Yamanaka Shikanosuke

Yamanaka Shikanosuke (1545-1578) was a fierce warrior of the Sengoku period who fought throughout his life to revive the Amago clan, a Sengoku daimyō family of Izumo. He is renowned as a loyal warrior through the legend that he prayed to the crescent moon, "Grant me seven hardships and eight sufferings." His real name was Yamanaka Yukimori, and he was born into the family of a retainer of the Amago clan in Izumo Province.

Shikanosuke was born in Izumo Province (present-day Shimane Prefecture) and, as the son of Yamanaka Mitsuyuki, a senior retainer of the Amago clan, served the Amago family from childhood. However, the Amago clan weakened under the offensive of Mōri Motonari, and in Eiroku 9 (1566) Gassan-Toda Castle fell and Amago Yoshihisa surrendered, effectively ending the Amago clan. Even in the desperate situation of his lord's downfall, Shikanosuke continued to burn with determination to revive the Amago clan.

In Eiroku 11 (1568), Shikanosuke backed Amago Katsuhisa, a son of Amago Sanehisa and a member of the Amago clan, and in the following year, Eiroku 12 (1569), he led the Amago revival army into Izumo and launched a counteroffensive against the Mōri clan. For a time he set up bases within Izumo Province, gathered former Amago retainers, and resisted the Mōri forces. However, the Amago revival army struggled against the overwhelming military power of the Mōri clan. Afterwards, Shikanosuke changed his strategy to seek the revival of the Amago clan with the help of Oda Nobunaga and Hashiba Hideyoshi, and he accompanied Hideyoshi's campaigns against Tajima and Harima.

In Tenshō 6 (1578), during fighting with the Mōri clan, Shikanosuke was captured and assassinated while being escorted through Bitchū Province (present-day Okayama Prefecture). He died aged 34 (according to one account, 39). The words he swore to the crescent moon, "Grant me seven hardships and eight sufferings," are widely passed down to later generations as an expression of a resilient spirit that accepts adversity as a trial set for oneself.

In relation to the Japanese sword (nihontō), Shikanosuke was a battle-hardened warrior known for the anecdotes of his one-on-one duels with Kikuchi Otohachi and Shinagawa Masakazu. Shikanosuke's life, which later generations have remembered as a symbol of loyalty and valor, is an ideal image of the Sengoku period, in which the Japanese sword and the samurai spirit became one.