was a Japanese samurai general and daimyo under the Sengoku period daimyō, and later shōgun, Tokugawa Ieyasu.井伊直政 -Hatabo's Homepage He led the clan after the death of Ii Naotora. He married Tobai-in, Matsudaira Yasuchika's daughter and adopted daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Ii Naomasa joined the ranks of the Tokugawa clan in the mid-1570s, rising swiftly through the ranks and became particularly famous after the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, as he is recognized as one of the Four Guardians of the Tokugawa along with Honda Tadakatsu, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and Sakai Tadatsugu. Ii Naomasa then eventually became the master of a sizable holding in Ōmi Province, following the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.
His office in the Imperial Japan ministries was Hyōbu-daifū.
Ii Naomasa was also notable for his command over elite troops (akazonae) that formerly served the Takeda clan.
Biography
Ii Naomasa was born in Hōda Village of Tōtōmi Province. His childhood name was Toramatsu (虎松), later Manchiyo (万千代). His family, like the Tokugawa, had originally been retainers of the Imagawa clan, but following the death of the clan's leader, Imagawa Yoshimoto, in the Battle of Okehazama (1560), confusion and general chaos ensued. Naomasa's father, Ii Naochika, was falsely convicted of treason by Yoshimoto's paranoid successor, Imagawa Ujizane, and was subsequently killed.
Naomasa, then a very small child, escaped his danger. After many difficulties, Ii Naotora succeeded the Ii clan and become the guardian of Naomasa. According to "Ii family biography, In 1574 Naomasa came to Ryutanji Temple for the 13th anniversary of Naochika's death. Then Naotora and Ryutanji Temple Chief Priest Nankei Zuimon, who also happen to be Naomasa's great uncle, consulted and tried to make Naomasa serve Tokugawa Ieyasu. First, in order to prevent Toramatsu from returning to Horai-ji Temple, Hiyo married Kiyokage Matsushita, a vassal of the Tokugawa clan, and adopted Toramatsu into the Matsushita clan. It was said the house of Ii clan invested greatly in Naomasa's education in preparation to entrust him to Ieyasu as a bid to save the Ii clan from crisis.
In 1575, Toramatsu was discovered by Ieyasu and allowed to return to the Ii clan, and changed his name to Manchiyo. Furthermore, he was granted possession of Iinoya in Shizuoka, former territory of Ii clan, and was appointed as a page of Tokugawa Ieyasu after visiting him in Hamamatsu Castle. At that time, there are three influential clans in Iinoya which led by the so-called "Iinoya trio", consisted of Suzuki Shigetoki, Kondō Yasumochi, and Suganuma Tadahisa. which joined the Tokugawa clan's rank after Ieyasu's invasion of Totomi in 1568.『寛政重修諸家譜』巻第八百四十二「近藤」、国民図書版『寛政重修諸家譜 第五輯』p.401。 As they entered service under Ieyasu, they were placed by Ieyasu under The command of Naomasa.
War against Takeda & Hōjō clan In 1576, Naomasa fought for the first time in the battle against Takeda Katsuyori's forces at Shibahara (芝原) in Tōtōmi Province. Later Naomasa was seen alongside Ieyasu's Hatamoto vanguards, alongside Honda Tadakatsu and Sakakibara Yasumasa. At the age of 18, Naomasa participated in the Tokugawa army attack on Tanaka castle which guarded by Takeda clan general named Ichijō Nobutatsu. In this battle, Naomasa fought together with Matsudaira Ietada, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and Honda Tadakatsu as they all climbed to Tanaka castle wall and fighting Nobutatsu's soldiers.
In 1578, at the age of 18, Naomasa was given control of 10,000 koku of domain, due to unspecified distinguished military merit during that year. Later, Arthur Lindsay Sadler wrote that At the age of 19, Naomasa gained attention for his first notable performance in battle.
