was a Japanese daimyo

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 of the Azuchi-Momoyama period

Azuchi-Momoyama period

The came at the end of the Warring States Period in Japan, when the political unification that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate took place. It spans the years from approximately 1573 to 1603, during which time Oda Nobunaga and his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, imposed order...

 through early Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

. The eldest son of Satake Yoshishige

Satake Yoshishige

was a Japanese daimyo of the Sengoku period. He was the 18th generation head of the Satake clan. He was renowned for his ferocity in battle; he was also known by the nickname of . He often fought against the Late Hōjō clan, who were extending their power into southern Hitachi. One such encounter...

, he was the first generation lord of the Kubota Domain

Kubota Domain

The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Dewa Province . Its main castle was in modern-day Akita, Akita. The Kubota Domain was also known as the . It was governed for the whole of its history by the Satake clan. In the Boshin War of 1868-69, it joined the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, the...

. His court title was Ukyō-dayū.

Biography

Early in Yoshinobu's lifetime, the Satake family was threatened from the north by Date Masamune

Date Masamune

was a regional strongman of Japan's Azuchi-Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful daimyo in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai...

 and from the south by Hōjō Ujinao

Hojo Ujinao

Hōjō Ujinao was a Japanese daimyo of the late Sengoku period, and the final head of the Late Hōjō clan. An important figure in the history of Azuchi-Momoyama politics, he lost his entire domain following the siege in 1590...

; however, because he quickly pledged allegiance to Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...

 during the Siege of Odawara

Siege of Odawara (1590)

The third ' occurred in 1590, and was the primary action in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to eliminate the Hōjō clan as a threat to his power. The months leading up to it saw hasty but major improvements in the defense of the castle, as Hideyoshi's intentions became clear...

, he was able to retain his landholdings. Under Hideyoshi's banner, he was counted as being among the six greatest generals of the Toyotomi clan, together with Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

, Maeda Toshiie

Maeda Toshiie

was one of the leading generals of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period of the 16th century extending to the Azuchi-Momoyama period. His father was Maeda Toshimasa. He was the fourth of seven brothers. His childhood name was "Inuchiyo" . His preferred weapon was a yari and he was known as...

, Shimazu Yoshihiro

Shimazu Yoshihiro

was the second son of Shimazu Takahisa and younger brother of Shimazu Yoshihisa. It had traditionally been believed that he became the seventeenth head of the Shimazu clan after Yoshihisa, but it is currently believed that he let Yoshihisa keep his position....

, Mōri Terumoto

Mori Terumoto

Mōri Terumoto , son of Mōri Takamoto and grandson and successor of the great warlord Mōri Motonari, fought against Toyotomi Hideyoshi but was eventually overcome, participated in the Kyūshū campaign on Hideyoshi's side and built Hiroshima Castle, thus essentially founding Hiroshima.Terumoto was a...

, and Uesugi Kagekatsu

Uesugi Kagekatsu

was a daimyo during the Sengoku and Edo periods of Japanese history. The son of Nagao Masakage and husband of Uesugi Kenshin's elder sister, Aya-Gozen. After his father died, he was adopted by Kenshin....

. After the siege of Odawara was concluded, Yoshinobu was able to extend control over the whole of Hitachi Province

Hitachi Province

was an old province of Japan in the area of Ibaraki Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Hitachi Province bordered on Iwashiro, Iwaki, Shimousa, and Shimotsuke Provinces....

, and soon held over 540,000 koku

Koku

The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...

of land as his private fief.

Yoshinobu enjoyed good relations with Ishida Mitsunari

Ishida Mitsunari

Ishida Mitsunari was a samurai who led the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 17th century. Also known by his court title, Jibunoshō...

, and joined the western army during the Battle of Sekigahara

Battle of Sekigahara

The , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu...

; for this he was punished by Ieyasu, who reduced his landholdings to 180,000 koku

Koku

The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...

 and had him transferred to the Kubota Domain

Kubota Domain

The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Dewa Province . Its main castle was in modern-day Akita, Akita. The Kubota Domain was also known as the . It was governed for the whole of its history by the Satake clan. In the Boshin War of 1868-69, it joined the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, the...

, in Dewa Province

Dewa Province

is an old province of Japan, comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. It was sometimes called .-Historical record:...

. Yoshinobu took part in the Siege of Osaka

Siege of Osaka

The was a series of battles undertaken by the Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages , and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege put an end to the last major armed opposition to the shogunate's establishment...

, fighting Toyotomi commanders such as Kimura Shigenari

Kimura Shigenari

was a Japanese samurai of the early Edo period. A retainer of the Toyotomi clan, Shigenari fought at the Siege of Osaka and died in battle....

 and Gotō Matabei.

Books

• Saga, Jun'ichi (1987). Memories of Silk and Straw: A Self-Portrait of Small-Town Japan. New York: Kodansha International.