y had such another hero!"*

*The present Count Uesugi is descended from Kenshin.

THE IMAGAWA, THE KITABATAKE, THE SAITO, AND THE ODA FAMILIES

The Imagawa, a branch of the Ashikaga, served as the latter's bulwark
in Suruga province during many generations. In the middle of the
sixteenth century the head of the family was Yoshimoto. His sway
extended over the three provinces of Suruga, Totomi, and Mikawa,
which formed the littoral between Owari Bay and the Izu promontory.
On the opposite side of Owari Bay lay Ise province, the site of the
principal Shinto shrine and the original domain of the Taira family,
where, too, the remnants of the Southern Court had their home. Its
hereditary governor was a Kitabatake, and even after the union of the
two Courts that great family, descendants of the immortal historian
and philosopher, Chikafusa, continued to exercise sway. But, in 1560,
discord among the chief retainers of the sept furnished a pretext for
the armed intervention of Oda Nobunaga, who invested his son,
Nobukatsu, with the rights of government. On the northern littoral of
Owari Bay, and therefore separating Ise and Mikawa, was situated the
province of Owari, which, in turn, opened on the north into Mino. In
this latter province the Doki family was destroyed by the Saito, and
these in turn were crushed by the Oda, in 1561, who, from their
headquarters in Owari, shattered the Imagawa of Mikawa and the Saito
in Mino, thereafter sweeping over Ise.

THE ROKKAKU, THE ASAI, THE ASAKURA, AND THE HATAKEYAMA FAMILIES

The province of Omi had special importance as commanding the
approaches to Kyoto from the east. Hence it became the scene of much
disturbance, in which the Hosokawa, the Kyogoku, the Rokkaku, and the
Asai families all took part. Finally, in the middle of the sixteenth
century, the Asai gained the ascendancy by obtaining the assistance
of the Asakura of Echizen. This latter province, conterminous with
the north of Omi, was originally under the control of the Shiba
family, but the Asakura subsequently obtained the office of high
constable, and acquired a great access of power at the time of the
Ikko revolt by driving the turbulent priests from the province. At
that era, or a little later, the provinces of Kii, Kawachi, Izumi,
and Yamato were all the scenes of fierce fighting, but the pages of
history need not be burdened with details of the clash of purely
private ambitions.

THE MORI AND THE AMAKO FAMILIES