different warring states of japan

Chapter 2107: Sibo Tianxia One Step Closer

Nanzenji Chongchuan of the Rinzai sect and Amane no Mori of the Tentai sect have been fighting openly and secretly in Kyoto for the top spot in the island nation's Buddhist leadership.

The two generations of shogunate successively supported the Rinzai sect and established the Kamakura Gozan and the Kyoto Gozan. In fact, the samurai regime wanted to set rules for Buddhist sects, and the shogunate formulated a new system of nuns.

The Rinzai sect was the leader chosen by the shogunate to rule over all Buddhist sects.

The Tentai sect is the leader of traditional Buddhist sects, and Mount Hiei is known as the father of Buddhism on the island. It has nurtured and strengthened Buddhism on the island for nearly a thousand years.

Since ancient times, the temples’ privilege of not entering or leaving has been one of the most troublesome problems for rulers.

The temple leaders neither paid taxes nor accepted the constraints of the law, and became a country within a country.

After the rise of the samurai, temples took advantage of the political chaos in the shogunate and continued to encroach on land, causing the conflicts between samurai and temple territories to become increasingly fierce.

The Kamakura shogunate established the Kamakura Five Mountains in order to regulate the power of temples. However, not long after the implementation of the nun system, the Kamakura shogunate itself collapsed, and the initiative to restrict the temples naturally came to nothing.

When the third shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, gained power over the world, he wanted to restrain the power of temples, which led to the establishment of the Five Mountains in Kyoto.

But after Ashikaga Yoshimitsu passed away, the Ashikaga shoguns became weaker and weaker with each generation, and the samurai no longer paid attention to the Ashikaga shoguns. How could the nuns take you seriously?

The Riji Sect rose because of the shogunate and also declined because of the shogunate. It has been divided over the years and its influence is much less than before, allowing the Tiantai Sect to gain the upper hand.

But at this time, the Nichiren sect returned to Kyoto with Oda Nobunaga, burned Mount Hiei, and severely damaged the Tendai sect. Even the sect leader Kakuju died in unclear circumstances.

Although the Linji Sect had been torn apart, the Nanchan Temple had a noble status and the abbot Chongchuan was extremely talented and intended to revive the sect.

The Tiantai religious group also introduced the pro-Shiba Master Tianhai as the new master, and quickly moved closer to the Shiba family to stabilize its position.

Chong Chuan of Nanchan Temple was not willing to lag behind and kept trying to curry favor with the saint, creating a situation in which the two factions vied with each other to curry favor.

The most intense confrontation between Master Tianhai and Master Chongchuan was the dispute over the saint's divine title.

Both the Tiantai and Rinzai sects kowtowed to the Sasaki family and advocated that the saint was a living god descended from Bishamonten.

However, Master Tianhai believed that the saint came to the world in the form of a miracle, while Master Chongchuan believed that the saint was the incarnation of a bright god.

The dispute between the two sides seems to be a disagreement on religious doctrines, but in fact it is a fight for the religious right to interpret the advent of Bishamonten.

And now, Shintoism is also trying to grab a piece of the pie, making the situation even more chaotic.

Although neither Amanekai nor Soden was willing to stand against the Takata sisters and directly accuse the Sasaki family, the Shinto religion was overbearing and left no room for them, which made it difficult for them.

All the Buddhist sects shared the same hatred and the same enemy. Whoever retreated at this time would lose popularity and would benefit the other side. So neither of them dared to retreat and could only bite the bullet and stand up for all the Buddhist sects.

Shintoism had been rampant under the protection of the Takata sisters, so it was naturally unhappy when it suddenly encountered obstacles in its missionary work.

The conflict between the various Buddhist sects and Shintoism in Kyoto immediately intensified. If not handled properly, it might affect shrines and temples in various places.

The more Yiyin thought about it, the more depressed he felt. He was so angry that even Takada Yukino's shadow warrior Tachibana Kanade was annoying to him and he couldn't help but take it out on her.

