Satake Yoshinobu

Satake Yoshinobu (佐竹 義宣; August 17, 1570 – March 5, 1633) was a daimyō in Sengoku period and early Edo period Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate and the 19th head of the Satake clan and 1st daimyō of Kubota Domain in Dewa Province. His courtesy title was Sakon-no-e-shōshō, later Ukyō-dayū and Jijū and his Court rank was Junior Fourth Rank, Upper Grade.¹

Biography

Yoshinobu was the eldest son of Satake Yoshishige, and his mother was the daughter of Date Harumune, which made him the cousin of Date Masamune. He was born at Ota Castle in Hitachi Province. His early life was that of constant warfare. The Satake clan were fighting the Nasu clan to the north, and as a condition for peace, Yoshinobu was engaged to a daughter of the Nasu clan when he was only three years old. He participated in his first combat at Battle of Hitotoribashi in 1586, just before he turned 15. His father officially retired some time in 1589, turning the portion of clan chieftain over to Yoshinobu. During this period, the clan was threatened from the north by Date Masamune and from the south by Hōjō Ujinao; however, because he quickly pledged allegiance to Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the Siege of Odawara (1590), he was able to retain his landholdings. Under Hideyoshi's banner, he was counted among the six greatest generals of the Toyotomi clan, together with , , , , and . During the siege of Odawara he was also able to extend his control to cover the over the whole of (with the exception of the territory of the ), by defeating various supporters of the Hōjō, so that by the end of the campaign his was ranked at over 350,000 .