山名宗全

Yamana Sozen (1404–1473), known as the Red Monk for his ruddy complexion, was the lord of multiple provinces in the San'in and San'yo regions and co-author of the catastrophic Onin War. His family had once controlled eleven of Japan's sixty-six provinces — earning the title 'lord of one-sixth' — before being reduced by the Ashikaga in the Meitoku War of 1391. Even diminished, the Yamana were among the most powerful daimyo families in Japan. When succession disputes in the Shiba and Hatakeyama clans drew rival factions into conflict, the sixty-three-year-old Sozen became general of the Western Army, establishing his headquarters at Nishijin (western encampment, still a place name in Kyoto) and fighting the Eastern Army of his rival Hosokawa Katsumoto for eleven grinding years in the streets of the capital. Sozen died in the field in 1473, months before his adversary Katsumoto — the two rivals exiting the stage almost simultaneously, leaving a ruined city and a transformed political landscape. A man of considerable cultural refinement despite his warlike reputation, Sozen reportedly respected Katsumoto personally even while fighting him militarily. As a great daimyo of the San'in region, he was associated with the sword traditions of Hoki Province, whose ancient smithing lineage (related to the legendary Yasutsuna) had produced some of Japan's earliest masterworks.