Departures of note

In 1551, Ōuchi Yoshitaka, the daimyō of Suō Province, embarked on a daring plan to relocate the Japanese emperor and the imperial court from Kyoto to his home city of Yamaguchi. The emperor Go-Nara had appointed him Acting Governor of Yamashiro, the province containing the capital, hoping to leverage the Ōuchi against the warlord Miyoshi Nagayoshi who occupied Kyoto. Yoshitaka welcomed high-ranking courtiers, including former regent Nijō Tadafusa and retired Grand Minister Sanjō Kin'yori, and by the end of the eighth month, nearly the entire court, save for the emperor himself and the palace ladies, had moved to Yamaguchi.

Yoshitaka's military establishment resented this move, fearing that privileges granted to the courtiers would undermine their own standing within the clan. In September 1551, the faction led by Sue Harukata revolted. With control of the troops, Harukata's forces massacred the courtiers and ministers, and Yoshitaka was forced to perform seppuku at Tainei-ji Temple in Nagato Province, composing a death poem that reflected on the fleeting nature of victory and defeat.

Yoshitaka had come to power in 1528 after the death of his father, Ōuchi Yoshioki, with whom he had fought the Amago clan for control of Aki Province. In the 1530s, he led successful military actions in northern Kyūshū, defeating the Shōni clan. However, a disastrous invasion of Izumo Province in 1542, which ended in the loss of his adopted son Ōuchi Harumochi and many troops, led him to abandon ambitions of territorial expansion. He instead devoted his energy to the arts and culture, patronizing foreign trade and attracting the Spanish missionary Francis Xavier, whom he allowed to proselytize in Yamaguchi. His retainers split into factions, with Yoshitaka siding with those who favored maintaining current domains over further conquest, a decision that ultimately contributed to his downfall.