was a senior retainer of the

Azai clan The , also rendered as Asai, was a Japanese clan during the Sengoku period. History The Azai was a line of ''daimyōs'' (feudal lords) seated at Odani Castle in northeastern Ōmi Province, located within present day Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture. ...

, later

Oda clan The is a Japanese samurai family who were daimyo and an important political force in the unification of Japan in the mid-16th century. Though they had the climax of their fame under Oda Nobunaga and fell from the spotlight soon after, several ...

and the castle lord in command of

Sawayama castle was a castle in the city of Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. This castle was an important military stronghold of Ōmi Province. The Azai clan held this castle in the Sengoku Period. Niwa Nagahide held it after the ruin of the Azai clan and lat ...

. In 1570, at the

Battle of Anegawa The Sengoku period (30 July 1570) occurred near Lake Biwa in Ōmi Province, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is border ...

, he fought against Oda forces under

Sakai Masahisa was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku Period, who most notably served the Oda clan. He was born in Mino Province, and first served the Saitō clan. After the fall of the Saitō, he was taken on as a retainer by Oda Nobunaga. He was particula ...

and kill Masahisa son,

Sakai Kyuzo Sakai Kyūzō (坂井久蔵,1555–1570) was a retainer of Oda Nobunaga and son of Sakai Masahisa. He fought his first battle at age thirteen, and then fought another battle at the Battle of Anegawa (1570). In that battle, he was killed by gunfi ...

. In 1573,

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 ...

laid siege to the

Sawayama Castle was a castle in the city of Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. This castle was an important military stronghold of Ōmi Province. The Azai clan held this castle in the Sengoku Period. Niwa Nagahide held it after the ruin of the Azai clan and lat ...

, which was held by Kazumasa. The castle fell. In response,

Azai Nagamasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period known as the brother-in-law and enemy of Oda Nobunaga. Nagamasa was head of the Azai clan seated at Odani Castle in northern Ōmi Province and married Nobunaga's sister Oichi in 1564, fathering h ...

took Kazumasa's elderly mother, who he held hostage in

Odani Castle 280px, Map of Odani Castle was a Sengoku period mountain-top Japanese castle located in the former town of Kohoku, now part of Nagahama city, in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Only the ruins remain today. It was the home castle of the Azai clan and t ...

, to the execution grounds for death. Kazumasa became enraged to Nagamasa, then he defected to Nobunaga and became a vassal of the

, but later he became a priest in

Mount Kōya is a large temple settlement in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan to the south of Osaka. In the strictest sense, ''Mount Kōya'' is the mountain name ( sangō) of Kongōbu-ji Temple, the ecclesiastical headquarters of the Kōyasan sect of Shingon Budd ...

References

Further reading