In 1580, at the age of 20, he was given domain worth of 20,000 koku. It was noted that in the past, when the Ii clan fell into decline, its vassals abandoned and hid in the mountains, but with Naomasa's rise in power, they began to return one after another. The Ii clan records that "Nakano Echigo-no-kami, Okuyama Rokurozaemon, and other long-time vassals of the Ii clan had fled to the mountains, but they all came down to serve Naomasa.". In another case, Okuyama Rokurozaemon's younger brother, Sokan, whi had retired and become a monk, was ordered by Naomasa to return to secular life and was granted 1,000 koku to manage..
Later, at the age of 22, Naomasa performed another distinguishing military service against the Takeda clan, at Siege of Takatenjin in 1581. Reference: "Tokugawa Jikki Volume 1" National Diet Library Digital Collection" It was said that during this period, Naomasa gained Ieyasu's favor due to his blood relation with Lady Tsukiyama, Ieyasu's legal wife.
In 1582, after the Honnoji Incident, Naomasa accompanied Ieyasu on an arduous journey to escape the enemies of Nobunaga in Sakai and return to Mikawa. However, their journey was very dangerous due to the existence of "Ochimusha-gari" groups across the route. During this journey, Naomasa and other senior Ieyasu retainers such as Sakai Tadatsugu and Honda Tadakatsu fought their way through raids and harassment from Ochimusha-gari (Samurai hunter) outlaws during their march escorting Ieyasu, and sometimes advancing by usage of gold and silver bribes given to some of the more amenable Ochimusha-gari groups. As they reached Kada, an area between Kameyama town and Iga, the attacks from Ochimusha-gari finally ended as they reached the territory of Kōka ikki Jizamurai warriors who were friendly to the Tokugawa clan. The Koka ikki warriors then escorted the group while assisting them by eliminating the threats of the Ochimusha-gari outlaws until they reached Iga Province, where they were further protected by samurai clans from Iga ikki which then accompanied the Ieyasu group until they safely reached Mikawa. The Ietada nikki journal has recorded that the escorts of Ieyasu suffered around 200 casualties and only 34 people were left when they finally arrived at Ietada's residence in Mikawa.
After Ieyasu's return to Mikawa, Tenshō-Jingo War broke out between the Tokugawa clan and Hōjō clan in a contest to gain control the area of Shinano Province, Ueno region, and Kai Province Kai Province (currently Gunma Prefecture), which had been vacant since the destruction of Takeda clan and the death of Oda Nobunaga. Ieyasu lead an army of 8,000 soldiers entering Kai, Shinano Province, and Ueno, to annex it. However, the Hōjō clan in the Kantō region also led an army of 55,000 men and crossed the Usui Pass to invade Shinano Province. In the battle of Wakamiko, 8,000 Tokugawa soldiers fought against around 50,000 soldiers of Hojo soldiers led by Hōjō Ujinao. Ii Naomasa was recorded as participating in these engagements. In the middle of this conflict, Naomasa further managed to recruit more samurais that had formerly served various Takeda generals such as Ichijō Nobutatsu, Yamagata Masakage, Masatsune Tsuchiya, and Hara Masatane with the help of former Takeda clan retainer named Kimata Morikatsu who organized the contacts of those samurais with Naomasa. Aside from military service, Naomasa played diplomatic role during this conflict as he received around 41 letters from many former Takeda clan's vassals to submit to Ieyasu. In total, more than 800 vassals of Takeda clan from Kofu Province recruited by Ieyasu during the fight against the Hōjō which lasted for 80 days. In the final phase of this conflict, Naomasa participated in the battle of Kurokoma, where the smaller Tokugawa army managed to defeat the much larger Hōjō armies, despite being reinforced by 10,000 soldiers by Satomi clan from Awa Province (Chiba).竹井英文「“房相一和”と戦国期東国社会」(佐藤博信 編『中世東国の政治構造 中世東国論:上』(岩田書店、2007年) ISBN 978-4-87294-472-3 From November to January of the following year, Naomasa worked together with another Tokugawa general Torii Mototada, and two former Takeda clan generals who now joined Tokugawa clan's rank, Hoshina Masanao and Suwa Yoritada, to attack Chikuma District which was controlled by a Hōjō clan vassal named Ogasawara Sadayoshi. By February 10, Sadayoshi surrendered and joined the Tokugawa side. The result of this war, combined with the defection of Sanada Masayuki to the Tokugawa side has forced the Hōjō clan to negotiate truce with Ieyasu. The Hōjō clan then sent Hōjō Ujinobu as its representative, while the Tokugawa sent Naomasa as its representative to negotiate the peace conditions.
