Diet of Kazenida (745)

The Diet of Kazenida was a meeting which took place in 745 between Kitabatake Jirou and Takafuwa Ryozuro. It labelled the end of the independent Takafuwa state as it was absorbed into the greater realm of Kitabatake.

## Background

The Takafuwa state, lying in the geographical region of Fuurin, was a relatively new state. It had taken its independence from the state of Moryouka in 710, having been part of the state of Hojo beforehand. The Takafuwa dynasty had been the local noblemen for centuries, to the point that their predecessors are unknown.

The first decade of Takafuwa independence was uncertain. Initially its independence was conditional - Hojo had been so exhausted by the war with Moryouka that to retake the Takafuwa land would put an untenable strain on the nation. The agreement was that Takafuwa would remain independent until Hojo had recovered.

However, once Takafuwa got a taste of freedom it was loath to give it up again. Hojo demanded Takafuwa's integration in 715, but was refused by the head of the clan Takafuwa Enzura. They demanded integration again in 718 and 721, and after the third demand an invasion was only prevented by the demand of soldiers required by Gashikan intervention in the Hojo-Kaisen War.

In 722 Enzura realised he could not hold Hojo off forever. He looked for allies, and eventually decided to contact his third cousin, Hakamari Watano. Hakamari was a major landholder in the state of Kitabatake, and as such Hakamari managed to get this request escalated to reach the ears of the clan head, Kitabatake Jirou.

Kitabatake was keen to enter an alliance to antagonise Hojo, and the deal was sealed with the marriage of the Takafuwa heir, Takafuwa Ryozuro, to Kitabatake Hina, Jirou's daughter. The two nations got progressively closer, and in 738 Enzura died and was succeeded by Ryozuro.

Due to his closeness with the Kitabatake dynasty, Ryozuro was the subject of heavy influence. He was heavily in favour of direct Kitabatake rule, and over the next seven years steadily thinned his cabinet to include only loyalists with the same views. Eventually, in 745, he called for talks with his father-in-law to discuss the integration of Takafuwa into Kitabatake.

## Diet of Kazenida

The two clan heads met in a roadside inn in Kazenida, a town on the coastal road between the two countries. Kazenida was part of the state of Hojo, but the local lord Ino Gonryouten was indifferent to the animosity between Hojo and its neighbours, so allowed the meeting.

Kitabatake Jirou arrived with over a thousand footmen and two thousand retainers and guards. By contrast, Takafuwa Ryozuro brought only himself, his wife, and two dozen guards, retainers, and footmen. This is representative of how much he trusted his father-in-law.

Takafuwa's initial request was that Kitabatake mobilise and conquer his way along the coast to link the two nations. If this request was fulfilled, Takafuwa would surrender his independence, with Takafuwa retaining lordship of his lands but answering directly to his father-in-law.

This was met by a counter-offer that Kitabatake would create a regular nautical trade route between the two, but would allow Takafuwa his terms of lordship retention. This offer essentially negotiated away Takafuwa's benefit in the deal.

Takafuwa responded by focussing on this geographic link. He wanted a land route between the two because he believed 'No steed of the waves can be as reliable as a well-bred horse. Give me a saddle and stirrups over a wheelhouse and sails.' He rejected the idea of a sea-route entirely, risking the entire deal in the process.

Ruling out a sea-route, and discarding entirely the idea of no link at all, the two clan heads discussed the varied possibilities of a land-based route between their two lands. It would have to pass 200 km through hostile lands. The three options they came up with were to conquer a route outright, to make a deal with Hojo for safe passage, or to force their will upon Hojo.

Eventually the third option was chosen. Hojo would never accept a deal of safe passage, and subduing the proud Hojo lords would prove too difficult. Forcing Hojo to allow passage would imply a war anyway, but not as long and draw-out as a war of conquest.

For the next three days, the two men planned a war and its end. The plans they decided upon became reality several months later in the War of the Diet.

## Outcome

During the War of the Diet, Takafuwa retained its independence despite its military attaching itself to the larger and better-equipped Kitabatake force. The official peace terms of the war contained a clause which, when signed by the two aggressors (Kitabatake and Takafuwa) and the defender (Hojo), lade legal the integration of Takafuwa into Kitabatake. The same terms fulfilled Kitabatake's end of the bargain by making Hojo a vassal state of Kitabatake.

The rebellious nature of the lords of Hojo was quelled by several means - for the Hojo dynasty and several of its own larger vassals, the clan heads were either executed or told to 'walk the path of flowers', and were replaced by Kitabatake sympathisers. The smaller families were bribed into silence or removed entirely, to be replaced by retainer families of the Kitabatake or Takafuwa courts.