Torii Suneemon
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Torii Suneemon (鳥居強右衛門?) (1540 – 1575) was a samurai of the Torii family, famous for his bravery and incredible exploit at the siege of Nagashino.
He was a retainer of Okudaira Sadamasa and member of the Nagashino garisson when the fortress came under siege by the forces of Takeda Katsuyori. Already renowned for his bravery and known for his knowledge of the surroundings, he volunteered for the extremely dangerous mission of sneaking through the siege lines to request aid from Tokugawa Ieyasu in Okazaki. After successfully warning Tokugawa, however, he was captured by the Takeda on his return to Nagashino.
Torii was taken prisoner and forced to shout to his compatriots in the fortress that no help was on the way, and that they should surrender. He instead encouraged the garisson that Tokugawa's army was, in fact, on the way, and that they should keep fighting. There is some dispute as to whether Torii was crucified before or after this proclamation, as well as in the precise details of his execution.
Nevertheless, the end result was the same. Torii Sune'emon became one of the most famous examples of samurai bravery in history. One Takeda retainer, Ochiai Michihisa, even used an image of a crucified Torii Suneemon on his flag from then on.
[edit] Reference
- Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.
