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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Natsume Yoshinobu
Yoshinobu, a long-time vassal of the Matsudaira and Tokugawa clans, governed Hamamatsu Castle on behalf of the Tokugawa house. During the clashes between the Imagawa, Takeda, and Matsudaira clans, he served in the garrison of Nagasawa Castle and in 1562 took part in raids under the command of Itakura Shigezane. When, in 1563, a revolt of the Sōtō-shū sect followers broke out in Mikawa Province, Yoshinobu joined the rebels together with Honda Masanobu and Hachiya Sadatsugu.
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Naito Ienaga
Ienaga was the son of Naitō Kiyonaga and served Tokugawa Ieyasu from an early age. Like his father, he was exceptionally brave, and thanks to his remarkable skill with the bow, he earned the nickname “the unrivaled archer.” Although both the elder and the younger Naitō belonged to the Jōdo Shinshū (“True Pure Land”) sect, during the Ikkō-ikki uprising in Mikawa Province in 1565, Ienaga did not support his fellow believers and instead sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu, earning his special trust. He later took part in the battles of Mikatagahara, Nagashino, and many other engagements while accompanying Ieyasu.
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Minamoto no Yoshitsune
Minamoto no Yoshitsune was the son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo and his second wife, Tokiwa Gozen, as well as the younger half-brother of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the first shogunate, who had once suffered defeat in the struggle against the Taira clan. Yoshitsune spent his childhood in exile at the Kuramayama Temple. According to legend, he studied not so much Buddhist sutras there as the arts of war. At the age of fifteen, he entered the service of the governor in Mutsu, Fujiwara Hidehira.
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Miyoshi Chokei
The eldest son of Miyoshi Nagamoto (Motonaga), at the age of seventeen and with the support of Miyoshi Masanaga and Matsunaga Hisahide, invaded Kinai, the inner provinces of Japan, and in 1539 seized control of Kyoto. In 1543 he expelled Hosokawa Ujitsuna from the commercial city of Sakai and appointed his own brother, Sōgo Kazunari, as the city’s new leader. In 1548 he took the name Chōkei. When a conflict arose between him and Masanaga, Chōkei appealed to his liege lord, Hosokawa Harumoto, asking him to raise troops in the provinces of Settsu, Izumi, and Kawachi, but Harumoto instead chose to ally with Masanaga against Chōkei.
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Matsudaira Ietada
Matsudaira Ietada, also known as Tomomo-no Suke, was the eldest son of Matsudaira Koretada, the head of the Fukozu branch of the Matsudaira clan. Ietada was born in 1555 at Fukozu Castle. When he reached adulthood (for samurai children this age range was between 11 and 17), the Fukozu-Matsudaira clan was under the authority of Tokugawa Ieyasu and commanded by Sakai Tadatsugu. In the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, Tadatsugu’s unit, which included both Ietada and his father, took part in the assault on the fort on Mount Tobigasu-yama. During the fighting, Koretada was killed, and twenty-year-old Ietada became the new head of the clan.
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Matsudaira Tadaakira
Tadaakira was the fourth son of Okudaira Nobumasa, a vassal of the Tokugawa clan, and his mother was Kame, the eldest daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu. In 1588, Tadaakira was adopted by Ieyasu and received the Matsudaira family name; at that time, he bore the name Kiyotada.
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Mashita Nagamori
Nagamori possessed remarkable diplomatic and administrative talent while remaining a brave warrior. He is believed to have come from the village of Mashita in the province of Owari, which today is part of Aichi Prefecture. He was a vassal of Oda Nobunaga and later served Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In the Battle of Komaki–Nagakute in 1584, Nagamori took at least two enemy heads. Later, he was entrusted with overseeing major public construction projects, including the reconstruction of Fushimi Castle and the building of the large Sanjō and Gojō bridges in Kyoto.
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Magara Jurōzaemon Naotaka
Magara Jurōzaemon Naotaka was a vassal of Asakura Yoshikage from the province of Echizen, and very little is known about his life, including even the exact year of his birth. Magara gained his renown through his heroic death at the Battle of Anegawa in 1570. In this battle, the combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu confronted the armies of Asai and Asakura, with Ieyasu taking command of the left flank and fighting against the Asakura forces. After crossing the shallow Anegawa River, which separated the two armies, Tokugawa’s finest generals — Honda Tadakatsu and Sakakibara Yasumasa — launched an assault on the headquarters of Asakura Kagetake, the commander-in-chief of the Echizen army. The attack by Honda Tadakatsu was so swift that Kagetake found himself almost completely surrounded by enemy troops.
