* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Sanada Nobuyuki
真田信之
The Sanada Eldest Son: A Warlord Who Survived Sekigahara, Where Brothers Were Split Between East and West, Laid the Foundations of the Matsushiro Domain, and Lived to Ninety-Three
Description
The Sanada Eldest Son, Nobuyuki
In 1566 (Eiroku 9), Sanada Nobuyuki, the eldest son of Sanada Masayuki and the elder brother of Yukimura, was born. At the Battle of Sekigahara, his father and younger brother sided with the Western Army, but Nobuyuki chose to side with the Eastern Army (the Tokugawa forces). In doing so, he resolved the difficult problem of keeping the Sanada family intact. After Sekigahara, while his father and brother were exiled to Kudoyama at the foot of Mount Kōya, Nobuyuki became lord of Ueda. He was later transferred to Matsushiro in 1622 (Genna 8). He lived to ninety-three, an extraordinary age for his time, and laid the foundations of the Matsushiro Domain in Shinano.
The Painful Choice at Sekigahara
At the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 (Keichō 5), the Sanada family divided its allegiances. Masayuki and Yukimura sided with the Western Army of Ishida Mitsunari, and Nobuyuki sided with the Eastern Army under the Tokugawa. This was not a matter of chance. It is understood as a calm calculation, a decision designed to let the family survive whichever side won. Nobuyuki's principal wife, Komatsuhime, was the daughter of Honda Tadakatsu, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Tokugawa, which made his allegiance to the Eastern Army a natural one. Komatsuhime deeply supported her husband. When the family had been split between enemy sides, Masayuki stopped at Numata Castle and asked to meet his grandchildren. She armed herself and refused to let him enter, declaring, "I cannot let an enemy into the castle." This episode shows how great a spiritual pillar she was within Nobuyuki's household.
Deep Affection for Father and Brother
Although Nobuyuki had sided with the Eastern Army, he never lost his deep affection for his father Masayuki and his younger brother Yukimura. When they were exiled to Kudoyama at the foot of Mount Kōya, he continued to support their livelihood. The human drama of the Sanada family, in which brothers were divided east and west yet never severed their bonds of affection, blooms as a flower of human feeling amid the cruelty of the Sekigahara era. It continues to move many people today.
The Sword Heritage of the Sanada Family
The Sanada family continued as the Matsushiro Domain throughout the Edo period, and it preserved many swords handed down from the Sengoku period. The Sanada Treasure Museum (Sanada Hōmotsukan) in Matsushiro, Nagano City, holds numerous swords, armor, and weapons associated with the Sanada family. This collection shows that the Matsushiro Sanada line, from Nobuyuki onward, carefully preserved the traditions of the warrior house.
The Last Sekigahara Generation
Nobuyuki died in 1658 (Manji 1) at the age of ninety-three by traditional Japanese reckoning. His long life made him the last generation of daimyō to have directly experienced the Battle of Sekigahara. He lived on in the stable warrior society of early Edo. What were Nobuyuki's inner thoughts, having carried the memory of Sekigahara in his own body while living through the peaceful Edo period and experiencing this double span of time?