Tainei-ji incident
The was a coup in September 1551 by Sue Takafusa (later known as Sue Harukata) against Ōuchi Yoshitaka, hegemon daimyō of western Japan, which ended in the latter's forced suicide in Tainei-ji, a temple in Nagato Province. The coup put an abrupt end to the prosperity of the Ōuchi clan, though they ruled western Japan in name for another six years under the figurehead Ōuchi Yoshinaga, who was not related to the Ōuchi by blood. Background The Ōuchi clan was one of the most powerful and important families in Japan during the reign of the Ashikaga shogunate in the 12th to 16th centuries. Expanding out from Suō Province towards the western end of Honshu, the Ōuchi domains at their height comprised six provinces. They were among the primary families involved in foreign trade and relations, particularly with China. Under the patronage of the 31st family head Ōuchi Yoshitaka, the Ōuchi home city Yamaguchi prospered greatly from the cultivation of the arts and foreign trade, attracting famed artists, Chinese merchants, and Jesuit missionaries (such as Francis Xavier) to his city. At the same time, Yoshitaka fostered a close relationship with Emperor Go-Nara in Kyoto, and sponsored many imperial rites that the