, childhood name Gonbei (権兵衛) was a samurai warrior 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 ...

and the

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 characteriz ...

. He was the head of the

Komoro Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in Shinano Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Komoro Castle, located in what is now part of the city of Komoro in Nagano Prefecture.Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)
"Sengoku" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 54
retrieved 2013-4-11. Hidehisa is also credited with being the man who captured the legendary outlaw hero "

Ishikawa Goemon was a legendary Japanese outlaw hero who stole gold and other valuables to give to the poor. He and his son were boiled alive in public after their failed assassination attempt on the Sengoku period warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His legend lives ...

Early life

According to his family records, Hidehisa was the fourth son of his family, a low ranking samurai family in the

Saitō clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that ruled Mino province in the Sengoku period. The clan appropriated the name of a defunct samurai clan named "Saitō" that had previously hailed from Echizen province and claimed descent from Fujiwara Toshih ...

. He was adopted out to another family at a young age, but eventually his older brothers died of illness and he was recalled to inherit his family name. During Mino Campaign, his clan was destroyed by

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 ...

and he was captured during the assault. He then became a member of 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 ...

and was ordered to serve under Kinoshita Tōkichirō (the eventual

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 ...

). Hidehisa took part in most of the Oda clan's military actions afterwards. Slowly but steadily he rose up through the ranks. Hidehisa is generally described as a brave and skillful warrior in his early days with Nobunaga; he was often at the front lines of the Oda clan's military operations. He also appears to have inherited some of Hideyoshi's charisma, as he was able to avoid getting himself killed despite ending up several times in situations that would normally have boded poorly for most samurai.

Service under Hideyoshi

In 1581, he was made the

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

of Awaji Island at

Sumoto Castle was a Muromachi to Sengoku period Japanese castle located in the Orodani neighborhood of the city of Sumoto, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1999. It was also referred to as . Over ...

. In 1583, he was defeated in the

Battle of Hiketa The was a battle during the Azuchi–Momoyama period (16th century) of Japan. The siege of Hiketa Castle was a certain battle that was fought by Sengoku Hidehisa against Chōsokabe Motochika. In the end however, Motochika won this victory. Hike ...

against Chosokabe Motochika. In 1585, he participated in Hideyoshi's successful campaign in

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

against Chosokabe clan. In 1587, he was given charge to lead the campaign on Kyushu with two other daimyō:

Chōsokabe Motochika was a prominent ''daimyō'' in Japanese Sengoku-period. He was the 21st chief of the Chōsokabe clan of Tosa Province (present-day Kōchi Prefecture), the ruler of Shikoku region. Early life and rise He was the son and heir of Chōsokabe Kuni ...

and

Sogō Masayasu was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period. He was second son of Miyoshi Yoshikata who was adopted by Sogō Kazumasa from the Sogō clan. In 1582, Masayasu was defeated by Chōsokabe Motochika`s large army during the battle of Nakatomigawa ...

. However, they were crushed in the

Battle of Hetsugigawa The was the last battle before the Toyotomi main army's arrival on Kyūshū Campaign, Kyūshū during Japan's Sengoku period. In 1586 at Hetsugigawa (present Ōnogawa) in Bungo province Toyotomi's vanguard divisions under Chōsokabe Motochika a ...

by the Shimazu. Sogō Masayasu perished along with Chōsokabe Motochika's heir, Nobuchika. Hidehisa was accused of charging ahead too soon and then fleeing at the first sight of trouble. After he returned to Hideyoshi, he was stripped of his title, land, and sent into exile.

Service under Ieyasu

In 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu soon arranged for him to nominally join the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this clan r ...

, and he participated in the Odawara campaign, against the Hōjō clan, where his valor redeemed his name. Later, he was made daimyō at Komoro"Shinano Province" at JapaneseCastleExplorer.com
retrieved 2013-4-11. with 50,000 ''

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 ...

'' revenues. Due to this series of events, after Hideyoshi's death, Hidehisa easily sided with Ieyasu in the

Sekigahara campaign The Sekigahara Campaign was a series of battles in Japan fought between the Eastern Army aligned with Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Western Army loyal to Ishida Mitsunari, culminating in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. The conflict was sparke ...

. In 1600, Hidehisa was in the army of Ieyasu's heir,

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

, they were unable to reach the Sekigahara main battle in time due to the stalling tactics of

Sanada Masayuki was a Japanese Sengoku period lord and ''daimyō''. He was the head of Sanada clan,_a_regional_house_of_Shinano_Province.html" ;"title="DF 56 of 80/nowiki>">DF 56 of 80">("S ..., a regional house of Shinano Province">DF 56 of 80/nowiki>">DF 56 ...

Siege of Ueda The siege of Ueda was staged in 1600 by Tokugawa Hidetada, son of the warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu, against Ueda castle garrison in Shinano province, which was controlled by the Sanada family. Hidetada came across the castle as he marched his army a ...

. However Hidehisa successfully persuaded the furious Ieyasu to spare both he and Hidetada after this blunder. Hidetada remained grateful to Hidehisa for the remainder of his life. Hidehisa's family remained daimyo until the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

Popular culture

He is the main protagonist of the manga ''

Sengoku The was a period in 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 feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various ...

'', by Hideki Miyashita. The story starts when

attacks Saitō Tatsuoki's castle.

References

External links

"Komoro" at Edo 300
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sengoku, Hidehisa 1552 births 1612 deaths Daimyo Samurai