* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Akita Sanesue
秋田実季
Sengoku Daimyō Who Unified the Andō Clan and Founded the Akita House, Remembered Through the Blade Akita Tōshirō
- Era
- Sengoku to early Edo period
- Lifespan
- 1576-1660
Description
Life
Born in 1576 as the son of Ando Chikasue, a Sengoku-period daimyo of Dewa Province, Sanesue succeeded to the headship of the family at only twelve years of age following his father's death from illness.
Succession and the Battle of Minato
Immediately after his succession, his cousin Andō Michisue rose in rebellion, and Sanesue was forced to respond to the Battle of Minato over Minato Castle. He suppressed the uprising in 1589, unifying the divided Andō clan and establishing his own base of rule.
Subordination to the Toyotomi and Tokugawa
In 1590 he joined Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign against Odawara and submitted to him. Through the subsequent Ōshū shioki settlement he was confirmed in holdings of some 52,000 koku within Dewa Province. He also showed skill in managing his domain, such as through levies on Akita cedar, and from his base at Minato Castle he styled himself “Akita-jō-no-suke.” He sided with the Eastern Army at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, but after the war he was slandered by the neighboring lord Mogami Yoshiaki. He cleared himself of suspicion through his own explanation, and in 1602, with the Satake family's move into Dewa, he was transferred to Shishido in Hitachi Province.
Dispossession and Later Years
He also took part in the Siege of Osaka in 1614, but in 1630 he was suddenly ordered into confinement at Asama in Ise Province, and his heir Toshisue succeeded to the headship of the family. For roughly thirty years afterward he lived in confinement at Eishō-ji temple in that place, dying in 1660 at the age of 85. The Akita house itself survived, later serving as lords of Miharu Domain in Mutsu Province, and continued until the Bakumatsu period.
Connection to Swords
The short sword known as “Akita Tōshirō” takes its name from having been in Sanesue's possession, and it is known as a work of the Kamakura-period swordsmith Awataguchi Yoshimitsu. It is now designated an Important Cultural Property and held by the Kyoto National Museum. After Sanesue's death, the blade passed through the hands of the Ogasawara count family and others, and in 2017 it was donated to the museum by the family of a sword collector.
Notable Swords
- Akita Tōshirō