Sanada Masayuki
Sanada Masayuki (1547–1611) was a warlord from Chiisagata District in Shinano province. He rose to prominence serving Takeda Shingen, and after the fall of the Takeda clan, skillfully shifted allegiances among the Oda, Hojo, Tokugawa, and Uesugi to secure his position as an independent lord. In 1583 he built Ueda Castle, using the cliffs of Amagafuchi along the Chikuma River as a natural moat. He is known for repelling a much larger Tokugawa army not once but twice — at the First Battle of Ueda in 1585 and the Second Battle of Ueda in 1600 — despite being vastly outnumbered both times. Having sided with the western army at the Battle of Sekigahara, he was exiled after the war to Kudoyama in Kii province (present-day Kudoyama, Wakayama Prefecture), where he died without ever being pardoned. Toyotomi Hideyoshi once called him a "hyōri-hikyō no mono" — a shrewd, unpredictable schemer impossible to pin down — and he remains one of the most cunning strategists of the Sengoku period. His second son was Sanada Nobushige (Yukimura), who would later win fame at the Siege of Osaka.
Historical Stories
Ueda Castle: Repelling a Great Army Twice
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Ueda Castle
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