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
Description
Life
Born in 1556 into the Ashikaga Nagao family, which governed the area around Ashikaga estate in Shimotsuke Province. His elder brother was Yura Kunishige. In 1569, upon the death of the previous head, Nagao Masanaga, Akinaga succeeded to the headship as his son-in-law, becoming the sixth head of the Ashikaga Nagao clan.
Subordination to the Oda and Hōjō
In 1582, together with his brother Yura Kunishige, he served under Takigawa Kazumasu, Oda Nobunaga's senior retainer overseeing the Kantō region. After the Honnō-ji Incident later that year, as the situation in the Kantō region grew unstable, he came under the sway of the Later Hōjō clan, thereafter serving as a Hōjō-aligned local lord defending the Shimotsuke-Kōzuke border region.
The Siege of Odawara and Dispossession
In 1590, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched his campaign against Odawara, Akinaga left his home base and holed up in Odawara Castle, fighting on the Hōjō side. The Hōjō clan was destroyed that same year, and Akinaga's own domain of Ashikaga was confiscated, leaving him dispossessed. He was subsequently taken into Hideyoshi's service and granted 5,000 koku at Ushiku in Hitachi Province, where his line continued; he died in 1621.
Connection to Swords
In 1590, just before the Siege of Odawara, Akinaga commissioned the swordsmith Horikawa Kunihiro to forge a sword. It was made as a copy of the blade "Honsaku Nagayoshi" (Yamanba Giri Nagayoshi), which Akinaga had received from Hōjō Ujinao, and survives today as Kunihiro's masterwork "Yamanba Giri Kunihiro." The fact that both the original, Yamanba Giri Nagayoshi, and its copy, Yamanba Giri Kunihiro, are designated Important Cultural Properties is known as a rare case in the history of Japanese swords.
Later Reputation
Nagao Akinaga is regarded as a border lord of Shimotsuke who preserved his house's name while repeatedly shifting allegiance between the great powers of his day, the Oda and the Hōjō. The Yamanba Giri Kunihiro he commissioned from Horikawa Kunihiro survives today as a celebrated blade 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