, childhood name Gonbei (権兵衛) was a samurai warrior of the
Sengoku period and the
Edo period. 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".
Early life
According to his family records, Hidehisa was the fourth son of his family, a low ranking samurai family in the
Saitō clan. 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 and was ordered to serve under Kinoshita Tōkichirō (the eventual
Toyotomi Hideyoshi). 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 of
Awaji Island at
Sumoto Castle.
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 against
Chosokabe clan.
In 1587, he was given charge to lead the campaign on Kyushu with two other daimyō:
Chōsokabe Motochika and
Sogō Masayasu. However, they were crushed in the
Battle of Hetsugigawa 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, and he participated in the
Odawara campaign Odawara Castle in today's Odawara city, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, was besieged three times.
*Siege of Odawara (1561)
The 1561 Siege of Odawara, a battle of Japan's Sengoku period, Uesugi Kenshin attacked Odawara castle, this was the first ...
, against the
Hōjō clan
The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of ''shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this period ...
, 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.
Popular culture
He is the main protagonist of the manga '' Sengoku'', by Hideki Miyashita. The story starts when 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 ...
attacks Saitō Tatsuoki's castle.
See also
* Sengoku clan
References
External links
"Komoro" at Edo 300
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sengoku, Hidehisa
1552 births
1612 deaths
Daimyo
Samurai