Hideyoshi’s Hida Campaign and a Tokugawa Retainer’s Defection

Hideyoshi ordered Kanamori Nagachika, then based in Echizen Ōno, to attack the Miki in Hida in 1585. The Miki had adopted the Anekoji name and held major castles. The campaign accompanied pressure on Sassa Narimasa in neighboring Etchū.

Nagachika divided the operation. His adopted son Yoshishige advanced from the south against Sakurabora and Nabeyama, while Nagachika attacked northern positions including Makido, Kotakari and Kojima. Matsukura Castle fell. Local resistance continued into the following year, including opposition from warriors who had initially guided the invasion. Hideyoshi’s 1586 grant formalized Nagachika’s provincial position after the military breakthrough.

In the same year as the invasion, Ishikawa Kazumasa took his family from Tokugawa service to Hideyoshi and received a holding in Izumi. His departure removed a senior Tokugawa officer without another siege. These two changes brought different regional networks into Hideyoshi’s service: Hida required invasion and subsequent settlement, while Kazumasa’s family entered through a change of patron.