was a Japanese ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' of the early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

. The lord of Fukōzu han in

Mikawa Province was an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces. Mi ...

, he was a personal aide to

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

. Son of the

Kyoto Shoshidai The was an important administrative and political office in the Tokugawa shogunate. The office was the personal representative of the military dictators Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto, the seat of the Japanese Emperor, and was ado ...

Itakura Katsushige was a Japanese daimyō of the Azuchi–Momoyama Period to early Edo period. He fought at the side of Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. He was also an ordained Shin Buddhist priest. Katsuhige's daimyō family claimed descent ...

, and younger brother of

Itakura Shigemune was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period.Meyer, Eva-Maria"Gouverneure von Kyôto in der Edo-Zeit". Universität Tübingen (in German). Shigemune's daimyō family claimed descent from the Shibukawa branch of the Seiwa Genji. The Itaku ...

(successor to Katsushige as ''Shoshidai''). Born in Mikawa, he was styled ''Naizen no Kami'' (内膳正), and together with Matsudaira Masatsuna and Akimoto Yasutomo, he served as Tokugawa Ieyasu's personal aide (''kinju shuttōnin'' 近習出頭人). In the Osaka Winter Campaign, he acted as negotiator with the Toyotomi. In the 11th month of Kan'ei 14 (1637), he was appointed chief commander of the expeditionary force that was sent to put down the Shimabara Rebellion. Shigemasa failed to take Hara Castle, the rebels' headquarters, despite his use of ninja, tunnelling methods, and catapults. As a result, the shōgun Iemitsu grew impatient with him, and sent

Matsudaira Nobutsuna was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period, who ruled the Kawagoe Domain. First serving Tokugawa Iemitsu as a page, Nobutsuna was renowned for his sagacity. He was named a rōjū in 1633. Nobutsuna led the shogunal forces to their final vi ...

as his replacement. In an effort to regain his credibility, Shigemasa led a sudden assault on the castle, but in the process, was shot dead by an arrow. Shigemasa's death poem was: *''Aratama no/toshi no hajime ni/saku hana no/na nominokoraba/saki ga ketoshire'' Translated, *''In a hail of bullets/at the start of the year/only the name/of blooming flowers/remains for the future''

References

*Miura Baien. ''Samidare-Sho''. Trans. Leon Hurvitz. Appearing in ''Monumenta Nipponica'', Vol. 8, No. 1/2 (1952), pp. 289–326.

External links

Family tree and background of Shigemasa's branch of the Itakura
Samurai 1588 births 1638 deaths History of Christianity in Japan Itakura clan Daimyo {{Daimyo-stub