Watanabe Moritsuna

Watanabe Moritsuna (1542–1620) was one of the Sixteen Generals of Tokugawa who supported Tokugawa Ieyasu, and a Mikawa samurai known as a master of the spear. He is ranked alongside Hattori Hanzō (Masanari), who was called “Oni Hanzō,” as a master of the spear, and because of his martial prowess he earned the epithet “Yari Hanzō.” During the Mikawa Ikkō-ikki (1563), he temporarily sided with the rebels, but received Ieyasu's pardon, returned to his service, and thereafter remained loyal for the rest of his life. He always stood in the front line at major battles such as the Battle of Anegawa and the Battle of Mikatagahara, and accumulated military achievements. He also took part in the Battle of Sekigahara as part of the Eastern Army, contributing to the establishment of the Tokugawa regime. As a warrior who embodied the plain, sturdy frugality of Mikawa samurai, he was regarded as a model of loyalty throughout the Edo period. In his later years, by Ieyasu's order, he served as tsuke-garō (attached senior retainer) to Tokugawa Yoshinao, lord of the Owari Domain, and died in Nagoya in Genna 6 (1620), aged 79 by traditional Japanese reckoning.