Magara Naotaka

Magara Naotaka (?–1570) was a warrior of the Sengoku period who served Asakura Yoshikage, the daimyō of Echizen Province. Known by the name Magara Jūrōzaemon, he became famous as a mighty warrior who wielded the great sword "Tarōtachi" and appears repeatedly in war chronicles and oral tradition. At the Battle of Anegawa in 1570, he wielded his great sword in fierce combat and, as the Asakura side faced defeat, charged single-handedly into Tokugawa Ieyasu's camp to allow his allies to escape before finally being slain. His great sword Tarōtachi is traditionally said to be preserved at the treasure museum of Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya, attesting to his enduring legend. An alternate theory holds that the Atsuta blade actually belonged to his younger brother Naozumi (as the 'Jirōtachi'), and that Naotaka's own Tarōtachi is instead the great sword held at Hakusan Hime Shrine in Ishikawa Prefecture; the attribution of the two swords remains disputed.