Gamō Ujisato

Ujisato was Oda Nobunaga's most promising warlord, and was given as a hostage to the Oda clan at an early age, but his talents were highly valued and favoured by Nobunaga. Nobunaga not only became Ujisato's eboshi-oya[lower-alpha 3], but also made him marry his daughter, Fuyuhime[lower-alpha 4].[1][4]

After Nobunaga's death, he followed Toyotomi Hideyoshi and was initially a lord of 30,000 koku in Ōmi Hino, but he rose through the ranks under Hideyoshi to 120,000 koku in Ise-Matsusaka and then 420,000 koku in Aizu-Wakamatsu, eventually rising to become a feudal lord with 920,000 koku. At that time, he was the third-ranked kokudaka after Tokugawa Ieyasu and Mōri Terumoto, and it is expected that he would have become one of the Council of Five Elders if he had not died prematurely. However, it is also said that Hideyoshi treated him well in kokudaka but, like Kuroda Kanbei whom he sent to Kyushu, transferred him to Aizu, far from the Kinai, fearing his talent as a military commander and his position as Oda Nobunaga's daughter-in-law.[5][7][8][14]

He had a diverse ability, well known not only as a military commander of great leadership and valour, but also as a man of culture with a deep knowledge of the tea ceremony and Noh. In the tea ceremony, he is regarded as the first of The Seven Disciples of Rikyū, and is also said to have laid the foundations for the prosperity of the tea ceremony. After Sen no Rikyū was forced to commit seppuku by Hideyoshi, he took in his second wife's stepson, Sen Shōan, and was instrumental in his pardon.[lower-alpha 6] Later, through the intercession of Ujisato and Ieyasu, Shōan was pardoned and returned to the forefront of the tea ceremony in Kyoto, where his grandson founded the Sansenke (the three Sen families). It is also documented that in 1593 he appeared in a Noh performance at the Imperial Palace organized by Hideyoshi and was well received.[1][4][6][8]

Ujisato also excelled in industrial policy and demonstrated his skills in town revitalisation. Following in the footsteps of Nobunaga, he initiated the Rakuichi Rakuza in Hino and worked to revitalise the town. In Matsusaka and Aizu-Wakamatsu, he also similarly developed the castle towns, stimulating them by promoting commerce and fostering local industry. When he moved to Ise, he built Matsusaka Castle and created a splendid castle town, and issued the Rakuichi Rakuza, inviting Hino merchants from his home town to encourage commerce and industry. He also changed the flow of Ise Kaidō to attract worshippers to Ise Shrine, and is said to have laid the foundations for Matsusaka's development as a merchant town. Ujisato also devoted himself to the development of his own territory in Aizu. When he began building a castle and castle town, he changed the name of the town from Aizu Kurokawa to Aizu Wakamatsu, after the forest of Wakamatsu in his home town of Hino. The residence of the provincial lord was called Kurokawa Castle, but this was also changed to Tsuruga Castle, named after the crane (Tsuru) in the Gamō clan's family crest, and rebuilt into a magnificent castle with a seven-storey keep.[lower-alpha 7] Ujisato brought in lacquer workers from Hino to facilitate the transfer of techniques for Hino-wan, lacquered tableware, which was a speciality of there, and laid the foundations for the production of the craft now known as Aizu lacquerware.[1][3][5][6]

In battle, he, like Nobunaga, preferred to take the battlefield himself, and was once hit by three bullets in his trademark catfish-tailed helmet.[1][14]

He was a sumo enthusiast and once competed in a sumo tournament presided over by him at the behest of Nobunaga.[1][15]

Many of his remaining anecdotes relate to his subordinates. Ujisato held a meeting once a month with all his vassals and allowed them to speak freely regardless of their age or position. It is said that at a time when he was still too low in kokudaka value to offer sufficient bounties, he invited his war-winning vassals to his home and treated them like guests of honour, with dinners he had cooked himself and sake. Then, while the vassals were bathing, they were approached and looked outside, where they saw Ujisato, covered in soot and boiling water with firewood. The vassals were said to have been so moved that they fought for loyalty. When Ujisato hired retainers, he always told them, "Our hatamoto always have a warrior wearing a silver catfish-taled helmet at the front, so do your best not to lose to him". When the newcomers went to the battlefield, it was Ujisato himself who was wearing the catfish-tailed helmet. Ujisato suddenly entrusted one of his troops to a vassal who was laughed at as a coward, over the objections of his other vassals, and contrary to most expectations, he made a major mark. He believed that any person could be useful if he gave them responsibility. It is said that Ujisato once warned his subordinate who had left his post, but when he saw him on his way back, he was gone again, so he immediately cut him down. There is also a theory about this subordinate that he was entrusted with the important catfish-tailed helmet, but he neglected it, so he was cut down. When Ujisato transferred to Aizu, he made Hideyoshi approve of his decision to take in problematic but skilled ronin, such as those who had been issued circulars to avoid being taken in by other daimyo because of their lord's anger. These misfits recognised Ujisato as their lord and played an active role, but after his death, they left the Gamō clan one after another. There is a theory that he was assassinated with poison by Hideyoshi or Ishida Mitsunari due to his death at the young age of 40 and rumours that Hideyoshi had been cautious about him. However, this story is less credible because it appeared in highly adapted historical documents written in later times and because Hideyoshi had a number of highly respected doctors examine him. From treatment records of the time, it is now assumed that one of the internal cancers would have been the cause of his death.[1][4][8][11]

There is an anecdote that Ujisato hired a Roman named Rorutesu, Japanese name: Yamashina Katsunari (山科勝成), to manufacture matchlock guns, sent him to Rome with 12 of Gamō's vassals, and allowed him to continue trading with Rome after his return. The story is written in Goyūhitsu Nikki Shōryaku (1642) by Ōno Yagozaemon, a vassal of the Gamō clan, but it is concluded to be a creation of a later period, as Katsunari does not appear in any other historical documents, it was impossible for him to travel to and from Rome many times with the navigation technology of the time and the language used was new in later times.[16]

• Father: Gamō Katahide
• Mother: Okiri no Kata
• Wife: Fuyuhime (1561–1641)
• Children:
  • Takehime married Nanbu Toshinao by Fuyuhime
  • Sekihime married Maeda Toshimasa by Fuyuhime
  • Gamō Ujitoshi by Fuyuhime
  • Gamō Hideyuki by Fuyuhime

• Arai Masayoshi 新井政義, Nihonshi jiten 日本史事典. Tokyo: Ōbunsha 旺文社, 1987, p. 91.
• Noguchi Shin'ichi 野口新一, Aizu-han 会津藩. Tokyo: Gendai Shokan 現代書簡, 2005.