Isono Kazumasa

Who was Isono Kazumasa?

Isono Kazumasa was relatively the most senior of retainer beneath the clan of Azai throughout the latter Sengoku Period of Feudal Japan. Initially at the time in which Kazumasa began his service under the Azai, Sukemasa was the present head over the clan, and Kazumasa began his great line of feats by supporting the former in a desperate conflict against the Rokkaku that took place in 1561. Within this event, the Rokkaku attempted to ultimately take over the entire Sawayama castle through means of besiegement, but were met with failure in this attempt after Kazumasa was sent as relief, convincing Sukemasa to allow this respective retainer complete jurisdiction over Sumamata castle as a reward for his reliability. Following the succession of Azai Nagamasa, Kazumasa willingly supported the former within many variable conflicts throughout the years that had passed, the most notable being Anegawa of 1570, where Kazumasa was said to have fought with such conviction and courage on the battlefield that his favorite horse was shot out beneath him and he unhesitatingly mounted a new horse immediately following the first, charging even deeper into the Oda ranks that surrounded him. In furthered justification to this, Kazumasa penetrated so far past the soldiers of Shibata Katsuie and Toyotomi Hideyoshi that he would have initially breached into the main camp of Oda Nobunaga if the additional units of Mori Yoshinari and Sakuma Nobumori did not immediately assist their respective allies.