- Gamō Ujisato
nihongo|Gamō Ujisato|蒲生氏郷|extra=1556 –
March 17 ,1595 was a Japanesedaimyo of the Sengoku andAzuchi-Momoyama period s. The heir and son ofGamō Katahide , lord of Hino Castle inŌmi Province , he later held Matsusaka (Ise Province ) and finallyAizuwakamatsu Castle inMutsu Province . He also controlled Obama Castle through one of his retainers, Gamō Chūzaemon.Early life
Ujisato, known in his childhood as nihongo|Tsuruchiyo|鶴千代, was born in Hino, in the Gamō district of
Ōmi Province in 1556. In 1568,Oda Nobunaga , who was en route to Kyoto, defeated theRokkaku clan , who were the masters of Tsuruchiyo's father, nihongo|Katahide|賢秀. Upon the Rokkaku clan's defeat, Katahide as a former influential vassal, pledged loyalty to Nobunaga, and became an Oda retainer. However, the price of Katahide's pledge was giving up his son as a hostage, and so Tsuruchiyo was taken to Gifu, then theOda clan 's headquarters.Tsuruchiyo's sagacity impressed Nobunaga, and soon, the young man had his manhood rite in Gifu, taking the name nihongo|Utahide|賦秀. [http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~yoropara/retuden/retu00008.htm Nihonshi Jinbutsu Retsuden] . Yoropara. Accessed October 23, 2007.] In the summer of 1569, Utahide took part in his first campaign, during Nobunaga's subjucation of Kitabatake Tomomasa of Kizukuri Castle. For his distinction in battle, Nobunaga gave his daughter
Fuyuhime in marriage to Utahide, affectionately referring to Utahide as "my little son-in-law." At the same time, he was allowed to return to his father's castle at Hino. Though Fuyuhime was still young at this point, she is said to have later matured into a stunningly beautiful woman.Major campaigns under Nobunaga
In 1570, Utahide fought at the
Battle of Anegawa , and later that same year, joined his father in the Oda assault on theAsakura clan ofEchizen Province . The two led a force of 1,000 men as the vanguard ofShibata Katsuie 's army. The total number of men under Katsuie's overall command at that battle totaled 5,000. Of those 5,000, the number under Katsuie's command totaled 600, so this may give some impression of the importance of the Gamō family. Following the betrayal ofAzai Nagamasa , Utahide assisted in Nobunaga's withdrawal by taking him into his own Hino Castle, and facilitating his escape to Gifu from there. In recognition of this feat, Nobunaga gave Utahide and his father a stipend increase, and posted them to southern Omi, under the command ofShibata Katsuie . The Gamō would see action against the Asakura once more, in 1573. In 1575, upon Katsuie's posting toKitanoshō Castle , the Gamō, ruling from their castle at Hino, came under Nobunaga's direct command, serving ashatamoto . That year, Utahide fought at theBattle of Nagashino .Nobunaga's assassination and Hideyoshi's rise
When Nobunaga was assassinated in 1582, Utahide was with his father, who had been posted as warden of
Azuchi Castle . Together, the two sheltered Nobunaga's wife and children in Hino Castle, saving their lives. In the same year, Utahide submitted toHashiba Hideyoshi . The following year, he joined Hideyoshi's attack onTakigawa Kazumasu , as well as theBattle of Shizugatake , and received the title of nihongo|"Hida no Kami"|飛騨守.Following his siege of
Oda Nobukatsu during theBattle of Komaki and Nagakute in 1585, he received Matsusaka, in the southern section ofIse Province , as his fief (rated at 120,000 "koku "). (The main castle of this fief was nihongo|Matsugashima Castle |松ヶ島城.) In this year, his son Tsuruchiyo (Gamō Hideyuki ) was born. After taking part in the subjugation ofKii Province in 1585, Utahide took the name of "Ujisato." Soon after, due to the influence ofTakayama Ukon , he received a Christian baptism inOsaka , and took the baptismal name of Leo.Career under Hideyoshi, and later life
In 1588, construction was completed on nihongo|
Matsuzaka Castle |松坂城, where he immediately moved. Ujisato took part in all of Hideyoshi's subsequent campaigns: theSiege of Odawara (1590) , the pacification of Ōshū (Mutsu andDewa Province s) (1590), and the Japanese invasions of Korea. For his role in the pacification of Ōshū, he received a 420,000 "koku " fief with its headquarters at Kurokawa Castle in Aizu. He renamed the castle Wakamatsu, the name which even the town retains to this day.In preparation for the Japanese invasions of Korea, Ujisato proceeded in 1592 to Hideyoshi's base in Nagoya in
Hizen Province . He fell ill there, coughing up blood in early 1593. From Nagoya, he headed first to Aizu, and then to Fushimi, where the Gamō family's mansion was almost complete. Hideyoshi himself would visit the mansion twice after its completion Ujisato died at age 40, atFushimi Castle . Though his family would lose Aizu soon after with Hideyuki's transfer to Utsunomiya, the Gamō would later be returned to Aizu byTokugawa Ieyasu .Notes
References and further reading
*Arai Masayoshi nihongo2|新井政義, "Nihonshi jiten" nihongo2|日本史事典. Tokyo: Ōbunsha nihongo2|旺文社, 1987, p. 91.
*Noguchi Shin'ichi nihongo2|野口新一, "Aizu-han" nihongo2|会津藩. Tokyo: Gendai Shokan nihongo2|現代書簡, 2005.External links
*worldcat id|lccn-n86-56021
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