Bessho Nagaharu

Life and Origins

Bessho Nagaharu (1558–1580) was a Sengoku-period daimyo whose base was Miki Castle in Harima Province (present-day southern Hyōgo Prefecture). The Bessho clan was a distinguished house descended from the Akamatsu clan, shugo of Harima, and held great influence in eastern Harima. Nagaharu was born as the son of his father, Bessho Yasuharu. When his father died in Genki 1 (1570), he succeeded to the headship at a young age and became lord of Miki Castle under the guardianship of his uncles, Bessho Yoshichika (Katasuke), Shigemune, and others.

The Miki Campaign and the Siege

Initially, Nagaharu swiftly submitted to Oda Nobunaga after Nobunaga entered Kyōto, and he was treated as a leading local warrior ally of the Oda side in Harima. However, in Tenshō 6 (1578), Nagaharu suddenly rebelled against Nobunaga. Accounts of his motives vary, including dissatisfaction with how Nobunaga administered Harima, secret ties with the Mōri clan, and the leadership of his hardline uncle Yoshichika, and no firmly established explanation exists. This defection presented a major obstacle on the front line of the Chūgoku campaign led by Hashiba Hideyoshi.

Hideyoshi did not storm Miki Castle. Instead, he built a ring of tsukejiro (siege forts) around it and chose a thorough siege by starvation that cut off its supply lines. The siege began in the 3rd month of Tenshō 6 and lasted until the 1st month of Tenshō 8 (1580). It brought terrible starvation to the castle and later came to be called Miki no Higoroshi (the starving of Miki). Routes for bringing in grain from the Mōri side were cut one after another, and the castle's food ran out. During this time, branch castles of eastern Harima that had sided with the Bessho, including Kanki Castle and Shikata Castle, were also taken one after another, and Miki Castle grew increasingly isolated. Nagaharu's resistance was also linked with that of Araki Murashige, who had likewise rebelled against Nobunaga, and with the power of the Mōri clan in the west.

Chronology of the Miki Campaign

In the 2nd–3rd months of Tenshō 6 (1578), Nagaharu broke away from the Oda side and took refuge in Miki Castle. Hashiba Hideyoshi avoided a direct assault and began a war of attrition, building a network of tsukejiro around the castle to cut off its supply lines.

In the 6th–7th months of Tenshō 6 (1578), the Bessho's key branch castles of Kanki Castle and Shikata Castle were taken by the Oda side one after another, and Miki Castle grew increasingly isolated.

On the 13th day of the 6th month of Tenshō 7 (1579), Takenaka Hanbei (Shigeharu), Hideyoshi's military strategist, died of illness in the field camp on Mount Hirai, where the main encirclement headquarters was set up. He was 36 years old. His grave remains today in Hirai in Miki City.

In the 9th month of Tenshō 7 (1579), a large-scale Mōri effort to bring in supplies was blocked in the battles of Hirata and Ōmura, and starvation in the castle became decisive.

On the 17th day of the 1st month of Tenshō 8 (1580), Nagaharu accepted surrender on condition that the garrison's lives be spared, and he took his own life together with his younger brother Tomoyuki. (His uncle Yoshichika is said to have been killed by garrison troops when he tried to continue resistance.)

Surrender and Death

On the 17th day of the 1st month of Tenshō 8 (1580), Nagaharu accepted surrender on condition that the garrison's lives be spared. In exchange for the seppuku of himself, his younger brother Tomoyuki, and his uncle Yoshichika, he sought to save the lives of the starving garrison and the people of the domain. After holding a final banquet with food and sake presented by Hideyoshi, Nagaharu took his own life together with his wife and children. He was 23 by traditional reckoning.

A death poem attributed to him has been handed down: "Ima wa tada urami mo araji, morobito no inochi ni kawaru waga mi to omoeba." The verse expresses the clear resolve of a man who accepted death to save the lives of many people, and it conveys Nagaharu's noble character to the present day.

Swords and Armor

The Bessho clan, a branch of the shugo Akamatsu clan, is thought to have held tachi and uchigatana befitting its family rank as heirlooms. However, no famous blade (meibutsu) is known to survive as Nagaharu's personal sword. In the Miki area, temples and shrines commemorating him remain, and his tragedy is passed down as a story of samurai loyalty told together with swords.

Historic Sites and the Taiga Drama

The site of Miki Castle is now maintained as Kaminomaru Park, and a monument inscribed with Nagaharu's death poem stands on the castle ruins. At Unryū-ji in the castle town, the kubizuka (mounds of heads) of Nagaharu and his principal wife Teruko remain. Some accounts say Teruko was a daughter of Hatano Hideharu of Tanba, but the details of her origins are not known. Memorial services are held there every year on January 17, the anniversary of his death. At Hōkai-ji, the Bessho family temple, a memorial service is also held on April 17, a monthly death-day, and etoki (illustrated storytelling) recounting the Miki campaign is performed. The NHK Taiga drama "Toyotomi Kyōdai!", broadcast in 2026, also features Bessho Nagaharu.

Why Did Bessho Nagaharu Betray Oda Nobunaga?

Various accounts exist, including dissatisfaction with how Nobunaga administered Harima, secret ties with the Mōri clan, and the leadership of his hardline uncle, Bessho Yoshichika. No firmly established explanation exists. There is also a persistent view that emphasizes the resentment within the Bessho house, which took pride in its distinguished lineage as a branch of the shugo Akamatsu clan, at being placed under the command of the newly risen Hashiba Hideyoshi.

What Is Miki no Higoroshi?

Miki no Higoroshi is the name for the siege by starvation in which Hashiba Hideyoshi, rather than storming Miki Castle, cut off its supply lines with tsukejiro and earthen ramparts, starving the castle's inhabitants. The siege lasted about two years, and the castle is said to have fallen into such terrible hunger that everything down to grass, trees, cattle, and horses was eaten. Together with the 'starving' (katsue-goroshi) of Tottori Castle and the flooding siege of Bitchū-Takamatsu Castle, it became a byword for Hideyoshi's siege by starvation.

What Is Bessho Nagaharu's Death Poem?

"Ima wa tada urami mo araji, morobito no inochi ni kawaru waga mi to omoeba." Its meaning is that, since he regards his own body as exchanged for the lives of the castle garrison and the people of the domain, there is no longer any resentment left. The poem is famous as the verse in which the young castle lord, aged 23 by traditional reckoning, expressed his resolve to accept death in order to save many lives.

Later Reputation

Nagaharu's end, in which he closed a life of barely more than twenty years in exchange for the lives of the garrison, is widely known as a representative tragedy among Sengoku-period castle lords. In Miki City, memorial services on his death anniversary are still held today, and he is honored as a local hero. Carrying the name of his distinguished ancestral house and dying for gi in a merciless age, his way of life has been told down to the present day as one ideal of the bushidō spirit.