Takayama Tomoteru

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Takayama Tomoteru (1531-1596) was a direct retainer to Matsunaga Hisahide throughout the latter Sengoku Period of Feudal Japan and became a supporting influence against the evolution of Christian missionaries within Capital Kyoto. In subsequence to Hisahide breaking apart from the Miyoshi clan and declaring himself an independent daimyo by the year of 1564, Tomoteru would be assaulted by the Miyoshi a year following this happening, losing Sawa castle of Yamato province as a result. With this incident Tomoteru decided to discard his former disdain towards the religion of Christianity and become baptized with the name "Darie" during that same year. By 1568 Oda Nobunaga had taken Capital Kyoto; and as Tomoteru had already been relative to a certain daimyo known as Wada Koremasa, he took advantage of the situation by finding service beneath the latter.

With the arrival of 1571, Tomoteru had experienced his own involvement in the warring between the Araki clan led by Araki Murashige and was present to see the death of Koremasa admist such a period of feuding. With the mutual consent of his son, Shigetomo, and his respective clansmen, Tomoteru then began to make arrangements for the murder of Wada Korenaga in April of 1573, as the latter was intent on destroying the Takayama and would need to be stopped consequently.^[1] Successfully carrying out their murder, Tomoteru initially gained for himself Takatsuki castle and forthwith chose to move under the influence of the Araki. When Murashige had rebelled against Nobunaga by the year of 1578, Tomoteru willingly followed suit but was immediately put in a detrimental standing with his son's intent to abandon Takatsuki in retortion. With Murashige's ultimate defeat and retreat into the western provinces by 1579, Tomoteru decided to retire from any future form of retainership.