27 Facts About Sakakibara Yasumasa

Sakakibara Yasumasa was a Japanese daimyo of the late Sengoku period through early Edo period, who served the Tokugawa clan.

Sakakibara Yasumasa was born in the year Tenmon-17, the second son of Sakakibara Nagamasa, in the Ueno district of Mikawa Province.

The young Yasumasa interacted with Matsudaira Motoyasu often from a young age and was appointed his page.

In Eiroku-9, at age 19, Sakakibara Yasumasa had reached adulthood, and soon after, he and Honda Tadakatsu were appointed as hatamoto and each granted the command of 50 cavalrymen.

In 1570, Sakakibara Yasumasa fought at the Battle of Anegawa, he was in the second division, along with Honda Tadakatsu, who fought the Asakura Kagetake's left flank.

Later, Sakakibara Yasumasa participate in the Battle of Nagashino when Oda-Tokugawa forces claimed victory against Katsuyori.

Later in 1581, Sakakibara Yasumasa were recorded has stormed Tanaka castle which guarded by Takeda clan general named Ichijo Nobutatsu.

In 1579, Yasumasa was appointed to be the head of Sakakibara clan, succeeding his older brother, Sakakibara Kiyomasa.

In 1581, Sakakibara Yasumasa participated in the Tokugawa army attack on Tanaka castle which guarded by Takeda clan general named Ichijo Nobutatsu.

In 1582, after the Honno-ji Incident, Sakakibara Yasumasa accompanied Ieyasu in an arduous journey to escape the enemies of Nobunaga in Sakai and returning to Mikawa.

Later, in the battle of Kurokoma, Sakakibara Yasumasa fought together with Okabe Motonobu and Mizuno Katsunari to repel the Hojo army attempt to sneak into the rear of Tokugawa army.

However, Ieyasu's decision garnered protest from Sakakibara Yasumasa, who went so far as to threaten Naomasa.

Meanwhile, Sakakibara Yasumasa himself received the command over 11 former Takeda samurai from Komai clan led by Komai Masanao, who later promoted as Hatamoto retainer of Sakakibara Yasumasa.

Sakakibara Yasumasa suggesting to Ieyasu that the region of Komaki would be suitable for the ensuing campaign.

Later, Sakakibara Yasumasa was given the title of "'Shikibu-sho'", when accompanying Ieyasu to Osaka to meet with Hideyoshi.

In 1590, Sakakibara Yasumasa participated in Siege of Odawara, where he led the vanguard troops ambushing Hojo Ujimasa forces.

Furthermore, Ieyasu viewed Sakakibara Yasumasa needed more manpower to manage vast domains, so he transferred three of other senior retainers Nagashige Nakane, Tanemasa Harada, and Katsushige Murakami to join the administration team.

However, Sakakibara Yasumasa deliberately spread rumors that his army which came from Kanto were larger by setting up many checkpoints in Seta to control information within the area, while ordering massive amounts of food supplies which far larger than his factual troops requirement.

Those acts of Sakakibara Yasumasa has deceived Mitsunari, as he believed the circulated rumors about huge army from Kanto were coming to Omi Province, thus Mitsunari did not dare to order his soldiers to harm Ieyasu.

However, the aftermath of this incident causing many of Hideie retainers such as Sakazaki Naomori to change their allegiance into the master of Sakakibara Yasumasa, which is Ieyasu Tokugawa.

In 1600, as Ieyasu led a punitive expedition against the Uesugi clan, Sakakibara Yasumasa participated, where he engaged in diplomacy with the local clans at Nasu so they would cooperate with the Tokugawa forces and not siding with the Uesugi.

However, Sakakibara Yasumasa was said being able to mediate the situation and convinced Ieyasu to give pardon for his son.

Sakakibara Yasumasa himself died in 1606, at the age of 59, and is buried at Zendoji Temple in Tatebayashi, where his grave still stands.

In unspecified time, Sakakibara Yasumasa has acquired a Gusoku style armor from Mizuno Nobumoto, uncle of Ieyasu, which Sakakibara Yasumasa always wearing during battles under the service of Ieyasu out of respect to Nobumoto.

Kazuto Hongo, history professor of University of Tokyo, gave his assessment that Sakakibara Yasumasa was an example of particularly talented general of Tokugawa clan who possess an expertise in administration.

However, there was several other figures aside from Sakakibara Yasumasa who used "Mu" as their character of warbanner, such as Oda Nobunaga, Hojo Ujinao, and Sengoku Hidehisa.

One of the most famous quote from Sakakibara Yasumasa is: " senior vassals began to compete for position, it is the sign of the decline of a nation".