* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Nagao Akinaga
長尾顕長
Head of the Ashikaga Nagao Clan Who Commissioned the Sword Yamanba Giri Kunihiro, a Border Lord Between Oda and Hōjō
- Era
- Sengoku period
- Lifespan
- 1556-1621
Description
Life
Born in 1556 as the second son of Yura Narishige. His elder brother was Yura Kunishige. In 1569, upon the death of the previous head, Nagao Masanaga, he succeeded to the headship as Masanaga's son-in-law and became the sixth head of the Ashikaga Nagao clan.
Subordination to the Oda and Hōjō
In 1582, together with his elder brother Yura Kunishige, he served under Takigawa Kazumasu, a senior retainer of Oda Nobunaga active in the Kantō region. However, after the Honnō-ji Incident later that same year, as the situation in the Kantō region became unstable, he came under the subordination of the Later Hōjō clan. From then on he served as a Hōjō-aligned local lord, defending the Shimotsuke and Kōzuke areas.
The Siege of Odawara and Dispossession
In 1590, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched his campaign against Odawara, Akinaga left his home base and entered Odawara Castle, where he held out and fought on the Hōjō side. However, the Hōjō clan fell in the same year, and Akinaga's domain of Ashikaga was confiscated, leaving him dispossessed. Afterward, together with his elder brother Yura Kunishige and his mother, he was granted 5,000 koku at Ushiku in Hitachi Province, and he died in 1621.
Connection to Swords
In 1590, on the eve of the Siege of Odawara, Akinaga commissioned the swordsmith Horikawa Kunihiro to forge a sword. It was a copy modeled on the blade “Honsaku Chōgi” (Yamanbagiri Chōgi), which had been presented to him by Hōjō Ujinao, and it survives today as Kunihiro's masterwork “Yamanbagiri Kunihiro.” The fact that both the original, Yamanbagiri Chōgi, and its copy, Yamanbagiri Kunihiro, are designated Important Cultural Properties is known as a rare example among Japanese swords.
Later Reputation
Nagao Akinaga is regarded as a local lord of the Shimotsuke border region who preserved his house's name while repeatedly shifting his allegiance between the great powers of his time, the Oda and the Hōjō. The Yamanbagiri Kunihiro he had Horikawa Kunihiro forge survives today as a celebrated sword, prized in its own right despite being a copy, and Akinaga's name is still remembered in the history of Japanese swords.
Notable Swords
- Yamanba Giri Kunihiro