Niiro Tadamoto

Niiro Tadamoto was a warrior of the Shimazu house of Satsuma from the Sengoku period into the early Edo period. Born in 1526 (Daiei 6), he died on the third day of the twelfth month of Keicho 15 (16 January 1611) at the age of 85. His father was Niiro Sukehisa, and the Niiro were a cadet branch of the Shimazu. His common name was Jiroshiro, his art names included Sessai, and his titles Gyobu no taifu and Musashi no kami. He was known by the nickname "Oni Musashi" (Demon Musashi). He served five generations of the Shimazu: Tadayoshi, Takahisa, Yoshihisa, Yoshihiro and Iehisa (Tadatsune).

Life

In 1538 (Tenbun 7), at the age of 13, he was taken by his father to meet Shimazu Tadayoshi and entered his service. In 1545, in the attack on Iriki-in Shigetomo, he defeated a retainer of the Iriki-in in single combat and contributed to the victory. He took part in the siege of Yokogawa Castle in 1562, and in 1569 attacked Oguchi Castle, held by Hishikari Takaaki, fighting on despite being wounded; he later served as jito of Oguchi in Satsuma.

Campaigns

He served at Kizakibaru (1572), the defence of Ushine Castle (1574), the siege of Minamata Castle (1581) and the Battle of Okitanawate (1584). At Ushine he is said to have offered himself as a hostage in order to make an enemy commander who had long held out surrender. In Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Kyushu Campaign he argued for resistance to the end, but submitted to Hideyoshi only after Yoshihiro, the younger brother of his lord Yoshihisa, surrendered. During the Korean campaigns he was left in charge of Satsuma, and after Sekigahara he returned to Oguchi Castle to secure the border against a possible invasion by Kato Kiyomasa.

Anecdotes

Small in stature but bold, he was described by Shimazu Tadayoshi as one of the indispensable men of the Shimazu. According to the Buke Jiki, his name came first whenever men of martial merit were counted, so he was called "Oyubi Musashi" (Thumb Musashi). Alongside his martial skill he was versed in waka, renga, Chinese poetry and the tea ceremony, and is said to have read the Kokin Wakashu in camp by the light of a matchlock fuse. At the siege of Minamata, when he shot an arrow carrying a letter with a waka, the enemy commander Indo Yoriyasu is recorded as replying in verse. In a renga session with Hosokawa Yusai he is said to have instantly supplied the opening lines to Yusai's closing couplet, impressing the commanders present. After the Battle of Hetsugigawa he treated Tani Tadazumi, who came to recover the body of the fallen Chosokabe Nobuchika, with courtesy and is said to have escorted him back to Tosa. After Sekigahara he is said to have composed a counting song to be overheard by Kiyomasa's spies and had it sung in his domain to raise morale.

Later years and legacy

The Nise Banashi Kakushiki Jomoku, drawn up with Machida Hisamasu and others on New Year's Day 1596, is regarded as the origin of the later goju education system. His heir Tadataka was killed in the Hizen campaign and Tadataka's son Tadamitsu died young in 1603, so the headship passed to Tadakiyo, a son of his second son Tadamasu, as Tadamitsu's adopted son-in-law. He fell gravely ill around the winter of 1610 and died at Oguchi Castle. Despite the ban on junshi, two followers followed him in death, and more than fifty others who were refused are said to have cut off a finger to show their resolve. Isa, Kagoshima has a Tadamoto Park, and the cedars at Sano Shrine in Takaharu, Miyazaki, said to have been planted by Tadamoto, were designated a national natural monument in 1924.