Yamamoto Kansuke (1500 – killed in action October 18, 1561) Yamamoto Kansuke Yamamoto Kansuke was a samurai strategist and one of the famed 24 Generals of Takeda Shingen. The Mikawa region, (eastern Aichi Prefecture) was renown for having bred some of the toughest, bravest and able warriors. One such [...]
Ukita Hideie (1573 – December 17, 1655) Ukita Hideie was born the second son of the Lord of Okayama Castle, Ukita Naoie. He was nine years old when his father died, leaving him in charge of the castle, clan and domain. Just before his father’s death, the Ukita had sided [...]
Yasuke, The First Foreign Samurai (c. 1556-?) Yasuke, from a 1943 story book on the African Samurai Yasuke(彌介・弥助) was an African page, brought to Japan in 1579 as the servant of the Italian Jesuit missionary inspector Alessandro Valignano. Arriving some 20 years before the Englishman, William Adams, Yasuke is [...]
William Adams, AKA Miura Anjin (September 24, 1564 – May 16, 1620) Foreign samurai, William Adams William Adams, also known as Miura Anjin, was one of the few non-Japanese to have been awarded samurai status. William Adams was born in Gillingham, Kent in England in 1564. At the age [...]
Kutsuki Mototsuna (1549 - October 12, 1632) Kutsuki Mototsuna was a daimyo, born in his namesake Kitsukidani Castle in Omi Province (Shiga Prefecture) in 1549. Mototsuna lost his father to war when he was two, and from then on was head of his clan. Mototsuna served the Ashikaga Shogunate at [...]
Yamanami Keisuke (1833?-March 20, 1865) Yamanami Keisuke was second in charge of the Shinsengumi, the late Edo period special police force, when he suddenly committed seppuku on March 20, 1865, aged 32. Yamanami was born in Sendai in 1833, the son of a sword instructor. He attained the rank of Sensei of the Hokushin [...]
Yamaga Soko (September 21, 1622 - October 23, 1685) Yamaga Soko Yamaga Soko was a samurai strategist, philosopher and scholar, and in later life, a ronin, noted for his significant contributions defining the role of the Tokugawa period samurai. Born September 21, 1622, in Aizu Wakamatsu, Yamaga is known [...]
Uesugi Kagekatsu (January 8, 1556 – April 19, 1623) Uesugi Kagekatsu Uesugi Kagekatsu was born to Nagao Masakage, head of the Nagao clan of Ueda. When Masakage was killed, Kagekatsu was adopted by his uncle, Uesugi Kenshin (His mother, Aya Gozen, was Kenshin’s elder sister) and following Kenshin’s [...]
Wakisaka Yasuharu (1554 - September 26, 1626) Wakisaka Yasuharu Wakisaka Yasuharu was the daimyo of Awaji Island, and later Ozu, Iyo Province. Wakasaka played a major role in The Battle Of Sekigahara in 1600. Wakisaka first served directly under Akechi Mitsuhide as part of Oda Nobunaga's forces. In [...]
Uesugi Kenshin (February 18, 1530 – April 19, 1578) Uesugi Kenshin Uesugi Kenshin is recognised as one of the most powerful and formidable daimyo of the Sengoku period, and the only serious challenge to Oda Nobunaga’s bid for supremacy. Uesugi Kenshin was born Nagao Kagetora, the forth son [...]