SANADA YUKIMURA ... more...

YUKIMURA SANADA

Sanada Saemon-no-Suke Yukimura (真田 幸村 Sanada Yukimura, 1567 to May 7,1615) was a Japanese samurai, second son ofthe Sengoku period daimyo Sanada Masayuki. His proper name was Sanada Nobushige (真田信繁, Sanada Nobushige), namedafter Takeda Shingen's younger brother TakedaNobushige who was a brave and respected warrior.

Life
In 1575, the Battle of Nagashino claimed the livesof two of Sanada Masayuki's brothers. Masayuki, previously serving Takeda Shingen and Takeda Katsuyori as a retainer, inheritedthe Sanada clan and left for Ueda Castle. Yukimura also went, taking the Sanada name aswell.

By 1582, the Oda-Tokugawa forces had destroyed the Takeda clan. The Sanada initiallysurrendered to Oda Nobunaga, but after the Incidentof Honnoji, it became independent again, drifting between stronger daimyo such as the Uesugiclan, the Hojo clan, and the Tokugawa clan. Eventually, the Sanada clan became a vassalof Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

In 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu rallied various daimyo toattack Uesugi Kagekatsu. The Sanada clan complied as well, but when Ishida Mitsunari decided to challenge Ieyasu, Masayuki and Yukimura joined the western forces, partingways with Masayuki's eldest son and Yukimura's brother, Nobuyuki, who joined the easternforces.

The Sanadas retreated to and fortified Ueda Castle. When Tokugawa Hidetada marcheda sizeable army on the Nakasendo, the Sanadas resisted and were able to fight back Hidetada's40,000 men with only 2,000. Hidetada lost focus and never showed up on the battlefield, where the Battle of Sekigahara was fought, a mistake that put the Tokugawa clan in jeopardy.

Because of this, Tokugawa Ieyasu wanted to execute the Sanadas, but because of Nobuyuki's contribution, they were spared andinstead exiled to Kudoyama in Kii Province. Masayuki diedthere. Twelve years later, as the relations between the Toyotomi clan and Tokugawa shogunate worsened, the Toyotomi clan started to recruit ronin in preparation for war. Yukimura escaped from Kudoyama and entered OsakaCastle to answer the call.

During the Winter Siege of Osaka, Sanada Yukimura built fortifications along the southof Osaka Castle at its weak points. From there, he fought the Tokugawa forces with groups of arquebusiers.

The next year, during the Summer Siege of Osaka, Yukimura decidednot to fight defensively, but to attack the Tokugawa forceshead-on. His charges were so ferocious that he purportedly reachedTokugawa Ieyasu's main camp several times. It is said TokugawaIeyasu was almost ready to commit suicide, but this is most likely afabrication of later generations. Though not many sourcescan verify the actual facts, during the Osaka summer campaign in 1614,Yukimura led several assaults against the Tokugawa maincamp. The strength and determination of these attacks was said to havebeen caused by his personal hatred of the Tokugawa family.He reached the main camp thrice, close enough that Ieyasu could be seenfrom only metres away from their charge.

After the Osakacastle was captured by the Tokugawa Bakufu, Tokugawa himself was saidto hold fear to Yukimura´s name till his dying days. Afterthis, Yukimura was considered the greatest warrior of the last days ofthe Sengoku Jidai period.

However, greatly outnumbered by Tokugawa forces, Yukimura's forces were eventually defeated. According to The Life ofShogun Tokugawa Ieyasu by A.L. Sadler, in his intense fight against the wavering Echizen troops, Sanada was wounded andcompletely exhausted when one Nishio Nizaemon of the Echizen army rode at him. At this point he is said to have exclaimed, "I amSanada Yukimura, an adversary no doubt quite worthy of you, but I am too exhausted to fight any more," and allowed himself to bekilled, though many scholars believe he died of exhaustion right there.

Yukimura was a great swordsman, tactician, and a gifted general. Even Tokugawa Ieyasu admired him.

Legend and popular depiction

A fact about Sanada Yukimura is that in contemporary historical sources and personal letters penned by himself, he was neverreferred to as Yukimura.

During the Edo period, a military novel referred to him as Yukimura, and this name has since been popularized by subsequent plays, books, novels,and different media of entertainment (e.g. Koei's Shin SengokuMusou (localized into the US as Samurai Warriors), the popular manga & animeSamurai Deeper Kyo by Akimine Kamijyo, and Capcom's SengokuBasara/Devil Kings, in which Yukimura is a playable character.).

Also SanadaYukimura now appears in his own anime called Sanada JuyushiSpecial directed by Shimizu Keizo, the story focus pre-Sekigahara.

Sanada Yukimura once being called

"A Hero who appears once every hundred years."

A theory is that the name Yukimura is a portmanteau of Masayuki (his father)and Date Tsunamura. A legend says that Yukimura had ten heroes who took active part at the battles of Osaka Castle.

They were called theSanada Ten Braves(真田十勇士, Sanada Jūyūshi) , a group of ninja, and consisted ofthe following members:

Sarutobi Sasuke

Kirigakure Saizo

Miyoshi Sekai

Miyoshi Isa

Anayama Kosuke

Unno Rokuro

Kakei Juzo

Nezu Jinpachi

Mochizuki Rokuro

Yuri Kamanosuke

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Se quiserem saber mais coisas interesantes sobre Sanada Yukimura visitem o site abaixo:

http://www.geocities.jp/general_sasaki/tenzinzaka-es.html

Sanada e outros Clãs... tem esse site de sobernomes de Samurai, "Sengoku Biographical Dictionary":

http://www.samurai-archives.com/dictionary/index.html

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