“Yamanaka Shikanosuke Yukimori” is the hero of Yasugi City, a warlord of the fate of the seven hardships.

　In the 2014 NHK drama “Gunshi Kanbei”, he appeared as a person surrounding the main character, Kuroda Kanbei, and has attracted rapid attention.

　I would like to introduce the turbulent life of Shikanosuke.

The warlord of the misfortune who worked for the revival of the Amago clan

There is a well known anecdote passed down through tales and the like recounting that when the Amago clan was on the decline, Shikanosuke played to the moon for the status , saying “I would rather sustain all kinds of troubles myself than see the clan of my lord fall into ruin”. This story was adopted as a subject of national education in prewar.

Yukimori was born in 1545. He lost his father early and was adopted by the Kamei family, but his brother was sick and enough to return to his parents’ home and took over the Yamanaka family. Then, he took over the Kabuto (helmet) with deer shape wakidachi of heirloom of the Yamanaka family and the name was changed to Shikanosuke.
Toda Castle was isolated by the Izumo conquest battle with Mouri Motonari, which began in 1562. It was a starving strategy , but the situation became unfavorable day by day. Even so, Shikanosuke had a one-shot battle with Mouri supporter, Takeshi Shinagawa Daizen in Toda, and he raised spirits of the fellow.
However, the long-term castle staring strategy was deficient in weapons and foods, and on November 21st, 1566, Yoshihisa Amago was surrendered after accepting an offer from Mouri Motonari, and the Amago clan came to the end.

Shikanouke was in his element, when he was on the hot seat!

 Shikanosuke decided to revive the Amago clan with Gentaibei Tachihara and others, went up to Kyoto, and when the Shingu Party was destroyed, he tried to fulfill his wish for the re-emergence of the Amago clan, looking up to Shiro Katsuhisa.
In 1569, except for Gassan Toda Castle, the Izumo region was almost gotten hold of him, but after the defeat with Mouri at Mt. Fube, he quickly declined, and along with Katsuhisa, he became a prisoner of war. After that, he fled, and with the help of Oda Nobunaga, he captured the castles of Inaba Province and succeeded in temporarily rebuilding the Amago clan again, but he was defeated by the Mouri clan and surrendered again.
In 1577, when the Hashiba Hideyoshi began trip to China, he followed Oda Nobunaga and became the first team. At Harima’s Kouzuki Castle, he aimed to rebuild the Amago clan again, but was defeated by Mouri, and Katsuhisa in 1578 died by self-harm, and Shikanosuke was also killed in the Bicchu Kobe River.
In this way, the path of the re-emergence of the Amago was stopped, and the story of 180 years of prosperity of the Amago clan ended.

Tsukiyama Tomita Castle