akitahaiku: 2月 2026

Haibun

“佐竹義宣 Satake Yoshinobu” (1)

by Hidenori Hiruta

佐竹義宣

Satake Yoshinobu

Before and after the Battle of Sekigahara

　　The Battle of Sekigahara took place on September 15th, 1600. Satake Yoshinobu took a passive stance in the battle and did not participate. Why did he take a bystander stance? What kind of situation developed after the battle as a result?

1600

This year marked the 11th year since Toyotomi Hideyoshi granted Yoshinobu the right to rule Hitachi Province, which had a fief of 540,000 koku, in 1590. During these 11 years, Yoshinobu unified Hitachi Province and made Mito Castle his residence.

Yoshinobu had returned to Mito in September of the previous year, and by the New Year of 1600, the castle's repairs and the expansion of samurai residences and townscape had progressed greatly, and the samurai and commoners of Mito were living peaceful lives in the newly renovated castle town.

However, in July of that year, two years after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death, war clouds began to gather between Tokugawa Ieyasu's Eastern Army, which was plotting to seize power, and Ishida Mitsunari's Western Army, which was plotting to overthrow Ieyasu in order to protect the Toyotomi government.

Yoshinobu immediately gathered his family's veteran generals to discuss his future, but there were conflicting opinions between those who supported Ishida and those who supported Tokugawa, and it was difficult to make a decision. Yoshinobu said that he would decide on his course of action after determining for a while whether Ishida or Tokugawa were the rightful soldiers for the Toyotomi family, and decided to observe the situation.

Yoshinobu kept in contact with Ishida Mitsunari, with whom he had a close relationship, and promised his cooperation, but his senior vassals understood that this cooperation was not for his own ambition, but was entirely for the continuation of the Toyotomi clan, and that he would not stray from moral principles, and that his attitude toward Ieyasu was up to Hideyori. He kept this determination to himself and outwardly adopted an attitude of waiting to see how things would turn out.

　　On September 15th, the Battle of Sekigahara ended with a victory for the Eastern Army. Yoshinobu immediately dispatched a congratulatory message to Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada, who were stationed in the Kamigata region. The Uesugi army suffered the most casualties in the Aizu battle, which constituted the eastern front of the Battle of Sekigahara. The Mogami and Date armies followed, with the Satake army the only ones to suffer no bloodshed. In other words, the Hitachi samurai avoided even a single casualty in the battle. The peasants who had been conscripted as military laborers were also able to return safely to their hometowns. Around October, the tension of the past few months had eased and people's minds were calm within Mito Castle and its surrounding areas. However, within the Satake clan, a heavy mood hung over the Tokugawa's future course of action.

1601

　On April 15th, 1601, Yoshinobu's father, Satake Yoshishige, concerned about the position of the Satake clan, went to Kyoto to meet Ieyasu, who was staying in Fushimi. By the end of the year, the post-war political situation had stabilized, and the Tokugawa clan's hegemony was assured. Most of the daimyo on the Western side were stripped of their titles, while those on the Eastern side who had distinguished themselves in the war received increased stipends.

1602

　　On January 2nd, 1602, Yoshinobu announced to his vassals that he would begin construction on Mito from the 20th. This was not to fortify the castle's fortifications and prepare for a crisis, but because the clouds of war from the Battle of Sekigahara had finally cleared, he began work on expanding and improving his residence and the castle town.

　　On March 7th of that year, Yoshinobu arrived in Fushimi and met with Ieyasu, who was already in Kyoto, and Toyotomi Hideyori at Osaka Castle. Ieyasu was also in a good mood at the time, and the meeting went well. Yoshinobu was very pleased, and in April he received the funds for the construction of his Fushimi residence from his home province, and he was not worried at all about his own situation.

　 However, on May 8th, two emissaries from Tokugawa Ieyasu came to the Satake residence in Fushimi and announced that Yoshinobu's territory had been confiscated and that Yoshinobu would be given land in Dewa Province instead. Yoshinobu replied, "I have no grudges or complaints, and it is all a matter of wisdom."

On November 26th, Mito Castle was given to Tokugawa Ieyasu's fifth son, Takeda Nobuyoshi, who succeeded Yoshinobu. Since Masayoshi, the grandson of Seiwa Genji's Shinra Saburo Yoshimitsu, settled in Satake, Kuji County, and took the Satake surname, the history of the Hitachi Satake clan, which had lasted for 19 generations up to Yoshinobu, and spanned nearly 500 years, came to an end. Satake Yoshinobu would open a new chapter in history in Akita.

薬医門

Yakuimon

This is one of the few remains of Mito Castle that has been relocated and restored on the site of the castle's main keep.

The building is believed to have been built by Satake Yoshinobu before the Battle of Sekigahara.

1602

Satake Yoshinobu and his vassals had to start over from scratch in an uncharted territory with a completely different climate and natural features. Dewa Akita was both a place of hope and a place of trials. The first important decision was to select a base. Yoshinobu entered Minato Castle in Akita on September 17th and finally decided to build a new castle on Shinmeiyama in Kubota, near the mouth of the Omono River and the important port of Tsuchizaki Port, and almost in the center of his domain.

With the Battle of Sekigahara marking the end of the era of military conflict, Yoshinobu believed that in the coming age of peace, the domain's power would depend not only on military strength but also on economic power, especially on controlling commerce and distribution. He believed that Kubota, which could become the center of governance and information for the entire domain, was a suitable base for the new era.

