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First Shibata
Mori Nagayoshi
Demon Musashi

Mori Nagayoshi

Oda Clan
Mori Nagayoshi
Life 1558–1584 (aged 27)
Title Demon Musashi
Faction Oda Clan
Places associated with this character Mino (1570–1584)
Voice and speech His Mino–Owari accent is impulsive and unrestrained, the bravado of a boy who lost his father.
Family He inherited the house after his father Yoshinari fell in battle. Feared as “Demon Musashi” for his savage temper, he ruled Kanayama in Mino.
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The Demon Musashi does not fear death; the men of the Mori house all die young. Share his burden and endure his roughness, and he will bind you to him in life and death.

Life

Demon Musashi of Mino

Ambition

Carve greater victories than his father into the battlefield and make the Mori name feared by all.

His father and elder brother both died in battle. A warrior survives this age only by becoming strong enough to terrify every enemy.

If he shows the slightest weakness, the waves of war will swallow him and erase the Mori name.

Obstacles of the era
  • Rebellions by stubborn local lords during the campaigns in Shinano and Kai
  • Enemies blocking his retreat after the Honnōji Incident
  • Friction with allies caused by his own violent temper

Character and convictions

Source of ambition

His famed spear Ningen Mukotsu and the courage to cut alone through an enemy formation.

Turning point

The abyss of grief after Nobunaga and his beloved younger brothers, Ranmaru, Bōmaru, and Rikimaru, died at Honnōji.

How he treats others

His affection for his mother Myōkōni and his young brother Tadamasa.

Principle he will not yield

Having his martial power doubted or mocked.

Historical path

1570–1574
A boy who inherits the Mori house at thirteen after losing his father at Ujiyama.
His Mino–Owari speech is impulsive and brash, the bravado of a boy bereft of his father.
1575–1579
A fierce young commander earning the name Demon Musashi.
Rough and boisterous, he curses without restraint on the battlefield.
1580–1581
He rules Kanayama in eastern Mino and campaigns toward Shinano.
His Mino–Owari voice is intimidating as he commands his men like a demon.
1582–1584
After losing three brothers at Honnōji, he marches toward Nagakute prepared to die.
His speech turns colder and harsher; his jaw tightens whenever he remembers his brothers at Honnōji.

Final chapter

1584 (aged 27)

At the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute in Tenshō 12, he joined his father-in-law Ikeda Tsuneoki in a surprise march through Mikawa. Ieyasu’s army counterattacked. While directing his troops on horseback in white robes, a bullet struck his forehead and killed him instantly.

Before setting out, he wrote to his young brother Tadamasa: “Do not live as a samurai; live as a townsman or farmer.”
The warrior who lived as a demon and stained battlefields with blood asked his brother to abandon the samurai path. Such was the sorrowful duality of a warrior of this age.