Saitō Dōsan
{{Short description|Sengoku period Japanese samurai}}
{{Expand Japanese|topic=bio|斎藤道三|date=October 2023}}
{{family name hatnote|Saitō|lang=Japanese}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Saitō Dōsan
| native_name = 斎藤道三
| image = Saito Dosan1.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = 1494
| death_date = {{death date and age|1556|5|28|1494||}}
| birth_place =
| order = Head of Saitō clan
| term_start = 1542
| term_end = 1556
| successor = Saitō Yoshitatsu
| order1 = Lord of Mino
| term_start1 = 1542
| term_end1 = 1556
| predecessor1 = Toki Yorinari
| successor1 = Saito Yoshitatsu
| allegiance = 20px Toki clan
20px Saitō clan
| rank = Daimyo
| commands = Inabayama Castle
| unit = 20px Saitō clan
| battles = Mino Campaign (1542)
Battle of Kanōguchi (1547)
Battle of Nagara-gawa (1556){{KIA}}
| children = Saitō Yoshitatsu
Nōhime
| relations = Oda Nobunaga (son in law)
Akechi Mitsutsuna (brother in law)
| death_place = Battle of Nagaragawa, Mino Province
| nickname = "Viper of Mino"
}}
{{Nihongo|Saitō Dōsan|斎藤 道三|extra=1494 – May 28, 1556}}, also known as Saitō Toshimasa (斎藤 利政), was a Japanese samurai lord and daimyo during the Sengoku period.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA809&dq= "Saitō Dōsan"] in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 809. He was also known as the {{nihongo|"Viper of Mino"|美濃の蝮|Mino no Mamushi}} for his ruthless tactics.{{Cite web|url=http://japanworld.info/jwchrisglenn/2015/05/28/the-viper-of-mino-saito-dosan/|title=The Viper of Mino, Saito Dosan|last=Glenn|first=Chris|date=May 28, 2015|website=Japan World}} He was appointed Governor of Yamashiro by the Imperial Court. After entering monkhood in his later years, he was also called Saitō Yamashiro-nyudō-no-kami (斎藤山城入道守).
Biography
Saitō Dōsan has long been regarded as a symbolic figure of "Gekokujō" (the rise of those of lower status to positions of power), rising from a humble oil merchant to the ruler of Mino Province. However, recent research suggests that it was actually Dōsan's father who was the oil merchant. This implies that Dōsan's "Gekokujō" was a two-generation achievement involving both father and son.{{cite web|url=https://www.njg.co.jp/column/column-32109/|title=今では親子2代で成り上がったというのが定説|publisher=NIPPON JITSUGYO PUBLISHING|access-date=15 January 2025}}
He became a daimyo through Gekokujō of Toki Yorinari at Mino Province in 1542. Yorinari was forced out of Mino by Saitō Dōsan.
The Saito fortress was located at Inabayama castle.{{Cite book |last=Turnbull |first=Stephen |title=Battles of the Samurai |publisher=Arms and Armour Press |year=1987 |ISBN=0-85368-826-5 |page=57}}[http://www.geocities.jp/yuutarou19800126/retu-dousan Sengoku Bushō Retsuden 12: Saitō Dōsan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330231625/http://www.geocities.jp/yuutarou19800126/retu-dousan |date=2012-03-30 }}. Accessed September 20, 2007.[http://www2.harimaya.com/sengoku/html/saito_k.html Buke Kaden - Mino Saitō-shi]. Harimaya. Accessed September 20, 2007. He married Omi no kata, a sister of Akechi Mitsutsuna (Akechi Mitsuhide's father).
He defeated Oda Nobuhide at the Battle of Kanōguchi in 1547.{{Cite book |last=Turnbull |first=Stephen |title=The Samurai Sourcebook |publisher=Cassell & Co. |year=1998 |ISBN=1-85409-523-4 |page=211}}
However, in 1549, eventually Oda Nobuhide was defeated by Dōsan, Nobuhide made peace with Dōsan by arranging a political marriage between his son and heir, Oda Nobunaga, and Dōsan's daughter, Nōhime. Dōsan, therefore, became the father-in-law of Oda Nobunaga.
Dōsan supported the marriage which allowed Nobuhide to focus on facing Imagawa Yoshimoto.
Several years later, rumors had started to circulate that Dōsan's firstborn son, Saitō Yoshitatsu, was not his natural son and Dōsan started to consider another son, Saitō Kiheiji, or even his son-in-law Oda Nobunaga, as his heirs. This caused Yoshitatsu to rebel and kill his two younger brothers. In 1556, the forces of Dōsan and Yoshitatsu clashed in the Battle of Nagara-gawa which resulted in
Dōsan's head was taken by a man called Komaki Genta, a retainer of Yoshitatsu's son Saitō Tatsuoki. His remains were originally interred in Sōfuku-ji, but they were later moved to Jōzai-ji because the Nagara River kept overflowing and covering his burial mound.Gifu City Walking Map. Gifu Lively City Public Corporation, 2007. Both temples are located in the city of Gifu which celebrates Dōsan with an annual festival.{{cite web |title=Dosan Festival |url=https://visitgifu.com/see-do/dosan-festival/ |website=Visit Gifu |publisher=Gifu Prefecture Tourism Federation |access-date=6 September 2021}}
Pseudonyms
Saitō Dōsan is known for having a large number of pseudonyms and for frequently changing his name. Some believe that this is because there were two Saitō Dōsan, father and son, and the son adopted his father's name after his death. Other names of Saitō Dōsan are Minemaru (峰丸), Hōrenbō (法蓮坊), Matsunami Shogorō (松浪庄五郎), Nishimura Kankurō Masatoshi (西村勘九郎正利), Shinkurō (新九郎), Nagai Norihide (長井規秀), and Saitō Sakondayu Toshimasa (斎藤左近大夫利政).
The name Saitō was adopted from the former shugodai of Mino who had been overcome by the Nagai clan in the 1520s.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}
Notable retainers
Family
- Father: Matsuda Motomune (in one traditional story; another version says that he was child of Shinzaemonzo, a monk of Myoukaku-ji Temple)
- Wife: Omi no Kata, daughter of Akechi Mitsutsugu
- Concubine: Miyoshi no Kata
- Children:
- Saitō Yoshitatsu born to Miyoshi no Kata
- Saitō Magoshirō
- Saitō Kiheiji
- Saitō Toshitaka
- Saitō Nagatatsu (Toshiharu)
- Nōhime (Kicho)
In Popular Culture
See also
References
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{{People of the Sengoku period|state=autocollapse}}
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