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The Uesugi-shi, historically also Uyesugi is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi period and (14th to 17th centuries).Georges Appert. (1888). Ancien Japon, p. 79. At its height, the clan had three main branches: the Ōgigayatsu, Inukake, and Yamanouchi. Its most well-known member is the warlord Uesugi Kenshin (1530–1578).
During the Edo period, the Uesugi were a tozama or outsider clan, in contrast with the fudai or insider daimyō clans which had been hereditary vassals or allies of the Tokugawa clan.
Uesugi Shigefusa was a 13th generation descendant of the clan's great progenitor and the originator of the clan's name. Near the end of the 13th century, he received the Uesugi domain in Tango Province and adopted the name "Uesugi" after arriving and establishing himself there.
Through their dominance of this position, the clan gained a large amount of power in the Kantō region. In 1449, Kantō Kanrei Ashikaga Shigeuji killed his Uesugi deputy in order to check the family's power. However, Uesugi forces rose up throughout the region and drove out Shigeuji. After ousting the Kanrei, they asked the in Kyoto for a different deputy to be placed in power.
The Uesugi's deposition of Shigeuji left them as the predominant power in the Kantō region, and the clan was able to grow rapidly. They eventually split into their three main branches, which were named after their traditional homelands. The Ōgigayatsu controlled Kawagoe Castle, the Yamanouchi were centered in Hirai, and the Inukake held a castle in the region as well. Each of these branch families can trace their lineage to Uesugi Kiyoko, mother of Ashikaga Takauji, the founder of the Ashikaga shogunate.
These three branches would commence infighting for dominance within the clan and the Kantō region almost as soon as the split occurred. This conflict would continue for roughly twenty-five years until around the end of the Ōnin War in 1477, which brought the end of the Ashikaga shogunate. Though the Ōgigayatsu and Yamanouchi branches both survived this conflict, the Inukake did not.
This rapid expansion of a rival clan forced the two rival branches of the Uesugi to become allies. In 1537, the city of Kawagoe fell to the Hōjō clan. By 1545, the united Uesugi launched a campaign to regain their power in the region and retake lost possessions. However, the Ōgigayatsu branch would ultimately come to an end with the death of Uesugi Tomosada during a failed siege of Kawagoe castle later that year. Near the end of the Sengoku period, the Uesugi would undergo major changes in their leadership. Uesugi Norimasa, holder of a castle which had fallen in 1551 to the Hōjō, took up arms with his retainer Nagao Kagetora. Kagetora would go on to change his name to Uesugi Kenshin after campaigning against the Hōjō in Sagami Province. Kenshin would later become one of Sengoku's most prominent generals, continuing to wage war against the Hōjō for control of the Kantō region. Kenshin's adopted son Uesugi Kagekatsu eventually became head of the Uesugi clan. However, his support of Ishida Mitsunari during the battle of Sekigahara would result in a devastating blow to the power of the Uesugi, as Mitsunari's forces were crushed by Tokugawa Ieyasu and his supporters.
Despite agricultural advances and generally high growth in the 17th century, Yonezawa, like most parts of the country, experienced a considerable drop in growth after 1700. The official koku revenue of the Uesugi daimyō was cut in half in 1664, but the family maintained its same expensive lifestyle as before. After Yonezawa entered debt and experienced famine in the 1750s, the current daimyō Uesugi Shigesada considered giving the territory back to the shogunate. Instead, he allowed his adopted son Uesugi Harunori to take over as daimyō. Through agricultural and moral reforms, as well as other strict policies, Harunori was able to restore a measure of prosperity to the domain. After his death, the shogunate officially praised Yonezawa as an example of good governance.
Uesugi Kenshin had several personal standards: the first character in Bishamonten (毘, bi), a flag of divine appointment, an open fan horse insignia, and the suspended and chaotically written dragon character (龍).
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