, also known as Saitō Toshimasa (斎藤利政), was a Japanese

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

lord and

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

during the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Saitō Dōsan"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 809. He was also known as the for his ruthless tactics. He was appointed Governor of Yamashiro by the Imperial Court. After entering monkhood in his later years, he was also called ''Saitō Yamashiro-nyudō-no-kami'' (斎藤山城入道守).

Biography

Saitō Dōsan has long been regarded as a symbolic figure of " Gekokujō" (the rise of those of lower status to positions of power), rising from a humble oil merchant to the ruler of Mino Province. However, recent research suggests that it was actually Dōsan's father who was the oil merchant. This implies that Dōsan's "Gekokujō" was a two-generation achievement involving both father and son. He became a daimyo through ''Gekokujō'' of Toki Yorinari at

Mino Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern Gifu Prefecture. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, Shinano to the east, and Ise, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviated fo ...

in 1542. Yorinari was forced out of Mino by Saitō Dōsan. The Saito fortress was located at Inabayama castle.Sengoku Bushō Retsuden 12: Saitō Dōsan
. Accessed September 20, 2007.
Harimaya. Accessed September 20, 2007. He married Omi no kata, a sister of Akechi Mitsutsuna (

Akechi Mitsuhide , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period. Mitsuhide was originally a bodyguard of the last Ashikaga shogunate, Ashikaga ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later, one of ...

's father). He defeated

Oda Nobuhide was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and magistrate of the Sengoku period known as "Tiger of Owari" and also the father of Oda Nobunaga, the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobuhide was a deputy ''shugo'' (Shugodai) of lower Owari Province and head of t ...

at the Battle of Kanōguchi in 1547. In 1549 Oda Nobuhide was defeated by Dōsan. Nobuhide made peace with Dōsan by arranging a political marriage between his son and heir,

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

, and Dōsan's daughter, Nōhime. Dōsan, therefore, became the father-in-law of Oda Nobunaga. Dōsan supported the marriage which allowed Nobuhide to focus on facing

Imagawa Yoshimoto was a Japanese ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the Sengoku period. Based in Suruga Province, he was known as ; he was one of the three ''daimyō'' that dominated the Tōkaidō region. He died in 1560 while marching to Kyoto to become Shogun. He ...

Several years later, rumors had started to circulate that Dōsan's firstborn son, Saitō Yoshitatsu, was not his natural son and Dōsan started to consider another son, Saitō Kiheiji, or even his son-in-law

, as his heirs. This caused Yoshitatsu to rebel and kill his two younger brothers. In 1556, the forces of Dōsan and Yoshitatsu clashed in the Battle of Nagara-gawa which resulted in the death of Dōsan. Dōsan's head was taken by a man called Komaki Genta, a retainer of Yoshitatsu's son Saitō Tatsuoki. His remains were originally interred in Sōfuku-ji, but they were later moved to Jōzai-ji because the

Nagara River The has its source in the city of Gujō, Gifu Prefecture, and its mouth in the city of Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Along with the Kiso River and Ibi River, the Nagara River is one of the Kiso Three Rivers of the Nōbi Plain. Previously, t ...

kept overflowing and covering his burial mound.''Gifu City Walking Map''. Gifu Lively City Public Corporation, 2007. Both temples are located in the city of

Gifu is a Cities of Japan, city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. Durin ...

which celebrates Dōsan with an annual festival.

Pseudonyms

Saitō Dōsan is known for having a large number of

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

s and for frequently changing his name. Some believe that this is because there were two Saitō Dōsan, father and son, and the son adopted his father's name after his death. Other names of Saitō Dōsan are Minemaru (峰丸), Hōrenbō (法蓮坊), Matsunami Shogorō (松浪庄五郎), Nishimura Kankurō Masatoshi (西村勘九郎正利), Shinkurō (新九郎), Nagai Norihide (長井規秀), and Saitō Sakondayu Toshimasa (斎藤左近大夫利政). The name Saitō was adopted from the former

shugodai were officials during feudal Japan. Shugodai were representatives of provincial shugo when the shugo could not virtually exercise his power, being often away from his province. Unlike shugo, who were appointed from the central power of the sa ...

of Mino who had been overcome by the Nagai clan in the 1520s.

Notable retainers

* Hachiya Yoritaka * Mori Yoshinari * Fuwa Mitsuharu * Inaba Ittetsu * Ando Morinari *

Ujiie Naotomo , also known as , was a Japanese samurai warrior. served the Saitō clan of Mino province. Later, he become a retainer of Oda Nobunaga. Naomoto was considered one of the , along with Inaba Yoshimichi and Andō Morinari. In 1567, they agreed t ...

* Hachisuka Masakatsu * Sakai Masahisa * Takenaka Shigeharu *

Kanamori Nagachika was a Japanese samurai who lived from the Sengoku period into the early Edo period. He was the first ruler of the Kanamori clan and served as a retainer of the Saito clan, Saito, Oda clan, Oda, Toyotomi clan, Toyotomi, and Tokugawa clan, Tokuga ...

* Katō Mitsuyasu * Sengoku Hidehisa

Family

* Father: Matsuda Motomune (in one traditional story; another version says that he was child of Shinzaemonzo, a monk of Myoukaku-ji Temple) * Wife: Omi no Kata, daughter of Akechi Mitsutsugu * Concubine: Miyoshi no Kata * Children: ** Saitō Yoshitatsu born to Miyoshi no Kata ** Saitō Magoshirō ** Saitō Kiheiji ** Saitō Toshitaka ** Saitō Nagatatsu (Toshiharu) ** Nōhime (Kicho)

In Popular Culture

* In the Action RPG

Nioh 2 is a 2020 action role-playing game developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo for the PlayStation 4. It was released by Sony Interactive Entertainment outside Japan on PlayStation consoles. It is a prequel to '' Nioh'' (2017). Versions ...

he's reimagined as a retired Yokai hunter that fell in love with a female Yokai who bore him two children; Saito Yoshitatsu and the main protagonist "Hide". He's killed by Yoshitatsu's forces at the end of the first act.

References