Takigawa Kazumasu

Takigawa Kazumasu (滝川一益) (1525-1586) was a samurai retainer to Oda Nobunaga, and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi, during Japan's Sengoku period.

Originally from Ōmi province, Takigawa was appointed "Kantō-kanrei" (Shogun's Deputy in the East) by Nobunaga; in this post, with a portion of Kozuke province as his domain, he was assigned to keep an eye on the powerful Hōjō clan, based at Odawara. Under Nobunaga, he took part in a great many battles, including the battle of Anegawa in 1570, and the campaigns against the Ikkō-ikki of Nagashima (1571-4).

Following Nobunaga's death in 1582, he, along with many of the Oda retainers, initially opposed Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but entered his service upon their defeat. Later in life, following a particularly grievous defeat in 1594 [Despite giving 1586 as the year of Takigawa's death, Frederic's account also includes this date of his retirement.] , Takigawa would retire from battle and become a Buddhist monk.

Takigawa's standard was three red circles arranged vertically.

Note

References

*Frederic, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
*Sansom, George (1961). "A History of Japan: 1334-1615." Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
*Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.