Yasumasa Sakakibara

Japanese: 榊原康政 - さかきばら・やすまさ

Year of death: May 14, 1606 (June 19, 1606)
Year of birth: Tenbun 17 (1548)
A military commander in the Azuchi-Momoyama and early Edo periods. Commonly considered one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Tokugawa clan. The son of Sakakibara Nagamasa of Hekikai County, Mikawa Province, his childhood name was Kame, his nickname was Koheita, and his official title was Shikibu Daifu. In 1560 (Eiroku 3), he served Tokugawa Ieyasu as a page, and in 1566, his first battle was against the Mikawa Ikko Ikki, for which Ieyasu bestowed one character of his real name. At the end of the Eiroku period, he was appointed as a Hatamoto vanguard along with Honda Tadakatsu, and distinguished himself in the battles of Anegawa and Mikatagahara. Yasumasa's military fame was enhanced in the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute in 1584 (Tensho 12), when he sent a manifesto criticizing Toyotomi Hideyoshi to the generals in Hideyoshi's camp, causing Hideyoshi to lose his cool in an enraged moment. It is said that Hideyoshi said, "I will give any reward to the one who takes Yasumasa's head." After the war, Ieyasu became a vassal to Hideyoshi as a compromise, and when Ieyasu was transferred to the Kanto region, he was given 100,000 koku in Tatebayashi, Kozuke Province, and from Bunroku 1 (1592) he became attached to Ieyasu's third son, Hidetada. During the Battle of Sekigahara in Keicho 5 (1600), he followed Hidetada to the Tosando army and struggled to attack Sanada Masayuki and Yukimura, father and son, at Ueda Castle in Shinshu, and made the blunder of arriving late to the decisive battle of Sekigahara. At this time, Yasumasa, as his aide, took all the responsibility and brought about reconciliation between Ieyasu and Hidetada. Later, due to conflicts with Honda Masanobu and Masazumi, father and son, he retired to Tatebayashi, and died there.

(Tetsuo Owada)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：慶長11.5.14(1606.6.19)
生年：天文17(1548)
安土桃山・江戸初期の武将。俗に徳川四天王のひとりに数えられる。三河国碧海郡の榊原長政の子で,幼名を亀,通称を小平太,官途を式部大輔といった。永禄3(1560)年,徳川家康の小姓として仕え,同6年の三河一向一揆との戦いが初陣で,家康から諱の1字を与えられた。永禄末年には本多忠勝と共に旗本先手役に取り立てられ,姉川の戦,三方ケ原の戦で戦功をあげている。康政の武名を高めたのは天正12(1584)年の小牧・長久手の戦で,このとき康政は豊臣秀吉非難の檄文を秀吉陣営の諸将に送りつけ,怒り狂った秀吉が冷静さを失うという一幕を作り出している。そのため秀吉は「康政の首を取った者に望みのまま褒賞を与えよう」と触れたといわれる。戦後,妥協によって家康は秀吉に臣従,家康が関東に移封されたとき上野国館林で10万石を与えられ,文禄1(1592)年からは家康の3男秀忠付となった。慶長5(1600)年の関ケ原の戦のとき,秀忠に従って東山道軍に属し,信州上田城の真田昌幸・幸村父子を攻めあぐみ,関ケ原の決戦に遅参する失態を演じた。このとき,補佐役としての康政がすべての責任をとる形で家康と秀忠の仲直りにもちこんだ。その後,本多正信・正純父子らとの対立もあって館林に引き籠もり,そのまま同所で没した。

(小和田哲男)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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