Masayuki Sanada place of birth: Xiaoyuan District, Shinyi Province
Date of birth: 1547-1611
Main Achievements: Capture of Ueno Numata, Ueda Castle defeated the Tokugawa Army with fewer victories.
Official position: from the fifth position to the house keeper.
The main generals: Sanada Nobuyuki, Sanada Nobuhiro, Shigemasa Koyamada, Raisuke Yazawa, Kiyoshi Izuura, Shigenori Suzuki, Sasuke Sasuke.
In his youth, Sanada served as Shingen's retinue. His brothers Sanada Nobuyasu and Sanada Masaki died in Nagashinohara, and Sanada Masayuki took over the position of governor of the family. When Uesugi Kenshin died in 1578, Sanada Masayuki seized the opportunity to capture Ueno, but the good times did not last long, and in 1582 the Takeda family was destroyed by the Oda family, and Sanada Masayuki returned to the Shun Oda family and was incorporated into the banner of the general Takikawa Kazuyoshi. However, it was soon learned that Sekihide had launched the Honnō-ji Rebellion, and Oda Nobunaga perished. Sanada lamented that he was weak and could only survive by relying on the strong. Due to Sanada Masayuki's capriciousness, Tokugawa and Hojo were extremely dissatisfied with Sanada. In 1585, Shinano Ueda Castle was attacked by torii Motonaga of the Tokugawa clan, and the first Ueda Castle Battle broke out, in which Sanada Masayuki used his strategy to destroy the Tokugawa family and defeat the Tokugawa army with a low attack, and Sanada Masayuki's reputation was greatly enhanced.
After the war, he was invited by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and formally subordinated to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and in the same year, at Hideyoshi's order, he was once again subordinate to the Tokugawa family. At this time, Sanada Masayuki was very reluctant and unwilling, and the previous war efforts were completely futile. He then took part in the Kyushu Crusade and the Battle of Odawara. Shortly after Hideyoshi's death, the toyotomi clan Ishida Mitsunari and the Tokugawa clan intensified and the famous Battle of Sekigahara began. Sanada Masayuki had his eldest son, Yukiyuki Sanada, join the Tokugawa side of the Eastern Army, after Sanada Nobuyuki had married the daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu Honda Tadakatsu. He and Sanada Yukimura joined the Toyotomi family of the Western Army. This shows that Sanada Masayuki is a very wise man, and whether the Eastern Army or the Western Army wins, the Sanada family will be saved.
Two months later, at the Second Battle of Ueda Castle, Masayuki locked Tokugawa Hidetada's tens of thousands of Eastern troops firmly at Shinano with 3,000 soldiers, preventing them from catching up with the Battle of Sekigahara. This was something that all the daimyōs at that time did not dare to imagine, when the Tokugawa Army was in its heyday, and in the face of the huge disparity in the strength of the weak Sanada, the Main Force of tens of thousands of Tokugawa Troops was dragged, indicating that Sanada Masayuki was in command and strategized beyond ordinary people. After the defeat of the Western Army, the father and son of Masayuki and Yukimura were not executed because of the intercession of Hondo Tadatsukatsu, Shinyuki's elder brother-in-law, and were exiled to Mount Jiudu. In 1611, Sanada Masayuki died in extreme disappointment and depression at the age of sixty-four. In his later years, Sanada Masayuki was very desolate, and since then Sanada Yukimura has hidden the seeds of revenge in his heart.
Later generations have a high evaluation of Changxing, wise, stubborn, loyal and cherished his family and talents, his life has tragic overtones, although he is a real wise general in the late Warring States period, his character ultimately determines his tragic fate.