, also known as Asakura Kageakira, was a Japanese

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

warrior of the later

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Asakura Kageaki"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 50. In 1573, after Asakura Yoshikage was defeated by

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

at Battle of Tonezaka, Yoshikage fled to Ichijodani castle with only his own troops and, upon the urging of Kageaki, went to the Ono district. Later, at the Rokubō-kenshō monastery proposed by Kageaki as a temporary place to stay, Yoshikage was thoroughly surrounded by 200 troops under Kageaki who betrayed his lord. As the attendants fought and died, Yoshikage suddenly took his own life. Kageaki then brought Yoshikage’s head, along with Yoshikage’s mother (Kōtokuin), wife and children as hostages, and surrendered to Nobunaga. As a condition of the surrender, the lives were spared of very close relatives of Yoshikage including his infant son and designated heir (Aiōmaru) and cherished consort (Koshōshō). Some of Yoshikage’s attendants did not martyr themselves and survived the battle. Efforts were made by Kageaki to negotiate for their lives and future status but the dependents of Yoshikage were executed by the Oda army while in transit.

References

Samurai 1529 births 1574 deaths {{samurai-stub