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.
Masakage was the younger brother of Obu Toramasa, although according to another version of the sources he may have been Toramasa’s nephew. Toramasa was also a general of the Takeda clan and commanded the so-called “Red Fire” unit, a direct reference to Shingen’s motto Fūrinkazan, which invokes fire, forest, wind, and mountain. Toramasa is believed to have been the first to employ military units equipped entirely in red armor, known as Akazonae (literally, “those dressed in red”).
In 1565, Toramasa was sentenced to commit seppuku for supporting the rebellion of Takeda Yoshinobu. After this, Masakage took command of the “Red Fire” unit and continued the tradition of using Akazonae. Units clad in red armor were considered elite: they were always placed at the forefront of attacks and inspired fear in their enemies.
This idea was later actively adopted by Ii Naomasa, a commander under Tokugawa Ieyasu, who also dressed all of his soldiers in red armor. For this reason, his warriors earned the nickname “Red Demons” (Akaoni). Akazonae units also existed within the Sanada clan.
Masakage fought in many battles and was granted a land holding in Shinano Province. He fought against the Hōjō clan at the Battle of Mimasetōge in 1569, and during the campaign against Tokugawa Ieyasu— which culminated in the Battle of Mikatagahara—he captured Yoshida Castle, which belonged to Ieyasu. At the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, Masakage initially attempted to persuade Takeda Katsuyori to retreat. However, Katsuyori decided to attack. In this battle, Masakage commanded the left wing of the Takeda army and was killed during the assault on the Tokugawa positions. According to the chronicle Kōyō Gunkan, he took more enemy heads than anyone else.
According to legend, before his death Takeda Shingen summoned Masakage to his side and entrusted him with placing his battle banners on Seta Bridge, which was considered the traditional eastern entrance to the capital, Kyoto.
See also
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Takeda Nobuyoshi
Takeda Nobuyoshi (1128–1186 or later) was a prominent Japanese samurai lord of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods and the founder of the Takeda clan.
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Tokugawa Iemochi
Tokugawa Iemochi (1846–1866) was the fourteenth shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate and ruled from 1858 until his death. His reign came during the turbulent final years of the shogunate, when Japan faced growing Western pressure and serious internal political conflict.
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Tokugawa Ienari
Tokugawa Ienari (1773–1841) was the eleventh shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate and ruled from 1787 to 1837, making him the longest-serving Tokugawa shōgun. He was a great-grandson of the eighth shōgun, Tokugawa Yoshimune.
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Matsudaira Nobuyasu
Matsudaira Nobuyasu was only twenty years old when his father ordered him to commit seppuku. The reason was not a defeat in battle, but a crisis inside the Tokugawa family that had become too dangerous to ignore.
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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.