But Lihuazou really left as if nothing had happened, and Yiyin was even more furious, so he gave another order.

"Lihua played."

"Hi."

"Come in." "Hi."

"Take off."

"Hi."

Man, huh.

---

  Do urgent things slowly, and do slow things quickly. Although the religious dispute is urgent, the reform and innovation is at a critical moment. Which thing is not urgent?

After Yiyin vented his anger on Tachibana Kanade, his already sore waist and legs became even weaker.

The fire has gone out, I have no energy, and being forever sixteen years old can't stand the overindulgence. I can only slow down, put this mess of religion aside, and focus on the most important thing at hand.

A few days later, the first general meeting of all representatives of the Provisional Shogunate's United Front Work Department, the Spring Grand Council, was held as scheduled in Fushimi Castle.

The vast majority of the United Front members within the Sōba sphere of influence in Kanto, Kinki and other places chose to attend in person to participate in the event.

However, the mothers of the descendants of the various Sami families chose to avoid the event and sent representatives to attend instead.

Yoshigin also just quietly watched the Grand Council in the meeting hall from his residence, and did not show up to turn the Grand Council into a one-man show for the Sasaki family, thus implementing the spirit of the Grand Council where all samurai affairs should be discussed together.

It was not until the closing day of the conference that Yiyin attended the closing ceremony and said a few polite words.

The Grand Review System was first created in Kanto, and the United Front workers have long been familiar with it. This time, the old guard brought the newcomers to conduct private political transactions, and the results of the topics were often determined before they were even raised.

This is just like the ethics of the military family, they talk about loyalty and righteousness, but their hearts are only concerned with profit, which perfectly conforms to the true meaning of serving the public and rewarding the people.

To quote a saying from later generations, procedural justice is more important than outcome justice.

Everyone agreed on a set of procedures, and as long as they followed the rules and completed the procedures, they had fulfilled their obligations. This complemented the nature of the Wu family, which valued small courtesies over great righteousness, and made all participants feel satisfied.

After the collapse of the samurai system of the Kamakura shogunate and the failure of the shugo system of the Ashikaga shogunate, the samurai once again revived the collegial system.

Although everyone knows that the Sasaki family is the mastermind behind the Grand Council, and that the saint actually controls the passage and even proposal of all proposals, the united front members do not care about this.

The samurai family admires the strong, and the saint of the Sōma family is powerful and willing to follow the samurai family traditions. Naturally, everyone is willing to join in and fight for their own interests within the rules of the game set by the strong.

No matter how bad the order is, it is better than no order.

This major review, which successfully completed the procedures, mainly accomplished two major political tasks.

First, the United Front Party unanimously approved Ashikaga Yoshiuji's request to change his title, and the Ashikaga Shogunate officially moved to Kirenkawa and changed its surname to Kirenkawa.

Legally speaking, since the Ashikaga Shogunate had died out, the direct line of the Kawachi Genji should have been passed on to the closest branch, the Sasaki family.

Secondly, the United Front Party unanimously passed the bill for the temporary shogunate's magistrate, and the five magistrates, Okura Naganoshi, Ōkuma Asahide, Ishida Mitsunari, Ina Tadatsugu, and Hanzawa Naoyoshi, would be responsible for the daily government affairs of the shogunate.

These five people represent the Kanto Bugyoshu, Kinki Bugyoshu, Tadashiken Bugyoshu, Bukegi Gili Promotion Association Bugyoshu, and Clean Government Bugyoshu respectively.

At this point, the Shiba internal affairs system was integrated with the temporary shogunate's internal affairs system, laying a solid political foundation for the next step of opening up and changing the dynasty.

Through the first grand council of the provisional shogunate and the general meeting of the United Front Party, Yoshigin completely resolved the legal basis and political foundation for the Sasaki family's rise to power.

One step closer to becoming the world's best.