was the son of the reputed leader Suzuki Sadayu and final leading head of the
Saika Ikki
The , based in Ōta in the Kii Province (now part of Wakayama Prefecture) of Honshū, were one of many ''ikkō-ikki'' mercenary groups in feudal Japan. Those in Ōta, led by Suzuki Magoichi, were better known as Saika Magoichi. Saika-ikki was form ...
during the latter years 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 ...
of
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 ...
. He was also nicknamed as Saika Magoichi. He also was a friend of Ankokuji Ekei.
He is said to be Sadayu's second eldest son, but the truth behind the matter remains unknown. This is mainly because his name is not listed in historical records available to the public, making the authenticity of the "Shigehide" name even more dubious. Though said to be a warrior of distinguished prowess, details regarding his services remain scant. Aside from his distinct hatred for Nobunaga, the rest of his history is filled with half-truths, rumors, or theories. According to the ''Sengoku Engi'', he was said to have been a great warrior.
It is said that he participated in the Hongan-ji riots as well and led 3,000 gunmen into battle. He is accredited for causing Harada Naomasa's death on the field. Despite being allied with the Miyoshi clan, legends state that Shigehide sympathized with the Honganji rebels and was only loyal to them. When the Saika group surrendered to Hideyoshi years later, Shigehide was said to have tried to save his family from destruction. However, he could not convince Hideyoshi to spare them and his family's property fell into ruin.
From there, the tales surrounding his fate differ from one another. One story says that he served Hideyoshi briefly before he also decided to commit suicide. Another states that he faithfully continued to serve the Toyotomi family until Sekigahara and joined the Eastern army. There, he was employed by
Date Masamune
was a regional ruler of Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful ''daimyō'' in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made all ...
to be his secondary arquebus troop. A few tales said that he became a wanderer and died as a hermit late in his life. After Torii Mototada's downfall during 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 ...
, he is said to have lived the rest of his days as a
rōnin
A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master's ...
in
Mito Domain
was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Hitachi Province in modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture.woodblock prints of 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 ...
which showed him, his name was often given as "Suzuchi Hida-no-kami Shigeyuki", due to the strict censorship of the period, which forbade illustration of recent historical events.