1603

Two construction magistrates were appointed and construction began. Shinmeiyama, the site chosen for the castle, was a hilly area, and this topography was utilized in the overall design of the castle, known as "nawabari." It is said that Yoshinobu personally designed the nawabari around Matsushitamon Gate, a vital entrance to the castle. This demonstrated his extraordinary passion for the project and his profound knowledge of castle construction.

The moat

left in silence

thin ice

Up the hill

staggering up and down

the snowy slope

Kuboto Castle

formed into

a snowy castle

The main gate

above the snowy slope

a pleasant break

This was a grand design choice that placed the Satake clan on the future of the domain, one in which they would no longer rely on the military might of the past, but would instead place commerce and distribution at the core of their domain's governance as rulers of a new era.

Under Yoshinobu's determination, construction of a new castle and capital in Kubota proceeded with astonishing speed. This was a sign of the Satake clan's strong determination to establish a governing base in their new territory as quickly as possible.

In May, full-scale construction work began on Shinmeiyama, where the local lord's Yadome Castle once stood. In parallel with this construction, the castle town was rezoned and the Ushu Kaido, part of the major trunk road network that the Tokugawa shogunate was developing nationwide, was also underway. This was an extremely modern and planned urban development that integrated not only the castle but also urban infrastructure and a wide-area transportation network.

1604

The main enclosure, the heart of the castle, was completed in the astonishing speed of just over a year and three months from the start of construction on August 28th. This was the result of the advanced civil engineering skills the Satake clan had cultivated since their time in Hitachi and the powerful execution skills of all their vassals. Upon the completion of the main enclosure, Yoshinobu moved his residence to the new castle, named it Kubota Castle, and designated it as the official main castle of the Satake clan.

Heavenly!

Snowy main enclosure

around pine trees

Snowy road

leading to a storehouse

along the trees

1605

Even after the main castle was completed, construction of the new capital continued. In particular, the formation of the castle town was a long-term project that took several decades to complete, and was carried out in stages. As a result, Kubota Castle and the castle town, which were built by skillfully combining military defense functions with economic development functions, flourished as the base for the Satake clan's rule of Akita for approximately 270 years until the Meiji Restoration.

The construction of Kubota Castle and the surrounding castle town, which began in 1602 and continued over the following decades, is not simply a record of civil engineering work. It is a grandiose record of the creation of the prestigious Satake clan, who, after the Battle of Sekigahara, devised a national strategy to survive in a new era.

The construction of Kubota Castle is a valuable historical testimony that shows how one feudal lord and his vassals overcame a crisis and built a foundation for the future at a major turning point in history. It is the story of the indomitable Satake Yoshinobu, who created new value after the Battle of Sekigahara and built the foundation for 270 years of peaceful rule.

千年の計

A Thousand-Year Plan

On May 8th, 1602, two emissaries from Tokugawa Ieyasu came to the Satake residence in Fushimi and announced that Yoshinobu's territory had been confiscated and that he would be given land in Dewa Province instead. Yoshinobu replied, "I have no grudges or complaints, and it is all a matter of wisdom."

　　At the time, Yoshinobu was the 19th head of the Hitachi Satake clan, a clan that had been in existence since Masayoshi, the grandson of Seiwa Genji's Shinra Saburo Yoshimitsu, settled in Satake, Kuji County, and took the Satake surname.

The family served as the guardian of Hitachi Province during the Muromachi period, and Yoshinobu himself assisted Toyotomi Hideyoshi in his efforts to unify the country, and was the lord of Mito Castle in Hitachi, with a fief of 540,000 koku, but left Hitachi Province and was transferred to Dewa.

　 However, Yoshinobu vowed to demonstrate the high aspirations that had been the pride of the Hitachi Satake clan for approximately 500 years in the new land of Dewa, and to make them bloom into magnificent flowers.

　It is said that when Yoshinobu left Hitachi, a large group of hatahata, or Japanese sandfish, swarmed into Dewa Akita, following him. Hatahata could no longer be caught in the Hitachi Sea, and instead they began to be caught in Akita's Hachimori Port, Kitaura Port and so on. Over 420 years have passed since Yoshinob’s coming to Akita, and due to changes in the natural environment and global warming, hatahata are no longer flocking in as often, but we hope to see their return.

神明山

Shinmeiyama

Shinmeiyama is an undulating plateau about 40m above sea level, consisting of three highlands. The Miura clan, subordinate of the Ando clan (Akita clan), was based on Shinmeiyama, and worshipped Shinmei Shrine, the mountain's name derived, as their clan deity.

The Miura clan's castle was called "Yadome no Shiro," which is the origin of Kubota Castle's other name, Yadome Castle. "Yadome" means to stop shooting arrows and to temporarily cease hostilities, so Kubota Castle was truly a castle during a truce.

Pine trees

spreading roots in snow

Yadome Castle

太平山

Mount Taihei

Mount Taihei has been an object of worship since ancient times. It is said that En no Gyoja of Mount Yoshino was the first to reach the summit in 673.

From the main enclosure, we can get a panoramic view of Mount Taihei in the eastern sky, and in spring it appears as if it is smiling in the sunlight, and in winter it appears as if it is asleep; it shows different faces throughout the seasons.