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.
Although some vassals doubted Takanobu’s abilities and proposed appointing Tanehide’s son, Ryūzōji Ienari, as the clan leader, Takanobu proved himself to be a capable ruler and commander. In 1553, he rose against Shō Tokinao, and the following year captured his castle at Saga, forcing Tokinao to flee to the neighboring province of Chikugo. In 1556, Takanobu caught up with his rival and killed him. Soon afterward, he brought nearly all of Hizen Province under his control, except for the southwestern region of Sonogi, where the Arima and Ōmura families resisted him.
In the late 1550s, Takanobu entered into conflict with the powerful Ōtomo clan, which controlled Bungo Province, located east of his native Hizen. In 1560, Ōtomo Sōrin, the clan’s leader, sent a large army—according to some sources up to sixty thousand men, though this figure is likely inflated at least threefold—under the command of his son Sadataka to surround Takanobu’s Saga Castle.
Takanobu himself had only about five thousand warriors. Surrounded on all sides, his vassals were at a loss until one of them, Nabeshima Naoshige (1537–1619), suggested making a nighttime raid on the enemy camp. The idea was risky, and most commanders opposed it. However, the decisive voice came from Takanobu’s mother, who sharply told her son: “You’re acting like a mouse before a cat! If you consider yourself a true samurai, attack the enemy at night, staking your life on victory or death!”
After this, a nighttime raid was launched: Naoshige’s men slipped silently through the Ōtomo encirclement and positioned themselves behind Sadataka’s headquarters on the slope of Mount Imayama. At six in the morning, they opened fire with arquebuses on the command post, and in the ensuing clash, Sadataka was killed. While Naoshige was dealing with him and his unit, the rest of Takanobu’s forces attacked the main Ōtomo army. Although most of the Ōtomo troops did not suffer heavy losses, the death of their commander caused panic, and the enemy forces were forced to retreat.
The Battle of Imayama not only saved Takanobu from what seemed an inevitable defeat but also gave him the opportunity to establish control over most of Hizen. Throughout the 1570s, he consolidated his dominance in the province, subduing or intimidating several southwestern lords, including Gotō Takaakira, Matsura Takanobu, and Arima Harunobu. Ōmura Sumitada resisted for a long time, but after the invasions of 1578 and 1579, he was compelled by circumstance to swear loyalty to Takanobu at Saga Castle. However, shortly before this, Ōmura had transferred control of the port of Nagasaki to the Jesuits.
Another Ōtomo defeat, suffered eight years later at the hands of the Shimazu clan at the Battle of Mimigawa, allowed Takanobu to seize the eastern territories of Hizen and begin an advance into Hyūga Province. In 1579, he defeated the Ōtomo forces in Chikugo Province, finally eliminating the threat posed by his longtime rival, Ōtomo Sōrin.
Takanobu was a ruthless schemer, and in 1579 he invited the former Ryūzōji vassal Kamachi Shigenami to a sarugaku performance, where he ordered him killed. This allowed him to seize the powerful Yanagawa Castle in Chikugo, which had belonged to Kamachi. The act appeared especially dishonorable because Kamachi Shigenami had served Ryūzōji Ienari during the latter’s war with Baba Yoritiku in 1544–1545. Unsurprisingly, this incident shocked many Ryūzōji vassals, causing their attitude toward their lord to change significantly.
After 1580, Takanobu entered into conflict with the Shimazu over Higo Province while simultaneously attempting to expel Arima Harunobu from the Shimabara region of Hizen. At the same time, by establishing himself in Bungo, he became a threat to Satsuma, the Shimazu homeland, drawing their attention. Starting in 1582, the Shimazu actively supported Arima Harunobu—the only independent daimyō in Hizen—in resisting the Ryūzōji attacks. In 1584, Takanobu marched against Harunobu with an army of about twenty thousand men, while Harunobu’s modest forces were reinforced only by a small band of Shimazu samurai under the command of Iehisa. In the Battle of Okita-Nawate, the Shimazu swordsmen broke into Takanobu’s command post and cut down him and his bodyguards, after which the Ryūzōji army fled. Following Takanobu’s death, his son Masaie was forced to submit to the Shimazu clan.
