, 1543 – December 27, 1592), also known as Hongan-ji Kennyo (本願寺 顕如), was the 11th head of the Hongan-ji in Kyoto, and Chief Abbot of Ishiyama Hongan-ji, cathedral fortress of the Ikkō-ikki (Buddhist warrior priests and peasants who opposed samurai rule), during its siege at the end of the Sengoku period. He engineered many alliances, and organized the defenses of the cathedral to the point that most at the time considered Ishiyama Hongan-ji to be unbreachable.
Biography
In 1570, Takeda Shingen, a relative of Kōsa through marriage, faced not one but three major rivals: Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Uesugi Kenshin. He asked the Abbot for aid, and Kōsa persuaded the Ikkō sectarians (also called monto) in Kaga Province to rise up against Uesugi Kenshin. Several years later, after the death of Takeda Shingen, Kōsa secured the aid of the Mōri clan in fighting Oda Nobunaga and defending the Hongan-ji's supply lines from blockade.
Oda Nobunaga's
Despite this incredible defeat, Kōsa remained devoted to the Ikko sect, and to the idea of regaining a central cathedral fortress for the sect. He began to enlist the help of Ikko sectarians to aid Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in order to gain Hideyoshi's favor. In 1583, Kōsa sent Ikko warriors to harass Hideyoshi's enemy Shibata Katsuie, and in 1587 he sent messengers to Kyushu, asking Ikko leaders there to act as guides for Hideyoshi's army in Satsuma Province. In 1589, Hideyoshi granted Kōsa his wish for a new Hongan-ji. The site was the shrine to the patriarch Shinran, in Kyoto; it was moved in 1591, and is now known as the Nishi Hongan-ji.
In popular culture
In fiction, Kōsa usually appears with the name Honganji Kennyo. Kennyo appears as a non-playable character in
Kennyo is also a character in Ikémen Sengoku, a dating simulator otome game released by Cybird in 2015.
Sources
- George Sansom. A History of Japan: 1334–1615. Stanford: Stanford University Press (1961)