Nanbu Harumasa

Nanbu Harumasa was the eldest son of Nanbu Yasunobu and the 24th head of the Sannohe Nanbu clan. Born in 1517, he is said to have died on 27 January 1582 (Tensho 10, 1st month, 4th day) at age 66.

Life

He took over the clan in 1541, put down a rebellion by the Kudo and rebuilt the burned Sannohe Castle, his seat, although questions remain about how the succession passed from Yasunobu to him.

Achievements

In 1540 he repelled an incursion into Iwate District and secured it. During the Eiroku era he faced Ando Chikasue's invasion of Kazuno and in 1568 retook it in a pincer with Kunohe Masazane. He may have granted the character "Masa" to Masazane and others to strengthen ties of loyalty. The clan's territory stretched from the Shimokita Peninsula to the central Kitakami River, praised as "Nanbu land until the crescent moon grows round."

Succession conflict

In 1565 Nanbu Nobunao, son of his uncle Ishikawa Takanobu, became his heir as husband of his eldest daughter. When Harumasa's own son Harutsugu was born in 1570, he came to dislike Nobunao; the rift persisted and in 1576 Nobunao declined the position of heir.

Anecdotes

When a girl planting rice smeared him with mud he responded with tolerance, and she later became a concubine and bore Nanbu Harutsugu (春継); when a sword was stolen, he reportedly pardoned the guards despite calls for punishment.

Death and assessment

He is said to have died of illness and was succeeded by his son Harutsugu, though theories of assassination by Nobunao's faction and of death in 1581 exist, so the date is not settled. He is regarded as valiant from youth and as having brought the Nanbu to their peak. A 1578 gift to Oda Nobunaga is attributed by some theories to Nobunao.