Who Is Rokkaku Takayori (Sasaki Takayori)?
Omi governor who defied the shogun from the mountains
Rokkaku Takayori was the military governor of Omi Province (present-day Shiga Prefecture) from the late Muromachi period into the Warring States era, and head of the Rokkaku family, a branch of the Sasaki clan. In 1487 the great army of the ninth shogun, Ashikaga Yoshihisa, attacked him, in part because he had seized lands belonging to temples, shrines, and warriors serving the shogun. This was the start of the Magari campaign.
He appears in episode 1 of this manga. Abandoning his home at Kannonji Castle, he retreats deep into the mountains of Koga, relies on the local warriors there, and holds out without ever meeting the enemy head-on. As the commander of the side under attack, he is the figure who drives the story of the Magari campaign.
It is commonly accepted that Takayori withdrew to Koga and resisted from there, and the deeds of the Koga people in this war are said to have started the spread of the ninja's fame. Because Yoshihisa died in camp, the punitive campaign ended without defeating Takayori.
