Uesugi Kagekatsu

Uesugi Kagekatsu 上杉 景勝
Head of Uesugi clan
In office 1580–1623
Preceded by	Uesugi Kenshin
Succeeded by	Uesugi Sadakatsu
Lord of Yonezawa
In office 1601–1623
Succeeded by	Uesugi Sadakatsu
Lord of Aizu
In office 1598–1601
Preceded by	Gamō Hideyuki
Succeeded by	Gamō Hideyuki
Personal details
Born	Unomatsu January 8, 1556 Sekigahara campaign Siege of Osaka

Uesugi Kagekatsu (上杉 景勝, 8 January 1556 – 19 April 1623) was a Japanese

Kagekatsu was the son of

In 1577, He participated in Battle of Tedorigawa. Upon Kenshin's death in 1578, Kagekatsu battled Kenshin's other adopted son Uesugi Kagetora for the inheritance, defeating Kagetora in the 1578 Siege of Otate.

In 1579, He forced Kagetora to commit seppuku, and became head of the Uesugi clan. Kagekatsu married Takeda Katsuyori's sister (Takeda Shingen's daughter) after the Siege of Otate.

Conflict with Oda

By 1579, Kagekatsu had gained the upper hand and forced Kagetora to commit suicide. This bloody division allowed Oda Nobunaga's generals (headed by Shibata Katsuie) to conquer the Uesugi's lands in Kaga, Noto, and Etchu.

In 1582, Kagekatsu led an army into Etchu and was defeated by Oda forces at the Battle of Tenjinyama. He hastily returned to Echigo when he learned that Oda general Mori Nagayoshi had raided Echigo in his absence.

When Oda forces under Shibata Katsuie and Sassa Narimasa laid Siege of Uozu castle in Etchu, in the course of which a number of important Uesugi retainers were killed, Kagekatsu's fortunes appeared bleak. Kagekatsu sent a letter to Satake Yoshishige, his allies. It was like a suicide note.^[2]

Please don't worry about us.

I was born in a good era. We will fight against over 60 provinces of Japan with only this Echigo province.

If we survive, I'll become an unmatched hero. Even if we are destroyed, my name will go down in history.

Uozu castle fell on June 3, 1582, and Oda Nobunaga would die eighteen days later, in Kyoto. The Uesugi were given a reprieve with the death of Nobunaga shortly afterwards.

Service under Hideyoshi

Kagekatsu made friendly overtures to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and attacked Shibata Katsuie's northern outposts during the Shizugatake Campaign (1583) and went on to support Hideyoshi during the Komaki Campaign (1584), in which he played a limited role by launching a foray into Shinano.

As a general under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Kagekatsu took part in the Odawara campaign 1590 under Maeda Toshiie, and rise to prominence to become a member of the Council of Five Elders. Originally holding a 550,000 koku fief in Echigo Province, Kagekatsu received the fief of Aizu, worth a huge 1.2 million koku when Hideyoshi redistributed holdings in 1598. After Hideyoshi's death, that year, Kagekatsu then allied himself with Ishida Mitsunari, against Tokugawa Ieyasu, as the result of some political dispute.

Sekigahara Campaign

The

Service under Tokugawa

He declaring his allegiance to Tokugawa following his defeat in the Sekigahara campaign, Kagekatsu became a

• Yamatorige - sword wielded by Kagekatsu
• Uesugi clan
• Uesugi Kenshin
• Naoe Kanetsugu

References

Further reading

• Frederic, Louis (2002). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
• Sansom, George (1961). A History of Japan: 1334–1615. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
• Turnbull, Stephen (1998). The Samurai Sourcebook. London: Cassell & Co.