The Nambu clan was an ancient and powerful family that traced its lineage back to the Minamoto shoguns and had controlled a significant part of the Tohoku region in northern Honshu since the 12th century. Nobunao was born in Ikatai Castle, located in what is now the city of Iwate. He was the second son of Ishikawa (Nambu) Takanobu, the 22nd head of the Nambu clan. In 1565, Nobunao’s uncle, Nambu Harumasa, adopted him, brought him to Sannohe Castle, and named him his heir, later giving his daughter in marriage to him.
In 1566 and 1568, Nobunao successfully repelled two invasions by the neighboring daimyo Ando Chikasue in the Kazuno area. In 1570, one of Harumasa’s concubines gave birth to a son, Harutsugu, but despite this, Nobunao remained the official heir until 1576, when his wife died and his position within the clan weakened. Officially, he renounced his status as heir himself and withdrew to Ne Castle in Hachinohe. When Harumasa died in 1582, Harutsugu became the 25th head of the Nambu clan, but he died just a year later—reportedly from smallpox. Persistent rumors circulated, however, suggesting Nobunao might have had a hand in his death. After Harutsugu’s passing, the clan split into factions supporting and opposing Nobunao, and the selection of a new clan leader was delayed for a long time.
In 1590, Nobunao sought the support of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had effectively become the ruler of all Japan. Along with his supporters, he swore loyalty to Hideyoshi, presenting him with a gift of one hundred horses and fifty falcons, and then led a thousand warriors to assist his overlord in the Odawara campaign. When he returned, his rights to the northern part of Mutsu Province were officially confirmed by the new ruler of Japan, and Nobunao became the 26th head of the Nambu clan. This decision greatly displeased Kunohé Masazane, who believed he had a stronger claim to the title. In 1591, Masazane launched a rebellion that became known as the Kunohé Rebellion.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi took the uprising as a personal challenge and sent a massive army of sixty thousand men to support Nobunao. Many renowned commanders of the Sengoku period took part in the campaign, including Maeda Toshiie, Date Masamune, Mogami Yoshiaki, Satake Yoshishige, Gamo Ujisato, and the future shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The rebellion was crushed in a very short time. Masazane became the last daimyo not under central control, and after his defeat, Japan was fully unified under Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s authority.
In 1592, Hideyoshi ordered Nobunao to lead a thousand-man contingent to the city of Nagoya on Kyushu and await deployment to Korea. However, this reserve force was never used, and the troops eventually returned home without taking part in the invasion. That same year, Nobunao decided to move his seat from Sannohe to Morioka and began the construction of a new castle. He did not live to see its completion, dying in 1599 in Kunohé Castle. He was succeeded by his son, Nambu Toshinao, who became the first lord of the Morioka Domain under the new administrative system of the Tokugawa shogunate.
See also
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Tachibana Dosetsu
Tachibana Dōsetsu is the name by which Hetsugi Akitsura is more widely known; the name of this lineage is also found read as Hekki or Bekki. For a long period, Akitsura served the Ōtomo clan, the daimyō of Bungo Province, and took part in wars against the Ōuchi family, the principal enemies of the Ōtomo in northwestern Kyushu. In the 1560s, Akitsura seized the castle of the Tachibana clan, which had rebelled against the Ōtomo, and thereafter adopted the surname Tachibana. Around the same time, he took Buddhist vows and assumed the name Dōsetsu, which means “Snowy Road.”
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Taira no Masakado
Taira no Masakado embodied the quintessential samurai of his era—self-assured, harsh, and unyielding. In his youth, he served in the palace guard and repeatedly proved his bravery while suppressing unrest. Thanks to these achievements, Masakado sought the post of chief of the capital’s military-police office (the kebiishi-chō), but he was rejected: by that time, nearly all court positions—now little more than privileged sinecures—were controlled by members of the powerful Fujiwara clan.
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Sakakibara Yasumasa
Yasumasa was the second son of Sakakibara Nagamasa and was born in Ueno in Mikawa Province. From a young age, he began serving Tokugawa Ieyasu and eventually rose to the position of one of his most trusted generals. His wife was the daughter of Osuga Yasutaka. Ieyasu first noticed the young Yasumasa during the suppression of the Ikkō-ikki uprising in Mikawa in 1564. Thanks to his demonstrated abilities, Yasumasa was granted the privilege of using the character “yasu”—the second character of Ieyasu’s own name—in his own. Although he was the second child in his family, he became his father’s heir, though the exact reasons for this remain unknown.
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Sakai Tadatsugu
Tadatsugu was one of the most renowned generals serving Tokugawa Ieyasu. After Ieyasu broke ties with the Imagawa clan, Tadatsugu—an ardent supporter of this decision—was granted command of Yoshida Castle in 1565, which controlled the coastal road from Tōtomi to Mikawa. During the Battle of Mikatagahara in 1573, he held the right flank of the Tokugawa forces even when the troops sent by Oda fled under the assault of the Takeda army. In the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, he personally requested permission to carry out a night attack on the Takeda camp, which he executed brilliantly together with Kanamori Nagachika.
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Ryuzoji Takanobu
Takanobu was the eldest son of Ryūzōji Takaie and the great-grandson of Ryūzōji Iekane. His father was killed by a man named Baba Yoritiku in 1544. At a young age, Takanobu took Buddhist vows and received the monastic name Engetsu. However, around the age of eighteen, he returned to secular life, and in 1548, after the death of Ryūzōji Tanehide, he became the head of both branches of the Ryūzōji family.
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Ouchi Yoshihiro
Ōuchi Yoshihiro was the second son of Ōuchi Hiroyo, who headed the Ōuchi clan in the western part of Honshu. In 1363, Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu confirmed the Ōuchi family in the position of shugo of Suō and Nagato Provinces. In his youth, Yoshihiro assisted his father in strengthening the influence of the Northern Court on the island of Kyushu — they served under Imagawa Ryōsun, who had been tasked with subjugating the nine provinces of Kyushu.
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Ouchi Yoshioki
Ouchi Yoshioki, the ruler of the provinces of Suo, Nagato, and Iwami, was one of the most capable military commanders and politicians of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The son of Ouchi Masahiro, he governed from his residence in Yamaguchi in the province of Suo. In 1499, Yoshioki gave refuge to Shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane, who had been driven out of Kyoto by Hosokawa Masamoto. Shogun Yoshizumi, Masamoto’s protégé, ordered the lords of Kyushu to unite their forces against Yoshioki; however, they did not dare to do so, fearing the power of a man who by that time controlled six provinces. Having gathered a substantial army, Yoshioki marched from his native Suo toward Kyoto in order to restore Shogun Yoshitane to power.
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Otomo Sorin
Ōtomo Yoshishige came from a noble lineage, being the eldest son of Ōtomo Yoshiaki, the ruler of Funai Province. The roots of the Ōtomo family traced back to Fujiwara Hidesato, the adopted son of Nakahara Chikayoshi. Fujiwara served Minamoto Yoritomo during the Genpei War and took part in battles in Mutsu Province in 1189. In 1193, he was appointed shugo of Buzen and Bungo Provinces, after which he adopted a new surname—Ōtomo.
