Saitō clan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saito clan was a Japanese clan of Mino province following the Sengoku period of the 16th century. Throughout the earlier years of the Sengoku period, the Saito clan ruled as one of the most powerful clans in Japan. A man by the name of Saitō Dōsan (referred to many as a serpent) was the powerful daimyo (feudal lord) of the whole of Mino province. One opposing daimyo, known as Oda Nobuhide (the current ruler of the Oda clan) wished to take Dosan's land, but had much trouble doing so through the fact that he suffered from internal struggles within his own clan. Oda Nobuhide ended up later being defeated by Dosan, leading Nobuhide to suggest an alliance between the two clans. This alliance was formed through his son, Oda Nobunaga (one of three Unifiers of Japan later on) to be married to the daughter of Saito Dosan, Nouhime. Throughout their alliance, they would mainly face off against the Imagawa clan of Mikawa province.

It is thought that Saito Dosan later on during the year of 1555 elected one of his sons to become his heir, which excluded Saito Yoshitatsu. Saito Yoshitatsu soon became very lustful for power, to the extent that he would kill both of his brothers and attempt to kill Dosan to take the throne. This immaturity on Yoshitatsu's part was somewhat fueled by the fact that Dosan had not liked Yoshitatsu as his favorite son, causing more jealousy amongst him. Following the year of 1556, Yoshitatsu defeated and killed Dosan following the Battle of Nagara River, effectively then on declaring himself the head of the Saito clan.

Following the death of Oda Nobuhide during the year of 1551, Nobunaga would take the seat as the head of the Oda, in which he also attempted in his assistance of Saito Dosan when Yoshitatsu fought at Nagara river. After the Imagawa suffered a major defeat at Okehazama during the year of 1560, Yoshitatsu himself was destined to die a year later. Following Yoshitatsu's death, Saito Tatsuoki took the throne as the head of the Saito, and elaborated well on his ineptitude. Nobunaga soon took this chance of the major loss in power in the Saito to attack them. Nobunaga started by moving his base to the province of Mino and secretly conspire with many unwilling Saito retainers to abandon their lord. This strategy was effectively put into place following the year of 1567, when Tatsuoki suffered the loss of his Inabayama Castle (in which he was in at the time), many of his retainers, and suffered in exile. This effectively spelled the death of the Saito clan.