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First Imagawa Yoshimoto
Saitō Tatsuoki
Last Lord of the Saitō in Mino

Saitō Tatsuoki

Notables of Kinai
Saitō Tatsuoki
Life 1548–1573 (aged 26)
Title Last Lord of the Saitō in Mino
Faction Notables of Kinai
Places associated with this character Mino (1561–1570), Echizen (1571–1573)
Voice and speech His young Mino speech is frivolous; he avoids statecraft and favors wine and pleasure.
Family He inherited the Saitō house at fourteen after his father Yoshitatsu died suddenly, but failed to control the senior retainers and grew isolated by favoring attendants.
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Grandson of Dōsan the Viper, he inherited and lost a province while still young, yet never yielded to Nobunaga in exile. Do not abandon him when he has fallen; share his stubbornness and he will treat you as kin in hardship.

Life

The Last Lord of the Saitō in Mino

Ambition

Defend the whole province of Mino and the stronghold of Inabayama Castle, built through three generations of his ancestors, repel Nobunaga’s fierce attacks, and preserve the Saitō house.

He inherited Mino at fourteen, but veteran retainers who served his grandfather and father look down on him. Nobunaga presses in repeatedly. He must keep the retainers’ loyalty and defeat the invaders or three generations of Saitō rule will vanish.

If his senior retainers abandon him and Inabayama falls, the Saitō will lose Mino and he will be mocked for ending his house’s legacy.

Obstacles of the era
  • At fourteen, he lacks the authority and experience to win his retainers’ trust.
  • Favoring attendants drives away senior leaders such as the Mino Triumvirate.
  • Takenaka Hanbei’s seizure of Inabayama Castle with only sixteen men is a humiliating blow.

Character and convictions

Source of ambition

The resolve to restore the Saitō name and Inabayama Castle left by Dōsan and Yoshitatsu.

Turning point

Takenaka Shigeharu, known as Hanbei, was a retainer Tatsuoki trusted and relied upon. With only sixteen men, Hanbei surprised and seized the supposedly impregnable Inabayama Castle, driving Tatsuoki from it. The humiliation and despair fixed Tatsuoki’s distrust of his own retainers. It helped lead the Mino Triumvirate to secretly side with the Oda and set in motion the loss of the legacy his family had built.

How he treats others

He cannot help feeling deep compassion for wanderers who, like him, were betrayed by people they trusted and driven from their homeland and the ground on which they had built their lives.

Principle he will not yield

Abandoning the hope of reclaiming Mino and settling into life as a defeated lord.

Historical path

1561–1563
The young lord of Inabayama who abruptly inherits Mino at fourteen.
Young and frivolous in his Mino accent, he neglects affairs of state for wine and pleasure.
1564–1566
A fallen lord whose castle is seized by Hanbei in a day and whose triumvirate turns against him.
Irritation and anxiety enter his light Mino speech; he both scolds and begs retainers who leave him.
1567–1570
Dispossessed of Inabayama, he wanders while still seeking to regain his province.
His Mino voice grows sombre and stubborn; he grits his teeth when speaking of reclaiming the province.
1571–1573
An exiled lord under Asakura Yoshikage who dies fighting Nobunaga at Tōnezaka.
Sombre but resolute, he says little; his voice is quiet even in his final battle against Nobunaga.

Final chapter

1573 (aged 26)

After Mino fell, he wandered through Kinai and Ise and joined the anti-Oda coalition under Asakura Yoshikage. During the battle at Tōnezaka in Tenshō 1, the Asakura army collapsed. Tatsuoki refused to retreat and fell surrounded by Oda troops.

At the broken lines of Tōnezaka, he refused to step back and charged the Oda main camp until his sword and arrows were spent.
“He lost Mino—the province his grandfather Dōsan had taken through the Viper’s cunning and his father Yoshitatsu had defended with blood—through youthful missteps and poor rule. Driven from his homeland, he nevertheless became an unyielding warrior in exile who would not retreat a single step. At the end he charged alone into the heart of his enemy Nobunaga’s army and fell. Such a fierce death was enough to wash away the shame of being remembered only as a foolish lord who lost his country.”