Asano Yoshinaga

Asano Yoshinaga (1576–1613) was born as the eldest son of Asano Nagamasa, one of the Five Commissioners (Go-Bugyō) of the Toyotomi government. He distinguished himself as a warlord who fought for the Eastern Army (the Tokugawa side) at the Battle of Sekigahara, and as the first lord of the Kishū (Wakayama) Domain he laid the foundations of that land.

Yoshinaga led 3,000 troops to Korea in the Bunroku Campaign (1592), and in the Keichō Campaign of 1597 he withstood the encirclement by Ming and Joseon forces at the Siege of Ulsan Castle. After his return, when the Battle of Sekigahara broke out (1600), Yoshinaga joined the Eastern Army because his father Nagamasa was close to Tokugawa Ieyasu. As one of the vanguard forces of the Eastern Army, he took part in the attack on Gifu Castle, and in the main battle he was deployed to hold the Mōri forces on Mount Nangū.

After the war, Yoshinaga was transferred from Kai Fuchū, with 160,000 koku, to Kii (Wakayama), with 376,560 koku, a major increase in his fief. Kii was rich in high-quality timber and mineral resources, and it was also a key point in maritime transport. Yoshinaga actively developed this land, advancing the improvement of Wakayama Castle and the construction of its castle town. Although he laid the foundation for the later development of the Kishū Domain, he died in 1613, aged 38 (by traditional count).

In terms of his connection to swords, during the Odawara Campaign (1590) he fought in his first battle, where his attack on Iwatsuki Castle earned him high praise from Hideyoshi, and he was given a sword and a short sword (wakizashi). When Hideyoshi died in 1598, he received as a bequest the tachi Ōmihara (Important Cultural Property). He also studied under the gunnery master Inatomi Ichimu and was known as a skilled marksman with the matchlock.

After Yoshinaga's early death, his younger brother Nagaakira succeeded to the headship, and the Asano family continued throughout the Edo period as the houses of the Hiroshima Domain, the Akō Domain and others. In the Akō Domain, Asano Takumi-no-kami later appeared as the protagonist of Chūshingura, and the Asano family figures in many important moments of Japanese history. The achievements of Yoshinaga, who ended his life young as the first lord of the Kishū Domain, hold an important place in the history of Wakayama.