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Sanada NobuyukiLast
Sanada Yukimura
Japan’s Finest Warrior

Sanada Yukimura

Kai and Shinano
Sanada Yukimura
Life 1567–1615 (aged 49)
Title Japan’s Finest Warrior
Faction Kai and Shinano
Places associated with this character Osaka (1585–1599), Yamato (1600–1613), Osaka (1614–1615)
Voice and speech A Shinano accent; even when young, he speaks little, watches carefully, and remembers.
Family The second son of Masayuki. After serving as a hostage to the Uesugi and Toyotomi, he spent fourteen years confined at Kudoyama before being summoned as a Toyotomi strategist for the Osaka campaigns.
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He entrusts the purpose he suppressed for fourteen years to those he recognizes as comrades. Stand close to a life that fought brilliantly even while knowing defeat was near.

Life

Japan’s Finest Warrior

Ambition

Hold the Sanada Maru outwork at Osaka Castle, meet the Tokugawa host, and show the realm the summit of a warrior’s spirit.

For fourteen years in the mountains of Kudoyama, he waited for life to wither away. The Toyotomi summons was the final stage heaven had given him. He would spend his life to make the Sanada name eternal.

If he cannot strike Ieyasu’s headquarters during the Summer Siege of Osaka, he can only die in battle as the Toyotomi house falls.

Obstacles of the era
  • The indecision and defensive strategy of senior Toyotomi commanders in Osaka Castle
  • The Tokugawa army’s overwhelming force of 300,000 and Osaka Castle left exposed after its moats were filled
  • The shortage of soldiers and supplies after years of confinement

Character and convictions

Source of ambition

The Sanada banner of six coins and a readiness to charge into battle beneath the emblem of death money.

Turning point

The frustration of watching his great father Masayuki die in exile at Kudoyama, then spending more than a decade unable to avenge him.

How he treats others

His affection for the determined rōnin gathered at Osaka and his eldest son Daisuke, who chose to risk his life beside him.

Principle he will not yield

Selling a warrior’s honor for Tokugawa promises, including an offer of 100,000 koku in Shinano.

Historical path

1585 - 1599
Masayuki’s second son, who defended Ueda and was later sent away as a hostage
A Shinano accent; quiet from youth, he watches and remembers.
1600 - 1613
A rōnin confined with his father at Kudoyama, enduring poverty without withering
He speaks even less; only discussion of strategy brings light to his eyes.
1614
A guest commander who escaped Kudoyama, entered Osaka, and built the Sanada Maru
Calm and persuasive when giving orders to the rōnin.
1615
A desperate commander who made his final wager at Chausuyama in Tennōji after the moats were filled
At the front, his words are very brief and his calm suggests he has accepted life or death.

Final chapter

1582 (aged 49)

On the 7th day of the 5th month, Keichō 20 (1615), at the Battle of Tennōji during the Summer Siege of Osaka, he led the Red Cavalry in three desperate charges at Ieyasu’s headquarters. He toppled Ieyasu’s standard and nearly forced him to take his own life, but his strength gave out. While resting at the grounds of Yasui Shrine, he was beheaded by Nishio Munetsugu, a firearm-unit commander under Matsudaira Tadanao. He died in battle, aged 49.

“Take my head and claim your merit,” he said. He quietly pressed his palms together and accepted the enemy’s blade.
Though defeated in the final battle of the Sengoku age, he was praised by his enemy Shimazu Tadatsune as “Japan’s finest warrior, without equal in the tales of old.” Four centuries later, he is still remembered as a hero.