Yamada Arinaga

Who was Yamada Arinaga?

Yamada Arinaga was a Japanese samurai of the Azuchi-Momoyama period through the early Edo period, who served the Shimazu clan of Satsuma. He was the eldest son of Yamada Arinobu.

On 1587 after his father surrendered to Toyotomi Hidenaga at Taka Castle, he was given over as a hostage to Hidenaga. He then fought as a retainer for the Shimazu clan during the Seven-Year War and the 1600 battle of Sekigahara. He also had killed Ijuin Tadazane, a fellow Shimazu retainer, to put down a potential rebellion. He was considered an important retainer and became a Karō, a samurai official/adviser. During peacetime, Yamada took up the teaching of retainers as well as developing industries.

Yamada served in the shogunate army at the 1637-38 Shimabara Rebellion, a revolt involving mostly Japanese peasants, most of them Catholics.