The Sengoku period (1467–1600 or 1615) generally refers to the period from the late Muromachi shogunate to the Azuchi Momoyama period. The earliest is from the twentieth article of the Koshu Dharma Order( 1521-1573) produced by the daimyō takeda Shingen (1521-1573), which begins with the statement "Above the Warring States under Heaven". Even so, many of my friends' knowledge of Japan's ancient history only stopped at the Time of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
In fact, there were many military experts in Japan after the Sengoku period, and Shigenaga Katakura, whom we are going to talk about today, is one of them.
In 1600, Date transferred his army to Shiraishi Castle in support of Tokugawa Ieyasu's plan to attack Uesugi. At this time, Katakura Shigeharu was just seventeen years old, and at a young age, he followed his father and fought a beautiful maiden war, leading his troops to take White Rock Castle. After the capture of the castle, Shigenaga's father was made the lord of the castle, and for some time afterwards Katakura Shigenaga began to assist his father in managing the castle. Because of his benevolent style and good political achievements, he has won the praise of the locals.
After the "Winter Front" incident, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's side was on the verge of extinction. When Osaka's moat was filled, Osaka Castle, once known as the strongest city in all of Japan, was reduced to an undefended "naked castle." However, due to the fact that there were still famous generals of the Sengoku period such as Nagamasa Ibu, Sanada Yukimura, and Kiji Goto under toyotomi at that time, Tokugawa was unable to conquer Osaka Castle. What made Katakura famous in one fell swoop was the battle of the Osaka Summer Front. During this battle, Katakura shigenaga led more than a thousand samurai to successfully capture the castle and attack the enemy general Kiji Goto.
On the night of the invasion of the castle, Sanada Yukimura, who knew that he was bound to die, asked to see Katakura Shigenaga, and after paying his respects, Sanada entrusted his son and daughter to the young warrior. The next day, Sanada Yukimura, known as Japan's first military general, fought a decisive battle against the enemy for honor, and in the end, he died in the battle because he was outnumbered. After the end of the war against Osaka, the eye-catching Katakura Shigenaga was taken seriously by Tokugawa. After summoning Shigenaga Katakura, Tokugawa issued a letter of appreciation to him.
Through this war, Shigecho Katakura and Tachibana Muneshige gained the title of "the last two famous generals of the Warring States" (Tachibana Muneshige and the famous Japanese general Honda Tadatsukatsu were equally famous). It can be seen from here that although Katakura Shigenaga was active at the end of the Sengoku period, his ability was not inferior to that of a famous general in the first and middle periods of the Sengoku period.
After the end of the Summer Front, Date met with Tokugawa and asked the shogunate to retain the Sanada clan and hand over the administration of the clan to sendai domain. However, although the shogunate agreed to spare the Sanada people, they were forbidden to continue to use the surname "Sanada". As a result, Sanada Yukimura's second son, Sanada Daihachi, could only follow his adoptive father Katakura Shigecho's surname and change his name to Katakura Daihachi.
In 1620, Shigecho's wife Motobi died of illness, and in order to continue the string Katakura Shigenaga married Yumei, the eldest daughter of Sanada Yukimura. Thanks to his adoptive father and sister, Katakura Daihachi naturally became a second-class clan member of Sendai, earning three hundred and sixty stones a year. It can be said that Shigemasa Katakura did not live up to Sanada Yukimura's deathbed commission, but instead took care of everything in an orderly manner, so that the Sanada people could live.
From then on, Shigenaga Katakura, who was made a first-class domainman, continued to work under Date and succeeded his father as lord of Shiraishi Castle. Previously, Katakura Shigenaga had accumulated a lot of experience in managing the castle, so Katakura Shigeru was methodical in governing White Rock Castle. Later, Ieyasu promulgated the development policy of "one country, one city order", and Shigenaga Katakura made certain achievements with the cooperation of the residents of the city.
Because the development policy of "one country, one city order" was effectively implemented in Sendai Domain, and both Shigenaga and Keime made outstanding achievements. Therefore, Tokugawa has specially approved Sendai and Shiraishi castles as the "main castles" of sendai Domain, which is a unique phenomenon among all Japanese cities. Obviously, from this incident, we can see that Tokugawa Ieyasu greatly appreciated the young man Katakura Shigemasa and recognized the loyalty and ability of the Katakura clan.
In 1659, Shigeki, who had performed well in the two Battles of Osaka, died of illness in Shiraishi Castle at the age of seventy-six. Katakura Morinobu (Daihachi) received a royal letter from the shogunate after receiving a notice from Edo. Because Katakura was childless on his knees, he did not make arrangements for the succession of the head of the family during his lifetime. Under the deliberation of the courtiers, in the end, the head of the Katakura clan was Akira Keicho, the grandson of Katakura Shigenaga.
The Katakura clan is the "elder of the three dynasties" of the Date family, and after Katakura's father laid down Shiraishi Castle and Katakura ruled Shiraishi, the head of the three generations of the family made great contributions to the "Kuanbun Rebellion" incident and won the trust of the Date family.
Shigecho was the best warrior of Japan at the end of the Sengoku period, and almost only Jinggang was able to match him in his contemporaries. According to legend, Date once said of the owner of the Katakura clan: "Woohoo! The talent of the heavy program is not far from the Jing Gang person! "Arguably, this is the highest praise for Katakura.
We all like to compare the characters of the Three Kingdoms to the Japanese Warring States figures, if Sanada Yukimura is "Lü Bu", then the Katakura Shigenaga we are talking about today should be "Zhao Yun".
In the evaluation of his "wisdom and courage of both Jinggang and the beauty of the Warring States", we can see that this famous general is not only wise and courageous, but also a rare beautiful man.
Resources:
【History of the Japanese Warring States", "The Tactics of Famous Generals and Representatives of the Japanese Warring States"】