Shibata Katsuie

Shibata Katsuie (柴田 勝家) or Gonroku (-権六)(1530 – 1583) was a Japanese military commander during the Sengoku Period who served Oda Nobunaga.

He initially supported Oda Nobukatsu (Oda Nobuyuki), who was a young brother of Nobunaga, as he was his retainer. In 1556, he launched a coup d'etat against Nobunaga but after a loss at Battle of Ino, he withdrew his support and served under Nobunaga. This change of heart, brought on by Nobunaga executing his brother and sparing him, would earn praise from Nobunaga and the hand of his younger sister, Oichi, in marriage. In 1564, however, Oichi was married to Asai Nagamasa, who would end up facing off against a joint Oda/Tokugawa coalition at Anegawa in 1570 (which he, along with his Asakura allies, would lose). A second battle, at Odani Castle in 1573, saw Nagamasa end up isolated after the Asakura were routed in an ambush; realising the end was a forgone conclusion, he sent Oichi and their 3 daughters out and committed suicide along with his son. Katsuie was not present at Anegawa, as he had been besieged at Chokoji Castle by 4000 Rokkakku soldiers. He eventually won via an all-out attack that inspired the Rokkakku to retreat; this, along with a series of brilliant victories, gained him renown as "Oni Shibata".

In 1575, after gaining control of Echizen, he gained the castle of Kitanoshō-jō (Hokujō) and was commanded to conquer the Hokuriku region. After controlling Kaga and Noto, he began a campaign against Etchu Province in 1581. In 1582, Nobunaga was assassinated at Honnō-ji but in a Siege of Matsukura and facing Uesugi's army, Katsuie was unable to return.

In a meeting in Kiyosu to determine the successor to Nobunaga, he supported Oda Nobutaka, the third son, for whom Katsuie had performed the genpuku ritual. He allied with Oda Nobutaka and Takigawa Kazumasa to battle Hideyoshi. However, his domain would be sealed off in the winter by snowfalls and this limited his ability. Both of his allies were defeated while Katsuie battled snowfalls and Uesugi. His forces, under the leadership of Sakuma Morimasa, besieged Nakagawa Kiyohide at Shizugatake in a move to turn the tide launching the battle of Shizugatake. Sakuma ignored Shibata's orders to merely test enemy's defence and was destroyed by returning Toyotomi Hideyoshi's forces. He retreated to Kitanoshō castle but with the army destroyed, Katsuie had no option but to surrender. Katsuie committed seppuku and set the fire to the castle. He implored Oichi to take their daughters and leave, but she decided to follow his death, while letting her daughters escape. Ironically, Katsuie had not so much as lifted a spear personally during the battle.

Katsuie in videogames

Katsuie appears as a non-playable character in the sequel to Koei's Sengoku Period-based videogame Samurai Warriors. Called Samurai Warriors 2 in North America, it is available September 19th in Europe and North America for the Xbox 360 and PS2 gaming consoles.

This article incorporates text from OpenHistory.