Nagano Narimasa (長野業正, 1491–1561) 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 ...

retainer of the

Uesugi Uesugi (sometimes written ''Uyesugi'') is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: People *Uesugi clan, a Japanese samurai clan **Uesugi Akisada, (1454–1510), a samurai of the Uesugi clan **Uesugi Harunori (1751–1822), a Jap ...

clan during 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 ...

and lord of

Gunma is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima P ...

. He was known for building

Minowa Castle was a "hirayama"-style ( castle located in the Misato neighborhood of the city of Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. The ruins have been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 1987. Background Minowa Castle is l ...

in 1526, and his skill at castle defense."Gyokuei Shūi", a Yagyū family record, in Yoshio Imamura (Ed.) ''Kaitei Shiryō Yagyū Shinkage-ryū Vol. 1''. (1995) Shinjimbutsu Ōraisha, ''Kamiizumi Nobutsuna'', Japanese language Wikipedia. He employed the famous spearman

Kamiizumi Nobutsuna Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, (上泉信綱), born Kamiizumi Ise-no-Kami Fujiwara-no-Hidetsuna, (c.1508 – 1572/1577) was a samurai in Japan's Sengoku period famous for creating the Shinkage-ryū school of combat. He is also well known as Kamiizumi Iseno ...

, who founded the

Shinkage-ryū ' meaning "new shadow school", is a traditional school ('' koryu'') of Japanese martial arts, founded by Kamiizumi Ise-no-Kami Fujiwara-no-Hidetsuna, later Kamiizumi Ise-no-Kami Nobutsuna Friday, Karl ''Legacies of the sword'', page 24. Univers ...

swordsmanship school. He gave shelter to

Sanada Yukitaka was a Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku period. He is known as one of the "Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen". He was the father of Sanada Nobutsuna and Sanada Masayuki and grandfather of the legendary samurai warrior Sanada Yukimur ...

after Yukitaka was defeated by

Murakami Yoshikiyo Murakami Yoshikiyo (村上義清, 1501–1573) was a Japanese samurai from the and retainer of the Uesugi clan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. Yoshikiyo followed in fighting against both Takeda Nobutora and his son Takeda Shingen ...

, a daimyō of Shinano in 1541.Sengoku Biographical Dictionary He served prominently during the attack on

Yamanaka Castle was a Sengoku period ''yamajiro''-style Japanese castle, built by the Later Hōjō clan, Odawara Hōjō clan in Tagata District, Shizuoka, Tagata District, Izu Province, in what is now eastern Mishima, Shizuoka, Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japa ...

, held by

Hōjō Ujiyasu was a ''daimyō'' (warlord) and third head of the Odawara Hōjō clan. Known as the "Lion of Sagami", he was revered as a fearsome warrior and a cunning man. He is famous for his strategies of breaking the siege from Takeda Shingen and Uesugi K ...

, and when he defended

against

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

for no less than seven years. The records of Chōnen-ji, the temple where Nagano was buried, dates his death to 1566. Only after his death did the castle fall to Shingen. According to ''Shōden Shinkage-ryū'', there were 16 retainers under him who were called the "Sixteen Spears of Nagano House". Among them, Kamiizumi Nobutsuna and Nagano Zaemon was listed as top students. Nagano Zaemon went on to found a style of Koppojutsu and Sojutsu called Gyoshin Ryu. The Densho called Shinken Shobu Mokuroku which was originally written in 1603 was destroyed in World War II and was rewritten by a distant relative named Nagano Shigazato in 1981. Today it is rumored that a distant branch called Nagano Ryu Heihou is the keeper of the revised densho and was founded with its core teachings coming from the Shiken Shobu Mokuroku, but this is a rumor and has not been proven.

References

{{People of the Sengoku period, state=autocollapse Uesugi clan Military engineers