According to the Meishō genkō-roku record, after the conflict with the Hōjō clan, Ieyasu organized a kishōmon(blood oath) with many samurai clans that formerly were vassals of the Takeda clan assigned under the command of Tokugawa clan retainers.小宮山敏和「戦国大名家臣の徳川家臣化について 戦国大名武田家家臣を事例として」『論集きんせい』26号、2004年 Ieyasu Tokugawa planned to subduct the largest portions of former Takeda samurai under Naomasa's command, having consulted and reached agreement with Sakai Tadatsugu, a senior Tokugawa clan vassal. However, Ieyasu's decision garnered protest from Sakakibara Yasumasa, who went so far as to threaten Naomasa. Tadatsugu immediately defended the decision of Ieyasu in response and warned Yasumasa that if he did any harm to Naomasa, Tadatsugu would personally slaughter the Sakakibara clan; thus, Yasumasa heeded Tadatsugu and did not protest further. Then Ieyasu decided assigned 70 members of former Takeda samurais from Tsuchiya clan under the command of Ii Naomasa. During this year, Naomasa was also given an increase of his domain to 40,000 koku.
Later in 1583, Naomasa sent a detachment of former Takeda samurai who originated from Kai, and were led by his subordinate, Kimata Morikatsu, to invade the Takatō area of Shinano province and subdue an area there which had still not submitted to the Tokugawa clan.
Campaign of Komaki-Nagakute In 1584 on April 9, during the Battle of Nagakute, Naomasa was entrusted to lead around 3,000 soldiers on the left wing of the Tokugawa forces formation. On the opposing side, Ikeda Tsuneoki and Mori Nagayoshi commanded 3,000 and 2,000 soldiers respectively. At around 10 a.m., Naomasa clashed against the troops of Tsuneoki. The battle lasted over two hours, as Naomasa units repeatedly foiled attempted charges towards his position by Tsuneoki and Mori Nagayoshi troops with musket rifle barrages, until Nagayoshi was shot and killed in action, causing the Tokugawa forces to gain the upper hand amid the chaos. Tsuneoki was also killed by Nagai Naokatsu's spear and died in battle. Motosuke Ikeda was also killed by Andō Naotsugu. Meanwhile Ikeda Terumasa retreated from the battlefield. Eventually, the Tsuneoki and Mori forces were crushed, and the battle ended in victory for the Tokugawa force. In this battle, Naomasa fought so valiantly that it elicited praise from Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was on the opposing side.
After the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, the front line in northern Owari reached a stalemate. Ieyasu and Oda Nobukatsu led 20,000 soldiers and besieged three castles: Kanie Castle, Maeda Castle, and Shimoichiba Castle. The Kanie castle was defended by Maeda Nagatane and Takigawa Kazumasu. Tadatsugu, Okanabe Mori, and Yamaguchi Shigemasa spearheaded the attack towards Shimoichiba castle. On June 22, Nobukatsu and Ieyasu launched an all-out attack on Kanie Castle. The soldiers were led by Tadatsugu, While Naomasa, Ishikawa Kazumasa, Honda Tadakatsu, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and Matsudaira Ietada were deployed in reserve before entering the battle with Ieyasu himself. On June 23, Ieyasu entered the castle with Sakakibara Yasumasa, thus the castle was subdued.
Service under Toyotomi government Following the peace negotiation between Ieyasu and Hideyoshi, Hideyoshi's mother, Ōmandokoro, was sent to stay with Naomasa in gentle captivity, cementing an alliance between the Tokugawa and the Toyotomi. It was reported that Hideyoshi was satisfied with Naomasa's work while guarding his mother.