also known as Obu Masakage 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 ...

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 ...

. He is known as one of the "

Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen 24 (twenty-four) is the natural number following 23 and preceding 25. The SI prefix for 1024 is yotta (Y), and for 10−24 (i.e., the reciprocal of 1024) yocto (y). These numbers are the largest and smallest number to receive an SI prefix to da ...

". He was famous for his red armour and skill in battlefield, and was a personal friend of

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 ...

. He was the younger brother of

Obu Toramasa , known as the "Wild Tiger of Kai", was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period, who served the Takeda clan. He was known as one of the "Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen".Inoue, Yasushi. (2006) ''The Samurai banner of Furin Kazan,'' p. 7 Hi ...

who was also a retainer of Shingen leading the famous "red fire unit" (derived from Shingen's slogan

Fūrinkazan , is a popularized version of the battle standard used by the Sengoku period ''daimyō'' Takeda Shingen. The banner quoted four phrases from Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War'': "as swift as wind, as gentle as forest, as fierce as fire, as unshakable a ...

). After his brother Obu Masatora committed

Seppuku , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

as a cover for

Takeda Yoshinobu was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. Born Takeda Tarō (武田太郎), he was the son of Takeda Shingen, by Shingen's wife, . He came of age in 1550, and took the formal name of Yoshinobu, receiving the "yoshi" from the 13th Ashikag ...

's failed rebellion, Masakage changed his family name to Yamagata(He used the name Obu Masakage at first.). Masakage was a fierce warrior who fought in many battles and was given a fief in Shinano. He was present at the

Battle of Mimasetoge The was the Hojo's attack to Takeda army, took place at Mimase pass in 1569, as the forces of Takeda Shingen withdrew from repeated failed sieges of the Hōjō clan's Odawara Castle in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. The Hōjō forces, led by ...

in 1569 and captured Yoshida Castle, a Tokugawa possession, during the Mikatagahara Campaign (1572–73). He was present for the following

Battle of Mikatagahara The was a battle of the Sengoku period of Japan fought between Takeda Shingen and Tokugawa Ieyasu in Mikatagahara, Tōtōmi Province on 25 January 1573. Shingen attacked Ieyasu at the plain of Mikatagahara north of Hamamatsu during his cam ...

. His last campaign was in the ill-fated

Battle of Nagashino The took place in 1575 near Nagashino Castle on the plain of Shitaragahara in the Mikawa Province of Japan. Takeda Katsuyori attacked the castle when Okudaira Sadamasa rejoined the Tokugawa, and when his original plot with Oga Yashiro for taki ...

in 1575, in which he tried to persuade Katsuyori to honorably withdraw.

Ii Naomasa was a general under the Sengoku period ''daimyō'', and later ''shōgun'', Tokugawa Ieyasu.

In popular culture

Yamagata is one of the main characters in

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

epic film Epic films are a style of filmmaking with large-scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The usage of the term has shifted over time, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply synonymous with big-budget filmmaking. Like epics in ...

Kagemusha is a 1980 jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is set in the Sengoku period of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate the dying ''daimyō'' Takeda Shingen to dissuade opposing lords fr ...

''.IMDb
"Masakage Yamagata (Character) from Kagemusha (1980)
retrieved 2013-5-17.

References

External links

"Legendary Takeda's 24 Generals" at Yamanashi-kankou.jpThe armor of red's preparation

References

External links

Further reading