Nakagawa Hidemasa, the son of Settsu Province's (present-day Hyogo Prefecture) daimyo Nakagawa Kiyohide and the elder brother of Nakagawa Hidenari, was married to Princess Tsuru (Tsuruhime), the youngest daughter of Oda Nobunaga. Additionally, his uncle was the renowned samurai and tea master Furuta Oribe.
In 1572, Kiyohide and his sons initially surrendered their lands to the advancing Oda forces heading towards Kyoto. However, they later rebelled, eventually aligning themselves with and serving Oda Nobunaga six years later. Following Nobunaga's demise, the Nakagawa family pledged allegiance to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Hidemasa assumed leadership of the Nakagawa clan at the age of 15 after his father fell in the Battle of Shizugatake. In the subsequent year, 1584, he demonstrated his prowess in the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, earning accolades from Hideyoshi. His commendable actions during the Shikoku campaign in 1585 led to an increase in his holdings from 50,000 koku in Settsu to 65,000 koku, including land in the neighboring Miki, Harima Province (also part of modern-day Hyogo Prefecture).
Further engagements awaited Nakagawa Hidemasa, including his participation in the Kyushu campaign of 1587. During the siege of Odawara in 1590, he joined the ranks of the 220,000 besiegers against 82,000 samurai within Odawara Castle. Tragically, his life came to an end during the Battle of Bunroku in 1592, where he served as one of the leaders in the 158,000-strong contingent dispatched by Hideyoshi to annex Korea. At the time of his demise, Nakagawa Hidemasa was 25 years old.
See also
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Takigawa Kazumasu
Takigawa Kazumasu (1525 – October 21, 1586), also known as Takikawa Sakon or Sakonshogen, was a prominent samurai and daimyō of the Sengoku period. He served as a loyal retainer and military commander under Oda Nobunaga and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His biological son, Toshimasu, was adopted by Maeda Toshihisa, the elder brother of Maeda Toshiie, and Kazumasu served alongside Toshiie in Nobunaga’s campaigns.
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Sanada Yukitaka
Sanada Yukitaka (c. 1512 – June 8, 1574) was a renowned samurai warrior of the Sengoku period, best known as one of the "Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen." He was the father of Sanada Nobutsuna and Sanada Masayuki, as well as the grandfather of the legendary Sanada Yukimura, who later served the Toyotomi clan.
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Torii Mototada
Torii Mototada (1539 – September 8, 1600) was a Japanese samurai and daimyo who lived through the Sengoku and late Azuchi–Momoyama periods. A loyal retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu, he is best remembered for his heroic last stand at the Siege of Fushimi, an event that played a crucial role in shaping Japanese history.
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Toyotomi Hideyori
Toyotomi Hideyori (August 28, 1593 – June 4, 1615) was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who first unified Japan. His mother, Yodo-dono, was Oda Nobunaga's niece.
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Okubo Tadanori
Okubo Tadanori (January 13, 1842 – August 10, 1897) was the 9th daimyo of Odawara Domain in Sagami Province (modern-day Kanagawa Prefecture) during the late Edo period. Before the Meiji Restoration, he held the courtesy title of Kaga no Kami.
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Okubo Tadayo
Okubo Tadayo (1532 – October 28, 1594) was a samurai general who served Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Azuchi–Momoyama period and later became the daimyo of Odawara Domain in the early Edo period.
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Araki Murashige
Araki Murashige (1535 – June 20, 1586) was a samurai and retainer of Ikeda Katsumasa, the head of the powerful Settsu-Ikeda clan in Settsu Province. Initially serving under Katsumasa, he aligned himself with Oda Nobunaga after Nobunaga’s successful campaign to establish control over Kyoto.
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Yuki Hideyasu
Yuki Hideyasu (March 1, 1574 – June 2, 1607) was a Japanese samurai who lived during the Azuchi–Momoyama and early Edo periods, serving as the daimyō of Fukui Domain in Echizen Province. Born Tokugawa Ogimaru, he was the second son of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Lady Oman (also known as Lady Kogō), a handmaiden to Ieyasu’s wife, Lady Tsukiyama. Due to Ieyasu’s fears of his wife’s reaction to Oman’s pregnancy, Ogimaru and his twin brother were born in secrecy at the home of Honda Shigetsugu, one of Ieyasu’s retainers. Oman’s other son eventually became a priest, while Ogimaru was raised apart from Ieyasu, whom he only met at the age of three, in a meeting arranged by his older half-brother, Matsudaira Nobuyasu.
