or Toki Yoshitatsu 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 ...

and ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' 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 ...

. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)
"Saitō," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 50 [PDF 54 of 80
/nowiki>">DF 54 of 80">"Saitō," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 50 [PDF 54 of 80
/nowiki> retrieved 2013–4–30. He proved a capable commander and was able to defeat attempts by

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 ...

to avenge his father-in-law Dôsan's death, but died of his illness in 1561.

Biography

Yoshitatsu was the son of Saitō Dōsan. However, rumors that Yoshitatsu was in fact not Dōsan's real son (that is, that he was actually the son of Toki Yorinari (Toki Yoshiyori), the ''

shugo , commonly translated as ' ilitarygovernor', 'protector', or 'constable', was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the shogun to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The position gave way to th ...

'' of

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 ...

who Dōsan displaced in influence) persisted--with Dōsan apparently considering naming one of his other sons, Nagatatsu, as heir. Yoshitatsu had come to suspect his father's intentions. Though he actually did suffer from leprosy, Yoshitatsu feigned illness and murdered his two younger brothers in 1555, declaring war on Dōsan. In May 1556, at the Battle of Nagara-gawa, Yoshitatsu led an army to 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 ...

, prompting Dōsan to take up a position on the opposite side of the river. Yoshitatsu's vanguard opened the attack by crossing the river and cutting deeply into Dosan's ranks. They nearly reached Dōsan's headquarters before being savaged by a counterattack. Yoshitatsu then led the bulk of his forces across the river. In the course of the fighting, Dōsan was killed. Yoshitatsu thereafter assumed control of Mino until he died in 1561. Yoshitatsu's son, Saitō Tatsuoki, was defeated by

in 1567 at the Siege of Inabayama; and the clan disappeared.

References

External links

斎藤氏 on Harimaya.com
* http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Saito_Yoshitatsu Daimyo 1527 births 1561 deaths Yoshitatsu {{daimyo-stub