Nakamura Kazuuji

Nakamura Kazuuji was a warrior of the Azuchi-Momoyama period who served Hashiba Hideyoshi (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) from his youth. His birth year is unknown; he died of illness on 25 August 1600 (Keichō 5, 7th month, 17th day). His court rank was Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade, with the title Shikibu-shōyū.

Changing domains

He began with 200 koku at Nagahama in Ōmi (around 1573), then received 30,000 koku at Kishiwada in Izumi (1583), 60,000 koku at Mizuguchi-Okayama in Ōmi (1585), and 140,000 koku at Fuchū in Suruga (1590). After the Odawara campaign he was placed at Sunpu as a check on Tokugawa Ieyasu. In 1595 he also served as deputy (daikan) for the Toyotomi directly held lands in Suruga.

Main campaigns

He took part in the Battle of Shizugatake in 1583. From early 1584 he came under attack by the Kii forces but held Kishiwada Castle, and in the counter-offensive of 1585 he played a leading role. In the 1590 Odawara campaign, as vanguard of Toyotomi Hidetsugu's force, he is said to have taken the main parts of Yamanaka Castle, defended by Matsuda Yasunaga, almost single-handedly.

Anecdote

The "Octopus Jizō legend" tells that when Kishiwada Castle was on the verge of falling in the 1584 fighting, a monk riding a giant octopus and thousands of octopuses saved the castle.

After his death

His eldest son, Nakamura Kazutada, succeeded him. Kazutada received 175,000 koku at Yonago in Hōki after Sekigahara, but died suddenly in 1609 with no heir, and the house was dissolved. Kazuuji's grave is at Rinzai-ji in Shizuoka.