(died 1557) or Imagawa Sessai, also known as Taigen Sessai (太原雪斎), was a
Japanese abbot and mountain ascetic (''
yamabushi
are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhism and Shinto.
Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or holy persons) of the eighth ...
''). He was an uncle of
Imagawa Yoshimoto, and served him as military advisor and as commander of Imagawa's forces, despite his lack of any formal battle training or experience.
Sessai aided his nephew in consolidating the Imagawa territories, and in a number of political maneuvers which gained Imagawa influence over the
Matsudaira family. However, Yoshimoto soon came into conflict with the
Oda clan
The is a Japanese samurai family who were daimyo and an important political force in the unification of Japan in the mid-16th century. Though they reached the peak of their power under Oda Nobunaga and fell soon after, several branches of the ...
, and faced defeat at the 1542
battle of Azukizaka. After this, he left Sessai in command of his armies. By 1551 he had secured a young Matsudaira Takechiyo or Matsudaira Motoyasu (later known as
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...
) a member of the Matsudaira family as a hostage after he laid Siege of Oda's Anjo Castle.
In 1552–1554, Imagawa secured a treaty and alliance between his family and those of the
Hōjō and
Takeda Shingen
was daimyō, daimyo of Kai Province during the Sengoku period of Japan. Known as "the Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyo of the late Sengoku period, and credited with exceptional military prestige. Shingen was based in a p ...
. At some point after this, Sessai began to advise Matsudaira Motoyasu, though the extent of his role in Tokugawa's military exploits is unclear, and unlikely to be great.
Sessai died in 1557 due to complications from
gout
Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...
, three years before Yoshimoto would die at the
Battle of Okehazama, precipitating the decline of the Imagawa.
References
*West, C. E. and F. W. Seal (2004).
Imagawa Yoshimoto. ''Samurai Archives''. Accessed 7 July 2005.
1557 deaths
Rinzai Buddhists
Japanese warrior monks
Year of birth unknown
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