Takanobu bore the nickname Hizen-no-Kuma—“The Bear of Hizen”—partly because he liked to wear a bearskin over his armor and partly because of his fierce, fiery temperament. By the end of his life, Takanobu had become heavily addicted to alcohol, and by 1580 he was an irredeemable drunk, showing signs of dementia and a massive belly. He grew so large that he could no longer ride a horse, and for the Battle of Okita-Nawate, he had to be carried to the battlefield in a palanquin.
See also
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Yamagata Masakage
Masakage was one of Takeda Shingen’s most loyal and capable commanders. He was included in the famous list of the “Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen” and also belonged to the inner circle of four especially trusted warlords known as the Shitennō.
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Yagyu Munenori
Yagyū Munenori began his service under Tokugawa Ieyasu while his father, Yagyū Muneyoshi, was still at his side. In 1600, Munenori took part in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. As early as 1601, he was appointed a kenjutsu instructor to Tokugawa Hidetada, Ieyasu’s son, who later became the second shogun of the Tokugawa clan.
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Yagyu Muneyoshi
A samurai from Yamato Province, he was born into a family that had been defeated in its struggle against the Tsutsui clan. Muneyoshi first took part in battle at the age of sixteen. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he was forced to enter the service of the Tsutsui house and later served Miyoshi Tōkei. He subsequently came under the command of Matsunaga Hisahide and in time became a vassal first of Oda and later of Toyotomi.
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Endo Naozune
Naozune served under Azai Nagamasa and was one of the clan’s leading vassals, renowned for his bravery and determination. He accompanied Nagamasa during his first meeting with Oda Nobunaga and at that time asked for permission to kill Nobunaga, fearing him as an extremely dangerous man; however, Nagamasa did not grant this request.
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Hosokawa Sumimoto
Sumimoto came from the Hosokawa clan: he was the biological son of Hosokawa Yoshiharu and at the same time the adopted son of Hosokawa Masamoto, the heir of Hosokawa Katsumoto, one of the principal instigators of the Ōnin War. Masamoto was homosexual, never married, and had no children of his own. At first he adopted Sumiyuki, a scion of the aristocratic Kujō family, but this choice provoked dissatisfaction and sharp criticism from the senior vassals of the Hosokawa house. As a result, Masamoto changed his decision and proclaimed Sumimoto as his heir, a representative of a collateral branch of the Hosokawa clan that had long been based in Awa Province on the island of Shikoku. Almost immediately after this, the boy became entangled in a complex and bitter web of political intrigue.
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Honda Masanobu
Masanobu initially belonged to the retinue of Tokugawa Ieyasu, but later entered the service of Sakai Shōgen, a daimyo and priest from Ueno. This shift automatically made him an enemy of Ieyasu, who was engaged in conflict with the Ikkō-ikki movement in Mikawa Province. After the Ikkō-ikki were defeated in 1564, Masanobu was forced to flee, but in time he returned and once again entered Ieyasu’s service. He did not gain fame as a military commander due to a wound sustained in his youth; nevertheless, over the following fifty years he consistently remained loyal to Ieyasu.
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Honda Masazumi
Masazumi was the eldest son of Honda Masanobu. From a young age, he served Tokugawa Ieyasu alongside his father, taking part in the affairs of the Tokugawa house and gradually gaining experience in both military and administrative matters. At the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Masazumi was part of the core Tokugawa forces, a clear sign of the high level of trust Ieyasu placed in him. After the campaign ended, he was given a highly sensitive assignment—serving in the guard of the defeated Ishida Mitsunari, one of Tokugawa’s principal enemies—an obligation that required exceptional reliability and caution.
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Hojo Shigetoki
Hōjō Shigetoki, the third son of Hōjō Yoshitoki, was still very young—only five years old—when his grandfather Tokimasa became the first member of the Hōjō clan to assume the position of shogunal regent.
