Nagao Tamekage

Who was Nagao Tamekage?

Nagao Tamekage was a retainer of Japanese feudal lord Uesugi Fusayoshi, and a daimyo in his own right, during Japan's Sengoku period. According to some scholars, such as George Bailey Sansom, Nagao Tamekage's career makes him representative of the emergence of the daimyo, and the shift of regional power from the shugo, Governors, and other government officials into independent lords. He is perhaps most famous as the biological father of Nagao Kagetora, who would be adopted into the Uesugi family as Uesugi Kenshin, and would go on to become one of the most famous of all Sengoku period daimyo.

Serving as Deputy to Fusayoshi, shugo of Echigo Province, Tamekage led his lord's Yamanouchi Uesugi forces to victory against the Ōgigayatsu Uesugi in a series of conflicts from 1500-1505.

However, one of a number of nari-agari mono, or "upstarts" of this period, Tamekage sought to usurp his lord, and battled with Uesugi forces a number of times in the first decade of the 16th century. He ultimately laid siege to Uesugi Fusayoshi in 1507, at Matsunoyama in Echigo Province, and Fusayoshi was killed. Tamekage then went on to pursue a number of campaigns of his own, gathering territory and power. In 1510, Tamekage plotted with Jinbo Nagakiyo in an attempt to overtake the Jinbo clan from within, using his status as shugo-dai to bring Nagakiyo to his side. Nagakiyo then brought his brother Jinbo Nagatsuna into the plot, which revolved around overthrowing Jinbo Yoshimune and allying with the Uesugi. The plot stretched longer than a year, and Tamekage's patience grew thin. It is believed that Tamekage "arranged" for correspondence between himself and the brothers to be discovered by an ally of Yoshimune, which would lead to their executions, perhaps a quicker route to weakening the Jinbo than the possibly ill-conceived plot with Nagakiyo. The Jinbo brothers were executed, and the Jinbo weakened.