was a

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...

monk from

Mount Hiei is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures, Japan. The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tendai (Chin. Tiantai) sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by S ...

in western

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 bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. He was the father of

Miyabe Nagafusa was the son of Miyabe Tsugimasu, succeeding to headship over the clan of Miyabe during the latter Sengoku Period of Feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 B ...

and became a reputable administrator under

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 ...

during the latter half of the

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 ...

feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to Japanese Paleolithic, prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millenni ...

. His name could also be read as Miyabe Tsugimasu. Keijun received Miyabe Castle from

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 ...

when he gave his support to 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. ...

. Fighting against 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 ...

during 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 ...

in 1570, Nagamasa and his counterpart

Asakura Yoshikage was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period (1467–1603) who ruled a part of Echizen Province in present-day Fukui Prefecture. He was a regent of Ashikaga Shogunate. Yoshikage's conflicts with Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) resulted in his deat ...

were defeated, prompting Keijun to distrust his lord's ability, but not to the point in which he was willing to defect. 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

Isono Kazumasa was a senior retainer of the Azai clan, later Oda clan and the castle lord in command of Sawayama castle. In 1570, at the Battle of Anegawa, he fought against Oda forces under Sakai Masahisa and kill Masahisa son, Sakai Kyuzo. In 1573, Oda No ...

. The castle fell after a

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...

that lasted over three months. In response, Nagamasa 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. Keijun became enraged at the backstabbing qualities of Nagamasa, defected to Nobunaga and assisted him in the downfall of the Azai. As both Nagamasa and the Azai were entirely put into extinction after his defection, Keijun served under Nobunaga until the latter's death in 1582, at which time he then came to serve

, largely assisting him by means of administration and agricultural production. He supporting Hideyoshi by additionally taking part in the

Kyūshū Campaign is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

of 1587, Keijun fought in the majority of the battles and observed other conflicts—such as the Toyotomi attack upon

Hyūga Province was an old province of Japan on the east coast of Kyūshū, corresponding to the modern Miyazaki Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Hyūga''" in . It was sometimes called or . Hyūga bordered on Bungo, Higo, Ōsumi, and Sats ...

's Taka Castle. Continuing his prowess in both agriculture and administration, throughout the years that passed, Hideyoshi rewarded Keijun with

Tottori Castle was a Japanese castle located in Tottori, Tottori Prefecture. History Tottori Castle was constructed in Inaba Province during the Sengoku period as a ''yamashiro'' ("mountain castle") built into the mountain itself, using natural obstacles and ...

Inaba Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Tottori Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Inaba bordered on Harima, Hōki, Mimasaka, and Tajima Provinces. The ancient capital, and the castle town, were at Tott ...

, which he passed on to his son in 1596, and retired from service as a Toyotomi administrator.

References

Miyabe Tsugimasu - SamuraiWiki
(Samurai Archives) FWSeal & CEWest, 2005
Asai Nagamasa - SamuraiWiki
(Samurai Archives) FWSeal & CEWest, 2005 Samurai Daimyo 1528 births 1599 deaths {{samurai-stub