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 ...

of the Azuchi-Momoyama period, who served the

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 ...

. He ruled Kaganoi Castle. During the

Battle of Komaki and Nagakute The was a series of battles in 1584 between the forces of Hashiba Hideyoshi (who would become Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586) and the forces of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Hideyoshi and Ieyasu had both served Oda Nobunaga and had not previou ...

, Shigemochi fought under his father Shigemune, who was attached to the forces of

Oda Nobukatsu was a Japanese samurai of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the second son of Oda Nobunaga. He survived the decline of the Oda clan from political prominence, becoming a ''daimyō'' in the early Edo period. Though often described as an inco ...

. Soon after, Kaganoi Castle was surrounded by the forces of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

; Shigemune surrendered, and Shigemochi was employed by Hideyoshi as a messenger, receiving a stipend of 10,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

''. He also possessed a blade made by

Muramasa , commonly known as , was a famous swordsmith who founded the Muramasa school and lived during the Muromachi period (14th to 16th centuries) in Kuwana, Ise Province, Japan (current Kuwana, Mie).Fukunaga, 1993. vol. 5, pp. 166–167. In spite of ...

, which Hideyoshi bestowed on him in 1598. In 1600, 27 August, a few days before the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

, Shigemochi was at a drinking party with

Mizuno Tadashige was a retainer of the Tokugawa clan following the later years of the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 16th century. Biography Tadashige was the son of Mizuno Tadamasa and the brother of Mizuno Nobumoto. He participated in the Battle of Mikatag ...

and

Horio Yoshiharu was a Japanese ''daimyō'' during the Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. He was appointed to the position of one of san-''chūrō'' (three arbiters) by Toyotomi Hideyoshi along with Ikoma Chikamasa and Nakamura Kazuuji. He was the first lead ...

. Shigemochi killed Tadashige in a drunken rage, and was himself promptly killed by Yoshiharu. This worked 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 fellow ...

's favor, as Shigemochi (whose territory was in the path of Ieyasu's planned march) was close to Ishida Mitsunari. With Shigemochi's death, the Kaganoi family line became extinct.

Notes

* https://web.archive.org/web/20081012073920/http://wolfpac.press.ne.jp/daimyo02.html (5 August 2008) Samurai 1561 births 1600 deaths Daimyo {{daimyo-stub