was a Japanese notable retainer under

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

, who served him since childhood, when they were both hostages under the

Imagawa was a Japanese people, Japanese samurai Japanese clans, clan that claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji by way of the Kawachi Genji. It was a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan. Origins Ashikaga Kuniuji, grandson of Ashikaga Yosh ...

in 1551.

Biography

Kazumasa, also accompanied Ieyasu in the

Siege of Terabe The siege of Terabe Castle took place in 1558 in feudal Japan. Terabe Castle was a possession of the Ogasawara clan of Mikawa province. The Siege of Terabe Castle was Matsudaira Motoyasu's first battle, who would later change his name to Tokug ...

1558, and later at

Siege of Marune The was a battle during the Sengoku period (16th century) of Japan. Marune was a frontier fortress in the possession of Oda Nobunaga. Matsudaira Motoyasu, who was at the time a forced retainer of the Imagawa, captured the fortress as part of t ...

1560. After 1560, when Ieyasu abandoned the Imagawa, Kazumasa then became a valued retainer and administrator under him. In 1562, he took part in the Siege of Kaminogo Castle, when Ieyasu managed to convince

Imagawa Ujizane was a Japanese ''daimyō'' who lived in the Sengoku through early Edo periods. He was the tenth head of the Imagawa clan, and was a son of Imagawa Yoshimoto and the father of Imagawa Norimochi and Shinagawa Takahisa. Biography Ujizane was born ...

to release his family, Kazumasa acted as guardian of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

, which at the time was a very dangerous task. By 1567, the majority of daimyō forces in the Tokugawa armies were organized in two divisions, each with a separate commander. Kazumasa was placed over the forces of 13 Tokugawa daimyō-vassals and his counterpart,

Sakai Tadatsugu was one of the most favored and most successful military commanders serving Tokugawa Ieyasu in the late-Sengoku period. He is regarded as one of the Four Guardians of the Tokugawa (''Tokugawa-Shitennō''). along with Honda Tadakatsu, Ii Naoma ...

, was given command over the forces of 18 daimyō-vassals. In 1573, He participated in the

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 ...

. and 1575 in the

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 ...

. After

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 ...

's victory over

Shibata Katsuie or was a Japanese samurai and military commander during the Sengoku period. He served Oda Nobunaga as one of his trusted generals, was severely wounded in the 1571 first siege of Nagashima, but then fought in the 1575 Battle of Nagashino an ...

in 1583, Ieyasu expressed his congratulations to Hideyoshi through Kazumasa. Later, Kazumasa and

Sakakibara Yasumasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku period through early Edo period, who served the Tokugawa clan. As one of the Tokugawa family's foremost military commanders, he was considered one of its Shitennō (Tokugawa clan), "Four Guardian K ...

accordingly issued statements attacking Hideyoshi, due to the Tokugawa's decision. Kazumasa served at the Komaki headquarters during the

Komaki-Nagakute Campaign The was a series of battles in 1584 between the forces of Hashiba Hideyoshi (who would become Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586) and the forces of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Hideyoshi and Ieyasu had both served Oda Nobunaga and had not previ ...

in 1584. In 1585, Kazumasa, very dismayed by what he saw as Tokugawa's foolhardy path of resistance against

, later he switched sides to Hideyoshi. This inconvenienced Ieyasu, who had to reconstruct his military organization and defensive policies, since Kazumasa had significant knowledge about Tokugawa organization.

Death

After Hideyoshi's death, and the establishment of

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, Kazumasa and his family were punished by being deprived of their fief. Kazumasa then later decided to retire and live with his son

Ishikawa Yasunaga Ishikawa may refer to: Concepts * Ishikawa diagram, cause-and-effect diagram, developed by Kaoru Ishikawa Places *Ishikawa Prefecture, a prefecture in the Chūbu region on Honshū island, Japan *Ishikawa District, Ishikawa, a former district in ...

, until he died in 1609.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishikawa, Kazumasa Samurai 1534 births 1609 deaths