Ii Naomasa

Ii Naomasa (井伊 直政) (March 4, 1561 - March 24,1602) was a general under the Sengoku period Daimyo, and later Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. His family, like Tokugawa's, had originally been retainers of the once-powerful Imagawa clan, and Naomasa, then a very small child, was personally lucky to escape death in the confusion and general chaos which followed the death of the clan's leader, Imagawa Yoshimoto, in the Battle of Okehazama in 1560. Naomasa joined the ranks of the Tokugawa clan in the mid 1570s, rising swiftly through the ranks to eventually become the master of a sizable holding in Ômi Province, following the Battle of Sekigahara (1600).

Death and Legacy

Ii Naomasa's premature death in 1602 has been widely blamed on the wound he received at Sekigahara. Naomasa was highly regarded by Tokugawa Ieyasu, so it is no surprise that his sons Naotsugu and Naotaka succeeded him in his service and title. However, Naotsugu managed to anger Tokugawa by refusing to take part in his campaign to reduce the Toyotomi clan stronghold at Osaka. Nonetheless, the Ii remained influential in Japanese politics throughout the Edo period.

Related Topics:
Toyotomi - Edo period

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